Today we meet sisters Tania John and Rebecca Hughes who have combined their diverse professional backgrounds to reignite a shared passion for outdoor adventure. Last year Tania and Rebecca co-founded the Women’s Adventure Expo – the first adventure and travel expo in the UK dedicated to women – and, following huge success, they are now preparing for their second Expo in October. We spoke to Rebecca to find out what inspired the dynamic duo to use their motivation for doing what they love as a platform to inspire others. ~ Rachel
Checking out the Cornish surf: Tania (R) and Rebecca (L), 1980s
1. How are you doing what you love?
It is difficult to work at the Women’s Adventure Expo and not feel happy about what you are doing; it’s incredibly rewarding. On a regular basis we connect with people who are looking for adventure, both internally and externally: people who want to change; people who want to discover themselves and the world around them; and people who are often just searching for that little extra piece of validation before they commit to a life-changing plan. Connecting with these people brings a very tangible realisation that we all have the ability to change our internal view of life, through our external experience.
It is amazing how celebrating Women’s Adventure can balance huge achievement and challenge, with the most humble and intrinsic stages of a personal journey. It’s also pretty cool to be working with your sister on something you both love!
Rebecca chilling at her local Hiking spot around Hay Tor, Dartmoor, UK
2. What is the Adventure Women’s Expo?
As well as being the first adventure and travel expo in the UK dedicated to women, we are a pioneering social enterprise, which empowers women who are interested in adventure and exploration. We are committed to the growth of a positive global platform that celebrates and inspires women through adventure. We believe in making adventure accessible and inclusive to all women no matter what age, ability and stage of life. By connecting people, supporting one another and encouraging women to challenge themselves, we aim to raise awareness for – and collaborate with – projects that harness ethical purpose and create opportunities to expand our social value.
Tania Rock-hopping in the Altai Mountains, Russian Federation
3. Tell us about your own journey to this point; when, and how, did you discover your passion for adventure? How has your childhood influenced you? How have your past experiences shaped you?
Tania and I were brought up to enjoy the natural world. Free time was often spent hiking, playing on farms and messing about on boats. Family holidays were usually in the Lake District, climbing what always felt like HUGE mountains. Tania was normally striding ahead, while I lagged behind asking “are we there yet?” Our positive experience of having so much outdoor freedom has stayed with us: it’s part of who we are. We come alive when we are outdoors.
We both feel passionately about the greater good a community like ours can achieve, and the opportunities that we can create to empower women through adventure. We understand how adventure and outdoor challenges can start a powerful cycle of positive reinforcement in women, and the aim of the Women’s Adventure Expo is to do just that.
Tania outside Three Sisters Adventure Trekking, Nepal
4. What inspired you to start the Women’s Adventure Expo?
As adults, Tania and I started different companies, which both involved elements of adventure. Then one day we shared a conversation about how we wanted to play our part in the travel and outdoor industry going forward. Having both had first-hand experience, we had noticed that a general perception exists in our society: that Adventure is a more ‘male’ choice. This miss-conception means that women’s adventure often gets over-looked by the media, producing limiting beliefs regarding risk and ability. While the perception of masculine adventure is noble and heroic, women often have to contend with negative or constrictive social stereotypes, which can leave them feeling lonely and isolated.
The concept of the Women’s Adventure Expo was born while we were sharing our knowledge and experiences of this. We couldn’t understand why we weren’t hearing more about all the inspiring women who were out there organising amazing adventures so we wanted to change that. Putting on an expo seemed like the perfect solution: an opportunity for inspirational women to share their stories to encourage other women to shake-off their limiting beliefs and see that adventure is totally accessible.
We took the plunge and launched Women’s Adventure Expo in 2015 and there was a tremendously positive energy surrounding the event. This in itself was inspiring, and the feedback motivated us to take things forward. While we are both committed to creating a successful business, neither of us are really motivated by money, and we had lots of creative ideas of how we could develop WAExpo further and setting up a social enterprise was a fitting next step.
5. Who is the Women’s Adventure Expo aimed at and what can we expect from this year’s event?
The Women’s Adventure Expo is aimed at anyone with an interest in the outdoor world, those who love adventure and those looking to find out more about adventure. We often get asked if men are allowed to come and the answer is YES, absolutely! Celebrating and promoting women’s adventure is something we want everyone to do. At this year’s event you will hear incredible awe-inspiring stories from leading female adventurers on the main stage. There will also be motivational workshops to share the positive benefits of adventure, and the Lowe Alpine sessions will deliver practical ‘How To Guides’ to help you further your adventure career.
Mollie Hughes delivering a workshop at 2015 WAExpo
6. What benefits does adventure bring?
Women often seek internal validation from adventure and personal development. Once you have attempted and (hopefully!) completed a challenge, your boundaries shift, you learn what is possible, and start believing that you can rather than that you can’t! Of course it’s also lovely to be outside in nature and enjoy your place in the natural environment! Not to mention the fun that can be had by participating in outdoor pursuits. I have never heard anyone say that spending time outdoors has had a negative impact on their life. Being outdoors can ground you, amaze you and challenge you to understand the best of you, all in one go!
This year we actually have a workshop by Belinda Kirk on ‘Why we all need adventure in our lives’ so buy a ticket and come and find out!
Felicity Aston, Lois Pryce, Rosie Stancer & Ann Daniels were speakers at the 2015 WAExpo
7. Why do so many women miss out on opportunities to live more adventurously?
Felicity Aston MBE was our headline speaker at the Women’s Adventure Expo 2015 and she is an incredibly inspiring and very humble person. Our favourite quote from her talk was “our limits are our choice”, as this is so true! We believe that the reason most women struggle to embrace the idea of adventure is that they have set self-limiting perceptions.
You don’t have to walk to the North Pole or climb Everest to have an adventure, just do something as simple as a wild night out or get involved in an organised challenge. This year Elise Downing, who is currently running around the coast of the UK, will share how she took her first steps into the world of adventure.
8. What’s next for you?
We are working on more events for 2017. The Women’s Adventure Expo is planning to deliver events sharing information on particular types of Adventure and also events for specific groups of women. We are also developing plans to facilitate some fantastic community projects. Watch this space!
9. What are your top tips for anyone who dreams of having an adventure, or going on an expedition, but isn’t sure how to make it happen?
Come along to this year’s Women’s Adventure Expo! We have a series of workshops, sponsored by Lowe Alpine, which take any budding adventurer on a journey from starting out to securing sponsorship to how best to share your adventure to inspire others.
We think that one of the best ways to start making your dream a reality is to connect with like-minded people and get them on board. Find an adventure mentor, discuss your plans with them, and ask them lots of questions. There are plenty of support groups, organisations and societies that can give you advice and help you plan and organise your adventure. If you plan to do a big expedition the Royal Geographical society can provide a wealth of resources and knowledge. The most important step is to commit to your plan then start developing your own knowledge and exercising your mind and body bit by bit. Take it step by step.
10. What would you say to anyone who isn’t doing what they love?
Why? Sometimes listening to your own excuses can be the only motivation you need. Most of the reasons we give ourselves for not doing what we love are simply based on fear – of taking on too big a challenge, of change, of learning something new, of pushing out of our comfort zone, of failing, of working hard, etc. From our own experiences doing what you love isn’t always easy; ‘never give up’ becomes your motto. Nothing worthwhile comes easily because of the incredible value that it plays in your own personal growth.
Doing what you love – and also doing what makes you happy and doing what you find satisfying and rewarding – can be two different things. Generally, both go together, however in any adventure there will be parts of the journey that you certainly won’t love. Risk and fear are not enjoyable at the time, but afterwards you appreciate them because you learn, grow and emerge from your experience wiser than you were before. Overcoming fear makes you stronger.
You have to ask yourself what your reasons are for not pursuing what you love, and try and understand them. Then you have to figure out if your life will be better or worse for not taking any action towards your dreams. Everything we do has ups and downs, pros and cons, and most of the time that perfect job or situation doesn’t fall in to our laps. It’s often a case of taking baby steps towards our dreams. I think it’s really important to keep learning, researching, and looking for opportunities. If you can keep an open mind and stay positive sooner or later things come together and then there is often a crunch point when you just have to bite the bullet, take a risk and go for it.
11. Finally, a quote/saying you live by…
We love: “She didn’t know it couldn’t be done, so she went ahead and did it.”
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The Women’s Adventure Expo takes place in Bristol on Saturday, October 8 2016 and offers a content-filled day of motivational adventure speakers and workshops. Event tickets and annual memberships are now on sale and can be purchased online until Friday, September 30 at www.womensadventureexpo.co.uk
