Debra Louise Searle MVO MBE (born 8 July 1975), née Newbury, later Veal, is a British adventurer, businesswoman, author and keynote speaker. Searle is famous for having rowed across the Atlantic alone after her then husband and rowing partner, Andrew Veal, was rescued from their plywood rowing boat. Debra has held the position of the no. 1 female motivational speaker in the Global Guru's World's Top 30 Motivational Speakers ranking and is considered to be one of the Worlds Top 50 Inspirational Leaders.

Early life and education

Searle was born in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, Devon, on 8 July 1975 along with her identical twin sister Hayley Barnard. They were adopted by Robin and Christine Newbury as babies and have two older brothers. Searle attended Stover School, on the edge of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite that forms the uplands dates from the Carb ...

, where she first started undertaking expeditions, including

Ten Tors Ten Tors is an annual weekend hike in early May, on Dartmoor, southwest England. Organized by the British Army, starting in 1960, it brings together teams of six young people, with the 2,400 young participants hiking to checkpoints on ten spec ...

and the

Duke of Edinburgh's Award The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, which has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and ...

. She studied for a BEd and graduated with 1st Class Honours and a number of outdoor instructor qualifications from

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body ...

. She was later awarded an Honorary MA by De Montfort University in 2004 and an Honorary Degree from Plymouth Marjon University in 2019.

Career

Searle taught at St Margaret's School,

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

, Devon and then at

Claremont Fan Court School Claremont Fan Court School is a co-educational private day school for pupils from 2 to 18 years. Situated outside Esher, in Surrey, sixteen miles from London, it is located on the grounds of the Claremont Estate. It is a member of the Society ...

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in the borough of Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole, Surrey, River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London, close to the London–Surrey border; with Esher Commons at its ...

, Surrey. She gave up teaching after founding The Well Hung Art Company Ltd in 1999 with two friends, which promoted the work of lesser known artists via the web and sold original fine art to the corporate market. In 2004, Searle closed The Well Hung Art Company to focus on her second company, Shoal Projects Ltd, which she had founded two years earlier with her twin sister Hayley Barnard. Shoal Projects manages Searle's adventures and other related media, publishing and motivational/leadership development work. From 2002 onwards, Searle has undertaken a number of expeditions and adventurous challenges as detailed below and has worked as a TV presenter, mainly for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. She is much in demand as a keynote speaker and has written and contributed to a number of books and newspapers. For over 20 years Searle has worked closely with Executive Boards of global corporations on leadership development and resilience, causing one British newspaper to place Searle at number 25 in the World's top 50 'inspirational leaders'. In 2014, Searle and business partner Barnard opened MIX Diversity Developers Ltd, a consultancy firm specialising in Diversity & Inclusion, Unconscious Bias and Cultural Change. Mix was nominated for the HR Supplier Partnership Award by Personnel Today in 2015. In 2024, Searle stepped down from the company to focus on her expanding keynote speaking and leadership development work. In 2018, Searle founded Brave Girl Media after the story of her Atlantic Row was optioned by an LA based production company. The movie of Searle's 3.5 month solo journey across the Atlantic is now being developed into a Hollywood movie. In 2021, Searle reached no.3 in the World’s Top 30 Motivational Speakers list, after

Simon Sinek Simon Oliver Sinek (born 9 October 1973) is an American author and inspirational speaker on business leadership. His books include '' Start with Why'' (2009) and '' The Infinite Game'' (2019). Early life and education Sinek was born in Wimble ...

at no.1 and

Tony Robbins Anthony Jay Robbins ( Mahavoric, born February 29, 1960) is an American author, coach and motivational speaker. He is known for his seminars, and self-help books including the books '' Unlimited Power'' and ''Awaken the Giant Within''. Early ...

at no.2, making her the highest ranking female motivational speaker in the world, as voted by the public. She has remained in the Top 30 list for 5 consecutive years. In 2024, Searle launched The Debra Searle Academy, providing online courses on mindset, mastering motivation and accelerating results.

Sport

Always a keen sportswoman, Searle represented her county in tennis and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

and represented the West of England in

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

whilst in her teens. She went on to gain a place in the Great Britain

Dragon Boat A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of t ...

Racing Team in 1998 for the European Championships in Rome and the 1999 World Championships in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, coming home with gold, silver and bronze medals. Debra rowing into Barbados

Atlantic Rowing Race

Searle and her then husband Andrew Veal entered the Ward Evans Atlantic Rowing Challenge, a 3,000-mile, double-handed rowing race from

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

. The challenge included competitors being required to build their own plywood boats from flat pack kits. There was significant media interest in the couple's entry, as they were the only male/female and husband/wife team out of the 36 teams taking part in the 2001–02 race. Media interest intensified when Andrew was forced to retire from the race suffering from uncontrollable anxiety. Debra continued on alone, arriving in Barbados after 111 days at sea. Robert Hall covered the story for the BBC ''Six O'Clock News'' over two consecutive days. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' newspaper ran the story on their front page for three consecutive days. Searle had never rowed before signing up to row across the Atlantic.

Ben Fogle Benjamin Myer Fogle (born 3 November 1973) is an English broadcaster, writer and adventurer, best known for his presenting roles with British television channels Channel 5, BBC and ITV. Early life Fogle is the son of English actress Julia ...

, the adventurer and TV presenter who rowed the Atlantic with

James Cracknell James Edward Cracknell, (born 5 May 1972) is a British rowing and endurance athlete, double Olympic gold medalist and winner of six world championship titles. Cracknell was appointed OBE for "services to sport" in the 2005 New Year Honours ...

in 2005 claimed to have been inspired by Searle's crossing in his book ''The Crossing'', written with James Cracknell. Searle's story is featured in the multi-award-winning film ''Row Hard No Excuses'' by Lantern Films, which was screened on PBS across the US in 2010 and 2011. A dramatisation of the story is in development in Hollywood.

Expeditions and sporting achievements

In 2004, Searle became a member of the Pindar Ocean Racing Team. ''Yachts and Yachting Magazine'' reported that Searle was planning an attempt to become the first woman to sail non-stop the 'wrong way' around the world (against the prevailing winds and currents). With major corporate sponsors in place Searle, who had no previous sailing experience, trained to become a RYA Yachtmaster. She competed in a number of major sailing events on board Pindar Open 60 throughout 2005 and sailed on board Pindar in the

Global Challenge The Global Challenge (not to be confused with Global Challenge Award) was around a world yacht race run by Challenge Business, the company started by Sir Chay Blyth in 1989. It was held every four years and took a fleet of one-design steel yachts, ...

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

leg. However the attempt was scrapped after Searle was beaten to the record by

Dee Caffari Denise "Dee" Caffari MBE (born 23 January 1973) is a British sailor, and in 2006 became the first woman to sail single-handedly and non-stop around the world "the wrong way"; westward against the prevailing winds and currents. In February 20 ...

who set off on 20 November 2005, arriving back in the UK on 18 May 2006, after 178 days at sea.

TV presenting

Searle was approached by the BBC ''Extreme Lives'' team with a view to making a documentary about her Atlantic row and subsequent expedition, the

Yukon River The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. From its source in British Columbia, it flows through Canada's territory of Yukon (itself named after the river). The lower half of the river continues westward through the U.S ...

Quest. Searle invited long-term friend

Bruce Parry Bruce Parry (born 17 March 1969) is an English documentarian, indigenous rights advocate, author, explorer, trek leader and former Royal Marines commando officer. He employs an ethnographic style and a form of participant observation for his d ...

(who went on to present numerous BBC series including ''

Tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

'', ''

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

'' and most recently, ''Arctic'') to partner her in the 742 km canoe race through the

Yukon Territory Yukon () is a territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s westernmost territory and the smallest ...

. As a result of Searle's appearance on ''Extreme Lives'' and following an interview for BBC Radio 4's ''Woman's Hour'', she was allocated a talent manager within the BBC and started presenting. She has presented more than forty programmes for the BBC as well as working for ITV, Channel 5 and Sail TV. Credits include ''Grandstand'' (BBC1), ''G2'' (BBC2 ''Grandstand'' spin-off), ''Extreme Lives'', ''Builders, Sweat and Tears'' (BBC1), ''Big Strong Boys'' (BBC1) and ''The Southampton Boat Show'' (ITV).

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award

In 2003, Searle was invited to be a Trustee of leading youth charity the

. At that time she was the only female and the youngest board member. After a decade on the Board of Trustees, Searle stepped down. Searle started her own Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award whilst at school and completed it at university.

Writing

As author

* ''Rowing it Alone'' (2002) * ''The Journey: How to Achieve Against the Odds'' (2007) * ''The Choose Your Attitude Journal'' (2019)

As contributor

* ''Kayak Surfing'' (2004) * ''Extreme Survival'' (2006) * ''My Reason for Hope'' (2008) * Numerous articles for British newspapers

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Advocate

In 2014, Searle and business partner Barnard opened MIX Diversity Developers Ltd, a consultancy firm specialising in Diversity & Inclusion, Unconscious Bias and Cultural Change. In April 2015 Searle's company led the

LeasePlan LeasePlan is an international company of Dutch origins, specialised in automobile leasing and fleet management - its products are composed of operational fleet management services. Founded in 1963, it has more than 14% of its approximately 6,600 ...

Women's Arctic Challenge on a ski-trek across

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada, the second-largest island in the Americas (behind Greenland), and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is (slightly smal ...

in the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

. The expedition was part of a wider corporate diversity project designed to challenge stereotypes and provoke conversations around unconscious bias. Searle, who intended to lead the expedition herself, snapped one of her

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in ...

s ten days before the expedition and was unable to attend. The team still successfully completed the Challenge and Searle flew out to surprise them at the finish line. Searle cites that the accolades she received for her Solo Atlantic Row are ultimately a product of gender stereotyping, as ‘her story wouldn’t have even made her local paper had it been her husband who had continued alone and she who had been rescued'. Searle was nominated for the European Inspirational Role Model and Diversity Champion Of The Year Award in 2015, and National Positive Role Model Of The Year Award Nominee by the National Diversity Awards. She has a ‘passion for demolishing stereotypes’ and is a regular speaker on International Women's Day. Searle was also a founding member of The Business Women's Network Forum, which is based out of

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

and chaired by

The Countess of Wessex Earl of Wessex is a title that has been created twice in British history – once in the pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxon nobility of England, and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. In the 6th century AD the region of Wessex (the lands of the ...

. She recruited female leaders from major organizations such as

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

and

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

to come together to share best practice on Gender Balance in the Workplace.

Personal life

She married her first husband in 1999 and later divorced him in 2004. She has since remarried and lives in Plymouth with her husband with whom she has had two children. Searle was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the 2002 Birthday Honours. She was appointed

Member of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

(MVO) in the 2014 New Year Honours for her work with the Royal Family and The Duke of Edinburgh's Award.