Lynne is an inspirational/motivational speaker, New York Times Best Selling Author, and World Record Breaking Athlete. She was the Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year, awarded Glamour Magazine's Woman of the year, honored with the UCSB Award for Courage, and inducted into the Swimming Hall of Fame. Breaking all world records for open-water swimming she was the first person to swim across the Bering Strait (and she swims without a wetsuit!). Lynne also broke the men's and women's English Channel records twice when she was fifteen and sixteen years old. With support from her South African special forces crew, she swam around the Cape of Good Hope, encountering twenty foot waves, sharks, and sea snakes. She was the first person to swim across the Straits of Magellan in forty-two degree water, and in 2002 she was the first to swim 1.22 miles in thirty-two degree water from the ship the Orlova to the shores of Antarctica.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)