Lisa Ellen Niver
A little bit about Lisa…
Lisa Niver is a Telly Award-winning travel journalist, TV host, author, and global adventurer who has explored all seven continents and visited over 100 countries. She is the award-winning author of Brave-ish: One Breakup, Six Continents, and Feeling Fearless After Fifty, and a sought-after international speaker who inspires audiences with her bold storytelling and transformative journeys.
A former science teacher turned travel expert, Lisa spent seven years at sea working for Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean International, and Renaissance Cruises, and three years backpacking across Asia, immersing herself in diverse cultures and landscapes. Her memoir shares the story of her personal reinvention, including the 50 challenges she completed before turning 50, proving that adventure and self-discovery can begin at any age.
Her travel tales are nothing short of epic: diving the SS President Coolidge wreck in Vanuatu, walking with polar bears in Canada, standing on the rim of an active volcano, and hula-hooping on the fast ice south of the Antarctic Circle—followed by a polar plunge, of course. She's swum with whale sharks, skydived, mountain biked, and even danced with Maasai warriors and inmates at Iwahig Prison in the Philippines.
Lisa’s work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Reader’s Digest, USA Today 10Best, AARP, WIRED, Wharton Magazine, AAA Explorer, and more. She is the founder of We Said Go Travel and the host of the global podcast Make Your Own Map, where she interviews visionaries like Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and bestselling authors.
Her engaging TV segments air on The Jet Set TV, including her award-winning travel special on Ireland, and her YouTube channel has over 2.5 million views. Lisa has received 20 honors for her work: 10 book awards for Brave-ish, 9 journalism awards (including Southern California Journalism Awards and National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards), and the prestigious Telly Award for travel television.
Whether she's on stage, on screen, or under the sea, Lisa Niver empowers others to step boldly into the unknown, make their own maps, and embrace the fearless joy of reinvention.