Ema Dantas
Overcoming the Mental Mountains in the Path to Success

Climbing past the Hillary Step and the grim reminder of human mortality tethered to it, Ema Dantas was washed away by a sense of relief as she planted her feet on the peak of Mount Everest. It was done, the ordeal was over. She had conquered the seven summits of the world. A feat few have accomplished and the first Portuguese person to complete the seven summits challenge, both versions.

“After descending back to the Everest base camp, I gave away my crampons and down suit to my Sherpa, feeling content with what I had achieved and with a newfound purpose of sharing my experience with others to motivate them,” says Dantas, speaker, philanthropist and advisor.

She is a philanthropist, adventurer, entrepreneur and an award-winning keynote speaker who has appeared in Canadian and international media for her entrepreneurial and business accomplishments. She founded the Peaks for Change foundation to spread mental health awareness and dispel the stigma associated with it. She undertook the daunting task of climbing the seven summits of the world while representing her foundation to bring some limelight to it and its message.

Dantas speaks of overcoming physical and mental obstacles through her experience. She shares her journey, her failings, moments of weakness and triumphs to motivate others through her story so that everyone can work on their vision despite their shortcomings. Dantas stresses that limitations shouldn’t determine whether someone tries something or not. She laments how people don’t succeed because they are too afraid to take the first step. According to her, failure shouldn’t be a taboo. Rather, it highlights the areas of improvement as immortalized by Edison’s “I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work” quote.

Her book is aptly named Mental Mountains and dives deeper into her journey, personal shortcomings and her triumphs. She highlights the stigma associated with mental health and advocates for reaching one’s potential despite their mental mountains and showcases how the outdoors and her achievements improved her mental health.

In her keynote speech, Dantas motivates her audience through these tales of adventure, her business acumen through entrepreneurship and how others can empower and enrich their careers with it. Dantas delivers her speeches in four variations. Speech one is focused on cultivating one’s strength to release their full potential. She recounted the metaphorical and literal mountains she faced and used them to move forward, which is a testament to the fact that age, gender or physical attributes should never be a barrier to pursuing one’s dreams.

The second variation of her speech deals with the mental mountains people face. Dantas shows how mountaineering and entrepreneurship are similar in many aspects through this speech. Just as a mountaineer conquers a peak, an entrepreneur overcomes challenges and takes risks to navigate unforeseen circumstances.

Her third speech helps the audience in finding their strength when faced with adversaries. Dantas’s mountain climbing journey compelled her to look deep within herself to find her strength and resilience in her faith in Jesus, who, as a steward, guided her in her journey of conquering those heights. Similarly, others too can find the strength they need to summit the peaks of their life. She also gives customized speeches for varying organizations and groups by gearing her speech to deliver the desired message using her experience as a catalyst.

This was tested recently when Dantas addressed the Mississauga Prayer Room. She had a broken foot but she put on her boots to deliver her speech to a room full of politicians, some of whom she admired. After the speech, the first woman chief firefighter in Ontario and leaders from political parties came up to her to praise her speech and how her accomplishments despite her failings inspired them greatly and in a way the people she admired started admiring her back as well.

Dantas is a firm believer that businesses and people are successful when they are passionate about it and understand the work that is being done. A good leader is someone who can relate to and understand everyone else’s job in the corporation. Dantas reinvigorates others to find their passions to overcome the mental mountains in their lives.