Stephanie Solomonides (b.1982,

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...

) is an

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

, who is the first person from Cyprus to reach both the North and the South Poles. She became the first

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

to reach the South Pole on 29 December 2009 as part of the Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition. She, like the seven women who were with her, was chosen from among 800 candidates from the member states of the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

. In 2018 she when she reached the North Pole as part of the Women’s Euro Arabian North Pole Expedition, she became the first Cypriot to reach both poles. Solomonides was educated at The English School (Nicosia) and the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

. Prior to reaching the North Pole, she worked as a Vice President at

JP Morgan JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the wo ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomonides, Stephanie Living people 1982 births Cypriot women Polar explorers People from Nicosia Alumni of Grey College, Durham