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Meet Jessica....
Jessica Buchanan: Teacher, Author, Humanitarian, Speaker, Survivor
On October 25, 2011, while on a routine field mission in Somalia, working as the Education Advisor for her non-governmental organization, Jessica was abducted at gunpoint and held for ransom by a group of Somali pirates for 93 days. Forced to live outdoors in deplorable conditions, starved, and terrorized by more than two dozen gangsters, Jessica’s health steadily deteriorated until, by order of President Obama, she was rescued by the elite SEAL Team VI on January 25, 2012.
Jessica’s ordeal is detailed in her New York Times bestselling memoir, Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six. Her story became the most highly viewed 60 Minutes episode to air, and she has been recognized by Newsweek as one of the “150 Women Who Will Shake the World.”​
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Today, Jessica’s work centers on the transformative message that survival is not the end of the story — it is the beginning. Through her platform, How to Survive Survival, she teaches individuals and organizations how to turn life’s most difficult moments into catalysts for meaning, contribution, and radical personal change. Her TEDx Pearl Street talk, “Change is Your Proof of Life,” continues to serve as the cornerstone of her mission: to help others reclaim agency in the aftermath of crisis.
​Jessica is the author of multiple books, including How to Survive Survival: A Guide for Turning Life’s Hardest Moments Into Meaningful Contribution for the World, and her sixth book, Deserts to Mountaintops: Out of the Ashes, will be released in January 2026. She is also the host of the How to Survive Survival podcast, where she explores what it truly means not just to endure, but to rise, rebuild, and reimagine a life after the unthinkable.
When she’s not writing or speaking, Jessica is traveling the world with her Swedish husband and two “half Vikings.” She aims to lead a life shaped by curiosity, culture, and a deep appreciation for the resilience of the human spirit.
