Motivational SpeakersLiz Mayon-White is an adventurer, athlete, and motivational speaker whose life embodies resilience and determination.
From rowing across the Atlantic and representing Great Britain in triathlon to overcoming throat cancer, Liz brings powerful lessons on mindset, adaptability, and courage.
Drawing on her experiences in extreme endurance challenges and healthcare leadership, she inspires audiences to face uncertainty with strength and to “control the controllables”.
Qualifying as a Yachtmaster Instructor aged just 21, she went on to teach sailing courses and lead expeditions around the UK before sailing solo to Greece.
In 2005-06, she took on the might of the Atlantic Rowing Race, along with her then fiancée.
The couple encountered hurricanes, tropical storms, whales, serious injuries, capsizes and equipment failure before reaching the Caribbean. As a result, Liz Mayon-White became the 13th woman ever to row an ocean and the first woman in history to row into Antigua.
“Transformation begins the moment you decide your story isn’t over yet”
Not being one to rest on her laurels, whilst holding down a full-time job and tackling (possibly the hardest challenge of them all) ‘motherhood’, she returned to her passion for triathlon and Ironman events.
In 2018, Liz qualified to represent Great Britain in her age group at both Olympic and Ironman distances and raced in the GB colours from 2018 to 2022.
It was at the World Championships in Abu Dhabi in November 2022 that Liz first noticed a rapidly growing lump on her tonsil, which coincided with a neck lump on the same side. Following a series of investigations back in the UK, she was diagnosed with throat cancer 4 weeks later.
Liz underwent a brand new 7-week, million-pound trial treatment of proton beam therapy at The Christie Hospital in Manchester in 2023, which left her with radiotherapy burns both inside and outside her throat.
Whilst now in remission, she remains under the care of the hospital and will live with the life-changing side effects of this treatment for the rest of her life. But wasting no time, Liz is back taking on ultra-marathons, completing a 105km ultra in 2025, with sights on 100 milers in the future.
As a popular motivational speaker, Liz Mayon-White speaks honestly and humbly about the challenges she has faced in life – both those she has chosen and those life has thrown at her.
She describes finding joy in the small things, her coping mechanisms, never settling for just ‘okay’ and the drive to keep smiling and keep moving forward, which can be applied across all walks of life.
Liz Mayon-White talks about:
- Facing Challenges Head On.
- The Resilient Mindset.
- Reset, Reframe and Go Again.
- Communication is Key.
- The Hardest of times are in the Smallest of Moments.
- What does success look like?
