Jay Stevens

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  • WORLD-FIRST PARAPLEGIC ULTRAMARATHON WALKER

Your excuses don't stand a chance.

After a helicopter crash left him paralysed, Jay Stevens rebuilt his body over years of slow, unglamorous work, becoming the first paraplegic in history to walk to Everest Base Camp without a wheelchair, and the first to complete a full-course ultramarathon anywhere in the world. 

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Watch The Journey
  • The Origin Story

One second changed everything. What followed took years.

At 32, Jay Stevens was fit, fast, and moving through life when a helicopter went down in the Australian outback. The crash lasted seconds. What followed lasted years. 

The doctors were measured and clear: he would never walk again. Not unlikely. Not probably not. Never. 

Jay did not argue. He did the work. 

Four years of rehabilitation, slow, unglamorous, and largely invisible. Progress measured in millimetres. Muscles retrained from scratch. Some days moved. Most didn’t. What stayed constant was Jay showing up anyway. 

In 2023, he walked to Everest Base Camp without a wheelchair, the first paraplegic in history.  

In 2025, he crossed the finish line of the 78km Bondi to Manly Ultramarathon, another world first. Both built the same way: one stubborn, relentless step at a time. 

“You’ve got to want it, especially when no one is watching.”

– Jay Stevens

  • Keynote Topics

Three keynotes. One earned perspective.

01

Building Resilience

Thriving Under Pressure

What to do when momentum disappears and the work still needs doing. 

  • Turning setbacks into opportunities
  • Developing mental toughness
  • Embracing challenges as a path to growth
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02

Leadership

Inspiring Action Through Adversity

Accountability, ownership, and performance when pressure doesn’t lift and excuses would be easy. 

  • Taking ownership and accountability
  • Leading by example in difficult situations
  • Motivating teams to perform under pressure
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03

Achieving the Impossible

Overcoming Limits

Four years of evidence distilled into a framework for greater possibility.

  • Breaking limits, from Everest to ultramarathons.
  • The mindset required to tackle extraordinary challenges
  • Turning ambition into action and results
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Key Takeaways

Audience Outcomes

Audiences leave with practical resilience strategies, leadership insights, and renewed motivation to embrace challenges and achieve more together.

  • Practical strategies to overcome challenges and thrive under
  • Tools to build resilient, high-performing teams
  • Motivation to embrace challenges as opportunities for growth
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Organisations Jay has inspired

  • What audiences say

Jay doesn't just move audiences.
He changes what they think is possible.

  • Leadership Keynote

We recently had the privilege of hosting Jay as a guest speaker, and the feedback has been outstanding. Jay has a real ability to turn his personal journey into broader lessons we can all learn from particularly around resilience, perspective, grit, and staying focused on what truly matters. Highly recommend Jay as an inspiring and impactful speaker!

Kylie Matheson

Business Manager · Marketing & Device Tech

  • Industry Conference

It is with great enthusiasm that I recommend Jay Stevens as an outstanding and inspiring public speaker. His genuine honesty, authenticity, and pragmatic motivational messages make him a valuable addition to any event or organisation aiming to inspire and empower individuals to realise and surpass their full potential.

Dana Radford

Associate Marketing Director
Johnson & Johnson Vision

  • Leadership Keynote

Mars Wrigley had the honor of having Jay join our recent Sales and Marketing conference to share his incredible story with our Associates, compelling, authentic and spellbinding. Strong messaging on resilience and team work told in a compassionate way resonated for the team both personally and professionally….I can’t recommend Jay enough and he’s a bloody great bloke!

Andrew Leakey

General Manager
Mars Wrigley Australia

  • As Featured In

Jay's story has captured the world

Television, print, digital, and radio. A selection of Jay’s most significant media appearances.

Dad told he'd never walk again makes it to Mount Everest base camp

After being paralysed in a helicopter crash, Jay Stevens defied expectations by becoming the first paraplegic to walk to Mount Everest Base Camp without a wheelchair. 

Watch

January 21, 2024

Jay Stevens' Mountain Miracle: From Paralysis to Everest Base Camp

A life-changing accident left Jay Stevens paralysed, but his determination carried him all the way to Mount Everest Base Camp in an extraordinary feat of resilience.

Watch

January 21, 2024

Jay Stevens Preparing to Trek Everest in an Inspiring Display of Resilience

Five years after a helicopter crash left him paralysed, Jay Stevens is proving the impossible possible as he sets his sights on the world’s highest peak.

Watch

June 24, 2023

Sydney Father First Paraplegic to Reach Everest Base Camp

A remarkable feat of resilience has seen Sydney father Jay Stevens become the first paraplegic to reach Mount Everest Base Camp unaided by a wheelchair.

Watch

January 26, 2024

Aussie paraplegic becomes first to climb to Mount Everest base camp without chair

Australian paraplegic Jay Stevens has achieved the impossible, becoming the first person in his condition to reach Everest Base Camp without a wheelchair.

Watch

January 22, 2024

Jay Stevens inspirational entrepreneur

Northern Beaches Dad Makes History in Bondi to Manly Ultra-Marathon

A Northern Beaches father has made history by becoming the first paraplegic to complete the full Bondi to Manly Ultra-Marathon, proving that determination knows no limits.

Watch

October 25, 2025

  • FEATURED

Ready to move your Audience?
Book Jay for your Next Event

Jay speaks at corporate conferences, leadership events, award nights, and school presentations across Australia and internationally.

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Building Resilience

Thriving Under Pressure

In the rehab ward, there are no shortcuts. Progress is invisible for weeks at a time. The work continues regardless. That is exactly what this keynote is about. 

Jay draws on four years of rehabilitation to examine what performing under sustained pressure actually requires — not the surge of courage that arrives in a crisis, but the daily discipline of showing up when there is no momentum to rely on. It is a framework built from evidence, not theory. 

What the audience leaves with

  • How to stay consistent when motivation disappears and results are slow
  • The mindset shift that turns adversity from a setback into a signal
  • Practical tools for building resilience as a daily practice, not a response to crisis
  • How discipline and accountability create performance when conditions don't improve

Best Fit

Leadership conferences, sales off-sites, corporate events, high-performance teams, healthcare, finance and technology organisations, and any business navigating change.

Leadership

Inspiring Action Through Adversity

True leadership is not revealed in the good moments. It is revealed in the moments when the situation is difficult, the outcome is uncertain, and the easiest thing to do is pass the responsibility to someone else. 

This keynote challenges leaders and teams to rethink accountability, ownership, and what it actually looks like to lead when the pressure is highest. Jay draws on the structures he built to get himself through rehabilitation structures that are directly transferable to any team operating under sustained pressure. 

What the audience leaves with

  • How to build accountability structures that hold when conditions change
  • What leading by example looks like when there is no guarantee of the outcome
  • How to build trust and culture within teams under sustained pressure
  • The difference between motivation and ownership and why only one is reliable

Best Fit

Executive leadership events, management summits, team-building conferences, corporate retreats, and organisations focused on culture and performance.

Achieving the Impossible

Overcoming Limits

The ceiling on human performance is almost always set by the mind before the body has had a chance to weigh in. Jay has tested this personally from a hospital bed to Everest Base Camp, from learning to walk again to completing a 78km ultramarathon as the first paraplegic in history. 

This keynote is not about inspiration. It is about method. The mechanics of pursuing a goal that seems unreachable: how to structure the work, how to act before you feel ready, and how small daily decisions create outcomes that once seemed impossible. 

What the audience leaves with

  • A framework for setting and pursuing goals that currently feel out of reach
  • How to develop the courage to act before conditions feel right
  • The compounding effect of small daily discipline on extraordinary outcomes
  • How to shift the team's conversation from what's impossible to what's next

Best Fit

Sales conferences, innovation events, sporting organisations, entrepreneurial forums, educational institutions, and high-impact leadership events.