Biography
At the age of 21, Holly Budge threw herself out of a perfectly good aeroplane for the first time in New Zealand. That sixty seconds of adrenaline (and sheer terror) changed the course of her life forever. It hadn’t occurred to her that people were getting paid to jump out of aeroplanes for a living! Funnily enough Holly’s school career’s advisor hadn’t mentioned this!
Holly decided that was the job she wanted. Six months later, with lots of training, dedication and hard work, she achieved her rather far-fetched goal. On reflection, she refers to this as the ‘boldness’ of youth as when she set herself that goal, she knew nobody in NZ, she knew nothing about skydiving or filming but none of that mattered because she knew she could learn those skills or at least try. Achieving this goal gave Holly immense confidence and self-belief that she could achieve whatever she set her mind too.
Following on with this positive mindset, Holly has two world records under her belt so far, including being the first woman to skydive Everest and race semi-wild horses 1000 kms across Mongolia in just nine days.
In 2014, Holly graduated with a masters in Sustainable Design and this opened up a world of possibility, knowledge and passion for her. Her award-winning charity How Many Elephants was born.
Holly’s adventures moving forward have a strong social and environmental purpose. She summited Mount Everest to raise awareness and funds for How Many Elephants. To date, Holly has raised £300k.
Recently Holly immersed herself with the Black Mambas, an all female, front-line, anti poaching team in South Africa and she documented their work on film. Holly aims to inspire women globally by showing real life examples of ordinary women who achieve extraordinary things. The Black Mambas are a great example of this and are one of the projects How Many Elephants is supporting.
Holly’s next adventure is to hike the Great Wall of China in its entirety of 3000 miles to humbly carry out research into how elephant ivory fits into their culture and their deep rooted traditions and beliefs. Why? Because she’s curious and passionate about raising awareness of the elephant ivory crisis. Holly believes passion has the power to make a change, personally, locally and globally.
Her mantra is ‘Think Big, Dream Bigger’.
Testimonials
Holly is down to earth, funny and incredibly inspiring.
HRH Prince Edward
One of the UK’s most accomplished female adventurers.
British Airways
Holly pushes boundaries – and then some.
Red Bull
Bloody brilliant!
Founder
Sunday Papers Live
Holly is a remarkable lady with a string of talents. Her passion shines through and her creative talent and commitment to a cause she really cares about has led to her amazing exhibition ‘How Many Elephants’ designed to both educate and stop this horrific cull.
Founder and Chair
Just a Drop
Holly is an engaging, thought provoking and inspirational speaker.
Financial Advisor
St. James’s Place