Holly Budge: From Extreme Adventure to Protecting Elephants and Empowering Women Rangers

Holly Budge is a global keynote speaker on risk, innovation, and human potential, operating at the intersection of conservation, science, and bold ideas. As an Everest summiteer and the first woman to skydive Everest, she now focuses less on surviving extremes and more on solving the complex conservation challenges shaping our future.  As founder of international NGO How Many Elephants and World Female Ranger Week, Holly explores how nature, technology, and innovation can work together to design smarter systems, from using bees as bio-engineers to reduce human-elephant conflict in Africa, to empowering women as front-line wildlife rangers. Her work has reached over 500 million people globally, been featured in Forbes, and praised by Sir David Attenborough. In this episode, Holly shares powerful insights from her journey between extreme adventure and global conservation work, including how her definition of risk and purpose has evolved over time. We dive into the real-world impact of wildlife conservation projects, from elephant corridors and bee-based deterrents to the rise of female ranger teams protecting some of the world's most vulnerable ecosystems. Listen to this episode to hear how adventure can become a force for global change, why women are reshaping the future of conservation, and what it takes to turn bold ideas into real-world impact at scale. ***  New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast drop every Tuesday at 7 AM (UK time)! Make sure to subscribe so you never miss the inspiring journeys and incredible stories of tough women pushing boundaries.  Do you want to support the Tough Girl Mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media in the world of adventure and physical challenges? Support via Patreon! Join me in making a difference by signing up here: www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast.  Your support makes a difference.  Thank you x *** Show notes Who is Holly Being an adventurer and passionate conservationist  Founder of How Many Elephants, Wildlife Positive Travel and World Female Ranger Week First speaking to Holly March 26th 2019 on the Tough Girl Podcast   Recap on what was discussed on that episode  Deciding to move to New Zealand in 2019 Training for the Coast to Coast Race  Learning how to kayak especially for this race  Getting over her fear of fast moving water Doing a training course and getting to a Grade 2 whitewater certification Doing the challenge solo and being supported by her mum at the checkpoints Working on her charity - How Many Elephants  How have things changed for the elephants over the years  How poaching numbers have come down  Human elephant conflict and how it has increased over the years Partnering with an NGO in Tanzania  Elephants being scared off bees and creating elephant corridors  Dr Lucy King  Why it works differently in Asia  How her definition of adventure has changed over the years Heading out with armed rangers Creating world female ranger week in 2021 and how it's gotten bigger and bigger every year Reaching over 500 million people!! The importance of women in these roles Why it matters that women are involved  The Black Mambas - the all female anti -poaching team  Women are proving to be way less corruptible than men June 23rd - 30th - world female ranger week - same week - every year How it has evolved to - Women in conservative  Amanda Dungeon - Ambassador - world female ranger week Listen to Amanda on the Tough Girl Podcast The goal of getting the untold stories out there Connecting donors and their money to the right projects  Conservation without funding is just conversation  Needing to be able to track and measure the money and the impact Making her money via speaking events at corporates and conferences  Looking at sustainable tourism - with Wildlife Positive Travel  Why every year is different Moving into a camper van and planning to drive to New Zealand How does it work with her husband? Training for the Montane Arctic Spine Race (290 miles)  Cold weather experience and training  Training with Chat GBP How to connect with Holly on social media Putting herself into more uncomfortable situations Final words of advice and wisdom for other women who want to get outside their comfort zone Think Tall - Start Small Get prepared  Win or Learn Smile through the pain A positive mindset is a resilient mindset   Social Media Holly Budge Website: www.hollybudge.com Instagram: @hollybudge LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/hollybudge Wildlife Positive Travel Website: www.wildlifepositivetravel.com Instagram: @wildlifepositivetravel How Many Elephants Website: howmanyelephants.org Instagram: @howmanyelephants World Female Ranger Week Website: www.worldfemalerangerweek.org Instagram: @worldfemalerangerweek