Jessica Buchanan

On October 25, 2011, while on a routine field mission in Somalia, working as the Education Advisor for her non-governmental organization, Jessica was abducted at gunpoint and held for ransom by a group of Somali pirates for 93 days. Forced to live outdoors in deplorable conditions, starved, and terrorized by more than two dozen gangsters, Jessica’s health steadily deteriorated until, by order of President Obama, she was rescued by the elite SEAL Team VI on January 25, 2012. Jessica’s ordeal is detailed in her New York Times bestselling book, Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six. Jessica has been named one of the ‘150 Women Who will Shake the World’ by Newsweek, and her story was the most highly viewed 60 Minutes episode to air, to date. Jessica is a highly sought-after inspirational speaker and her TEDx Pearl Street talk, ‘Change is Your Proof of Life’ has been the foundation for which she travels the world, inspiring audiences to access their resilience by identifying their own autonomy and choice in the middle of their own life changing event. Jessica is the host of the popular, top 1% ranking, conversational podcast, We Should Talk About That where she and her co-host attempt to unpack the uncomfortable topics that nobody is talking about, but definitely should. She is the founder of Soul Speak Press, a publishing imprint of Mareck Publishing, where she supports women on their writing journeys to craft their memoir manifestos. Jessica’s next book, Desert’s to Mountaintops: Our Collective Journey to (re) Claiming our Voice is an anthology of 22 women’s stories of strength and survival and is due out in January 2023.