Ms. Silvia Vásquez-Lavado

Ms. Silvia Vásquez-Lavado is a Peruvian-American mountaineer, author, and humanitarian whose life and work explore how adversity can be transformed into purpose. She is the first Peruvian woman to summit Mount Everest and the first openly gay woman to complete the Seven Summits, the highest peaks on every continent.

Born and raised in Peru and a survivor of childhood trauma, Silvia found healing in the wilderness. The mountains taught her that strength grows through vulnerability, humility, and interdependence, the same truths that bind every living system. She later founded Courageous Girls, a nonprofit guiding survivor of sexual violence toward empowerment through the restorative power of nature. Her memoir, In the Shadow of the Mountain, won the UK's Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year, has been translated into eleven languages, and is being developed into a feature film. Silvia is a member of The Explorers Club, and is now convening a global all-women Everest expedition for 2027, redefining success as collective rather than individual triumph.

For Silvia, healing ourselves and healing our relationship with the Earth are not separate journeys, but one: connected, interdependent, and endlessly regenerative.