Jo Rust is a world record holder, speaker, author, mental health coach and activist, and a member of the MENSA high IQ society.

I have the extraordinary honour of sharing my story with audiences around the world. My greatest passion and purpose in life is to help inspire others to equip themselves with the tools they need to live their best life!

Mine is a story one of both tragedy and miracles.

Jo Rust knew exactly what she wanted to be when I grow up when I was eight years old. I wanted to be a scientist I wanted to help people, and I wanted to win a Nobel prize.

Though life had a few detours planned for me, and for a while I forgot who I truly was.

Jo Rust has suffered from social anxiety disorder and depression from an young age. Growing up, I was considered a ‘gifted child’. Academics was always easy for me (nerd alert), but dealing with alcohol, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse at home, not so much. 

The first time Jo Rust attempted to take her own life, she was only twelve years old. 

My father’s words to me: “you’ll never make it in this world because you’re just too sensitive”. 

At age 24 I lost my first love to suicide. An overwhelmingly tragic day that completely changed the course of my life. 

Jo Rust | Inspiring Motivational Speaker

It was a pivotal moment that made me decide that I wanted to achieve at least ONE great thing in my life. I ran towards the biggest dream I could think of that scared the living daylights out of me. I quit my job and set out to circumnavigate the African continent on my own.

It took four years of planning, raising funds and convincing people that I wasn’t out of my mind. 

45 000 kilometers and 28 countries later, I set the world record as the first woman in history to circumnavigate the entire African continent, on a motorcycle, solo. 

I wrote and published a book, became the first female global brand ambassador for BMW, and launched my career in sharing my story through speaking and coaching.

I’ve survived a total of eight suicide attempts in my life, and it took me traveling more than the length of the circumference of our planet to remember who I was.

And now, at the doorstep of my forties, I’ve overcome the adversities and my struggles with mental illness to study towards entering medical school to become a doctor specialising in psychiatry. I am a mental health activist who shares all her knowledge and tools with others by way of motivational speaking, writing, and coaching.

A scientist, who helps people, and is not all that concerned with winning the Nobel prize anymore.

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