International Women’s Day 2024: Five Women Adventurers Who Inspire Us

Happy International Women’s Day 2024! This year’s theme is #InspireInclusion. The IWD website encourages participants to “Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women's equality.” 

Part of working towards this goal is celebrating women’s achievements – and we love highlighting women who have a passion for adventure. Check out our list of five women who inspire us with both their optimistic attitudes and impressive accomplishments.  

(Header Image curtesy of internationalwomensday.com)

Yui Pow Redford  

Yui Pow Redford has several phenomenal achievements under her belt, including being awarded the first Asian woman to visit every sovereign country, and the first Singaporean to have visited all United Nation Member states – a challenge that took her nearly 17 years to achieve. Equally impressive, Redford’s work focuses on linguistics. Having studied languages for most of her life, she speaks nearly twenty languages in total.  

Check out this awesome interview featuring Yui below. 

Redford has also started a nonprofit called GoodYus that “supports a variety of causes through fundraising, volunteering, skill sharing, pro-bono consulting, awareness raising, and the donation of materials.”  

You can follow Redford on Instagram & XTwitter.  

Preet Chandi 

Known as “Polar Preet” - Preet Chandi has pushed beyond her limits and been recognized for incredible achievements.  

Raised in the United Kingdom, Chandi joined the Army Reserves at age 19 and transitioned to the Army full time at age 27. She has been deployed in Nepal, Kenya, and a recent 6-month UN peacekeeping tour in South Sudan. She currently works as a physiotherapist at a rehabilitation unit in Buckinghamshire, aiding the recovery of injured soldiers and officers.  

In her free time, Preet began participating in half marathons, working up to harder and harder challenges until she completed the Marathon des Sables in 2019, considered one of the most grueling ultramarathons in the world.  

Combining this endurance with an incredible amount of specialized training, Chandi set her sights on Antartica. Why? 

“Antarctica is the coldest, highest, driest and windiest continent on Earth. Nobody lives there permanently," Chandi says on her blog. “When I reached the South Pole earlier this year, I said on my blog post ‘I don’t want to just break the glass ceiling, I want to smash it into a million pieces.’ I was told no on so many occasions, called stubborn or rebellious because I wanted to do things that were out of the norm and push my boundaries. I want to encourage others to push their boundaries, it is amazing how much your world opens up when you start to do so. No boundary or barrier is too small and I want to continue to smash that glass ceiling.” 

In 2023 she smashed that glass, breaking records for both “the longest solo unsupported one-way polar ski journey for a woman and also the longest solo unsupported one-way polar ski journey overall.” The journey was over 700 miles from start to finish. 

Check out this video about her adventure. 

Chandi also raises money for two causes she cares about, Adventure Grant & Khalasa Aid. You can learn more on her website.  

You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter. 

Jessica Nabongo 

An author and travel expert, Jessica Nabongo has traveled to every country in the world, using her words and art to educate and inspire others. Her goal is to help build a global community, share untold stories, and to encourage people to be good neighbors no matter where in the world they reside.  

Raised in Detroit as a first generation American to Ugandan parents, Nabongo says she has “been building her digital nomad life since her early 20s.”  

Check out Nabongo’s Ted Talk on lessons learned in her travels, and how “the world is our neighborhood.” 

Nabongo has degrees in English Literature from St. John’s University in New York and a graduate degree at the London School of Economics. In addition to her incredibly popular travel blog, she also has a lifestyle brand called The Catch and a boutique travel agency called Jet Black. You can find her first book – The Catch Me If You Can: One Woman’s Journey to Every Country in the World - published by National Geographic.  

You can follow Jessica Nabongo on Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter  

Vedangi Kulkarni 

Vendangi Kulkarni has achieved much at a young age – currently a 25-year-old “endurance athlete, adventurer, writer, public speaker, and an entrepreneur.” Much of her athletics focus on cycling, but she is also a hiker, mountaineer, cross country skier, and climber- to name a few. In particular, Kulkarni loves the snow, had has a fascination with the Arctic and Ladakh region of India (the Indian Himalayas).

Her most widely known accomplishment is cycling around the world in 2018. Kulkarni’s journey started at the age of 19 and completed after she turned 20, traveling 18,000 miles in 160 days. In 2023 she received the Guinness World Record for being the fastest woman to cycle the Manali-Leh Highway, a 300-mile route across the Himalayas with a minimum altitude of 13,000 feet.  You can see a full list of her achievements here and learn more about her in the spotlight below.  

You can follow Vendangi Kulkarni on Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, YouTube.   

Jacky Hunt-Broersma 

Last, we’re shining a spotlight on Jacky Hunt-Broersma. An athlete at her core, Hunt-Broersma is an ultramarathoner, endurance coach, and cancer survivor. After losing her leg to cancer in 2016, she began her running journey in part to inspire adaptive athletes to hit the trails. Her achievements include: 

• Setting a World Record for the most consecutive marathons by a woman athlete, running 104 Marathons in 104 days - rasing $194,000 for Amputee Blade Runners in the process.  

• Setting a new World Record for the First Amputee to run 100 miles on a treadmill, clocking in at 23 hours of nonstop running.  

• The first amputee to attempt the TransRockies mountain stage race in Colorado, which unfolds over 120 miles and 20,000ft of climbing and running at altitude.  

• And more!  

Check out an awesome interview with Jacky below. 

You can follow Jacky Hunt-Broersma's adventures on Instagram, X/Twitter, and YouTube.  

Who inspires you on International Women’s Day? Let us (and them!) know on social!  Twitter/X | Instagram | Facebook | Threads | TikTok    

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