Alison Young | SpeakerHub

Personal Details

Bio

Alison Young is a dynamic resilience and TEDx speaker whose global hiking adventures serve as a backdrop for her inspiring storytelling. With over 12,000 miles traversed across six continents as a solo, middle-aged long-distance backpacker, Alison offers a unique perspective on embracing challenges and transforming adversity into growth.

Her journey is not just about physical endurance; it reflects her remarkable resilience as a manager of a neurological movement disorder and a cancer survivor. With a titanium-enhanced spirit, she navigates both the trails and trials of life with grace and determination. As a speaker she has been described as "thought provoking and inspiring!" "engaging, emotional and relatable," as well as "even if your hikes are confined to your backyard you’ll be inspired by her tales from the trail.”

Alison Young is an award-winning professional flutist and a syndicated host on American Public Media, renowned for her creative work on the Blissful Hiker Podcast™. This unique podcast weaves together found sound, flute music, and personal essays, offering listeners an immersive experience that has garnered over 100,000 downloads. Her dual expertise as a musician and storyteller resonates deeply with audiences.

Current position (1)

Keynote Speaker and Resilience Expert

Blissful Hiker Productions, LLC

Degrees (2)

Bachelor of Music

University of Southern California

1982 to 1986

Master of Music

Cleveland Institute of Music

1986 to 1988

Presentations

Presentations (3)

Hike Your Own Hike: The Fine Art of Reinvention

Transitions are hard.

Whether we like it or not, failures, setbacks, and ‘cosmic rip-offs’ happen and when they do, they can leave us feeling ungrounded, like we missed a waypoint and are walking the wrong trail.

Yet oftentimes, these moments are opportunities disguised as loss, opening us up to alternative paths on our life journey.

Alison Young is an expert at reinvention. With a variety of identities from world-class professional musician to syndicated radio host to professional backpacker walking over 12,000 miles on six continents, she is uniquely positioned to speak on the subject.

Drawing from over 12,000 miles hiked across six continents, Alison offers a unique perspective on overcoming life’s obstacles with strength and determination, making her an ideal fit for organizations seeking powerful lessons in resilience.

Understand how dark, difficult moments can be tools for empowerment.
Explore 3 ways risk-taking builds resilience.
Shift the thinking surrounding regrets.

Quit with Grit: Intentionally Letting Go as a Key to Success

So many of us know the “secret to success” mantra – quitters don’t win and winners don’t quit – but sometimes, quitting is exactly the right course of action

In fact, quit and grit are two sides of the same coin. Developing the skills to know when to say “no” can open us up to better opportunities to explore more, do more, and find the right things worth sticking to.

As a long-distance backpacker, Alison Young shares her adventure experiences oftentimes in life-threatening situations, where understanding the biases and blocks to quitting helped her find more success and deeper gratification on and off the trail.

Educational outcomes:

Identify 5 biases that block intentional quitting.
Explore the mindset of setting flexible goals to manage uncertain outcomes.
Discover how getting to ‘no’ faster is a powerful skill.

At the Speed of Andante: Capturing the Creative Muse

Andante (on-DON-tay) is a musical term that means “at a moderate walking speed.”

Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Wagner and Bach are just a few of the classical composers who walked in natural settings to capture their muse and compose some of the most enduring music ever written.

What they discovered intuitively was that walking is not separate from creativity – it’s largely responsible for creativity.

Composers and other artists may not have known why walking worked, but there’s scientific evidence to back it up.

This came as welcome news to Alison Young who lives a dual life as a professional musician and long distance backpacker. She shares her enthusiasm for the intersection of classical music and walking as well as ways to tap into your own creativity.

Educational outcomes:

Learn about “impact retrograde” and the power of slow walking.
Find out how forests feed the mind.
Discover how to enhance your own creativity.

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Videos
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Slides (1)
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Press information (1)

This speaker hasn't uploaded any videos yet.

Alison Young, Resilience Speaker

How do you find your bliss? Take the long trail. | Alison Young | TEDxAmoskeagMillyard

Midlife Mavericks â Living Life Happy, Healthy, Sexy & Strong

Books & Articles (2)

Why I Quit Rushing

A Tale of Two Hips

Clients

Minnesota City/County Managers Association (MCMA)

Forbes Councils

American Public Media Group (APMG)

Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education (AORE)

St. Olaf College

Association of Experiential Education (AEE)

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO)

M Health Fairview

Bethel Lutheran Church of Hudson

Schubert Club

American Association of University Women (AAUW)

Recreational Equipment, Inc (REI)

Reviews

Testimonials (1)

Alison brought the Blissful Hiker story to my Forbes Business Council group on public speaking and it was a great opportunity for others interested in public speaking to see a masterful example of a speaker/storyteller in action. Even if your hikes are confined to your backyard you’ll be inspired by her tales from the trail.
Bobbie Carlton
Verified

Personal Details

Presentations

Books & Articles (2)

Expertise (25)

Clients

Reviews