Rebecca Mason

Open heart surgery at age 31 then completed solo 23KM ocean swim from Perth to Rottnest Island two years later

Sharing experiences with open heart surgery at age 31, and the challenges of then becoming 0.001% of Australians to complete a solo 23km ocean swim from Perth to Rottnest Island less than 2 years later

What others say

“We’re a group of 1,800 people, and recently held an all staff conference at the Department of Planning at the Sydney ICC.

The focus of our conference was on how to stay health and resilient so we can deliver for the community. Rebecca was one of our keynote speakers and to me, her speech was the highlight of the day. She spoke about her incredible resilience in the context of significant health challenges and so powerfully about what she learnt from that experience and how it became the basis for a positive transformation that saw her take on incredible endurance events, including long distance swimming (with sharks!).

Rebecca’s authentic and professional presentational style enabled her to connect in a very powerful and meaningful way with her audience and I know her words have stayed with me. She inspired me to think about how I can reframe my perception of adversity and think about it as a learning opportunity.

Rebecca is an exceptional person and I would highly recommend her as a speaker to a wide range of audiences – because her message is really about resilience and learning, it is applicable to just about anyone.”
- Alex O’Mara, Group Deputy Secretary, Department of Planning

There are 3 reasons audiences are highly engaged when hearing Rebecca’s presentation:

1. Raising morale through resilience: As Rebecca’s journey through a heart operation at a comparatively young age at 31, coupled with the training for a professional athletic goal within 2 years of the operation and no prior experience, her story revolves around the key message of resilience. Audiences are encouraged to take inspired action and develop strategies on how they can be more resilient in overcoming fear and obstacles, in their personal and professional lives.  

2. High performance: For audiences which value and align to the message of high performance, Rebecca’s story is one that resonates. Particularly from a swimming perspective, only 0.001% of Australians complete the 20km Perth to Rottnest swim, which encourages an acute and extreme level of high performance. Audiences that are currently, or aspire to be, high performing understand this message.

3. Pure entertainment: Alongside a presentation which focuses on resilience and high performance, she delivers a presentation that keeps audiences on the edge of their seats. In an economy where attention is the new currency, Rebecca’s compelling and entertaining delivery, guarantees high engagement from the audience, and a story they continue to speak about, months after hearing it.

Featured in the media
Rebecca has reached audiences of over 100,000 people through a range of media including Perth News, Seven News, Perth Now, Curtin Radio, news.com.au, NZ Herald et al.

She has delivered presentations to a variety of workplaces and Summits including:

• IPAA Women In STEM Leadership Summit (National)
• NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment, Staff Conference, (Sydney International Convention Centre)
• NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment, Branch Meeting (Sydney)
• Convenience Advertising, (Melbourne)
• Principals Branding Agency, (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, New Zealand)
• Elouera Surf Life Saving Club, Sydney
• The Baird Institute, Sydney

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