Jessica Buchanan
- New York Times Best-Selling Co-Author, Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue By SEAL Team Six
- Podcast Host or "How to Survive Survival"
- Humanitarian Aid Worker
- TEDx Speaker
Travels From
District of Columbia
Jessica Buchanan Speaker Biography
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 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 memoir, Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six. Her story became the most highly viewed 60 Minutes episode to air, and she has been recognized by Newsweek as one of the “150 Women Who Will Shake the World.”
Today, Jessica’s work centers on the transformative message that survival is not the end of the story — it is the beginning. Through her platform, How to Survive Survival, she teaches individuals and organizations how to turn life’s most difficult moments into catalysts for meaning, contribution, and radical personal change. Her TEDx Pearl Street talk, “Change is Your Proof of Life,” continues to serve as the cornerstone of her mission: to help others reclaim agency in the aftermath of crisis.
Jessica is the author of multiple books, including her latest release, How to Survive Survival: A Guide for Turning Life’s Hardest Moments Into Meaningful Contribution for the World. She is also the host of the How to Survive Survival podcast, where she explores what it truly means not just to endure, but to rise, rebuild, and reimagine a life after the unthinkable.
When she’s not writing or speaking, Jessica is traveling the world with her Swedish husband and two “half Vikings.” She aims to lead a life shaped by curiosity, culture, and a deep appreciation for the resilience of the human spirit.
Surviving Change
Defining your ‘WHY’ to empower you to move you forward into growth and the creation of a more purpose-driven life.
Change Is Your Proof of Life
Finding purpose in the midst hardship, change, and challenges.
Being a Change Collaborator
How to work productively with change and leverage choices to your advantage
Impossible Odds: A Story of Strength and Survival
Jessica Buchanan shares her story of the impossible odds facing her during her 93 days of captivity by Somali land pirates and her determination and efforts to survive the harrowing and most painful experience of her life. In sharing her story with audiences she provides to use in everyday life to help find strength in any situation or challenge. They will be surprised to find that you can scrape out just enough to get through that day. It may not be more than enough—but just enough has got to be ok, and as Buchanan experienced day after day after day—just enough will do just fine.
Jessica Buchanan and Erik Landemalm’s Triumph Over Impossible Odds
In this joint presentation, Jessica Buchanan and her husband, Erik Landemalm, share their mutual journey during the torturous three months of her captivity at the hands of Somali land pirates. Together they relate the events prior to the kidnapping, the drama of Jessica’s fight to stay alive, and Erik’s efforts to bolster and support the hunt for her while he acted as liaison between their two families, the FBI, professional hostage negotiators and the U.S. government. Audiences will be inspired by their courage and resolve in facing a life-or-death struggle and their deeply personal story about digging deep into the human spirit and learning you can triumph over impossible odds.
