Speaker of the day: Olivia Chaloin — Individual and collective motivation

Olivia Chaloin is a personality who describes herself as atypical. She is of Colombian origin and did not have an easy childhood. Handicapped from birth, she was abandoned by her biological mother just hours after her birth, then subsequently adopted by a Swiss family. In her youth, Olivia erected "insurmountable barriers" and "mountains of impossible," as she often says.

However, from this past, she draws her taste for travel, for exploration, for conquering the landscape beyond the horizon. Always going further to find her place.

It was truly with Yves, her partner, that she was able to realize this need to visit elsewhere. And it was on her bicycle that Olivia found her way; it is the best vehicle for her, the only one that gives her the ability to deeply discover sites, to move forward, and to discover herself as well. On a bike, Olivia feels much stronger. She understands that to achieve a result, one must work. Yes, it requires endurance, perseverance; one must learn to fall, make good choices, or even audacious choices. She learned a great deal throughout her travels, notably how to mobilize her strengths, change her perspective on herself and others, but above all, to find herself, to believe in herself, to "dare to be oneself."

"The bicycle is a formidable revealer. With it, there are no pretenses," she quotes, recalling that cycling allowed her to overcome her disability and exceed her limits to overcome her weaknesses. On a bike, she learned to cope. This personification of the bicycle is interesting because she sometimes had to fight it (often even), accept it, and sometimes learn to smile at it.

Today, Olivia takes on various sporting challenges. She climbs mountains, crosses arid deserts or polar regions. Aware of her limits, she allows herself to dream the impossible.

And then, cycling taught me to love nature. You slip into it silently, you nestle into it. Sometimes wild, sometimes loving, it always opens the door to those who know how to observe it with kindness.

Passionate about wide-open spaces and wild landscapes, Olivia is amazed by nature, with which she loves to confront herself.

During her conferences, Olivia Chaloin shares this love of sport and adventure in a captivating story.Languages spoken by the speaker

• German (Swiss German)
• French

Olivia Chaloin gives conferences in French-speaking Switzerland and French-speaking countries. With UnoMe, you can benefit from Olivia Chaloin's experience. She explains how to mobilize and exceed one's limits.

She can share her accomplished challenges and her experiences during her cycling expeditions.

• Resilience, or how to react to adversity; tools for overcoming difficulties.
• Project management: mobilizing everyone's strengths allows for thinking bigger!
• Stepping out of one's comfort zone: stimulating creativity, desire, and productivity.
• Motivation
• Travel stories

Challenges met!

• Around the World II – 2005 | 2007, tandem with Yves, 38620 km in 736 days.
• North Cape in winter – 2010 | 2011, tandem with Yves, 1954 km in 51 days