Description
Samantha Gash is a motivational speaker, ultra marathon runner and social impact champion. She traded her career as an international lawyer for running shoes, then built a body of work that combines endurance with real change. Learn more about her journey on Wikipedia.
Samantha Gash Motivational Speaker: Career and Background
Samantha was the first woman, and the youngest person at the time, to complete the Four Deserts Grand Slam. This endurance event spans 1,000 kilometres across the hottest, coldest, driest and windiest deserts on earth. She has since covered more than 25,000 kilometres on foot. Today, she uses running as a vehicle for social change through advocacy, peer to peer fundraising and integrated digital campaigns.
In 2020, Samantha and Nic Davidson launched Relief Run in response to the bushfire crisis. This virtual fundraising platform invited the global running community to complete a 5km or 21.1km run on a set weekend. In 12 days, the campaign raised $1.1 million for the Australian Red Cross Bushfire Relief Fund, with 20,000 participants from 96 countries. Samantha was also one of ten women worldwide to complete the Calendar Club, running 750 kilometres in a month to support frontline responders in the United States.
In 2016, Samantha became a Goodwill Ambassador for World Vision. She ran 3,200 kilometres over 77 days to raise awareness of barriers to education for Indian children, and raised $150,000 along the way. In 2014, she co-founded Freedom Runners. Over 32 days, she ran 1,968 kilometres across South Africa’s Freedom Trail to raise $55,000 for Save the Children and highlight the cost of feminine hygiene products for women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Across her career, Samantha has raised more than $1.5 million for charities including World Vision, Save the Children and the Australian Red Cross.
Samantha has featured in the documentaries Desert Runners and Run India. She also appeared in Bear Grylls’ Amazon Prime series, The World’s Toughest Race. In March 2020, she launched the Sam Gash Podcast, hosting adventurers, innovators, entrepreneurs, athletes and artists.
Keynote Topics
Samantha’s keynotes draw on her endurance career to explore passion, purpose and process, execution under pressure, composure and resilience under duress, and building high-functioning teams. She also speaks on Life Beyond the Comfort Zone, using her journey crossing India as an example. Her talk on Transformation shows how purpose, passion and process create sustainable change. Her talk on Extension explores how people grow by working beyond what feels comfortable or familiar.
Samantha Gash motivational speaker is based in Australia. See her full profile on the Corporate Speakers Australia motivational speakers page.
