Peggy Bouchet is an adventurer, whom we all remember as that daring woman who decided to row across the Atlantic, stating loud and clear: “You should always be bold, give in at times but never give up ».

Shortly after graduating in corporate and management law, the young export finance engineer at Alcatel decided to do everything she could to bring her plans to fruition: to row single-handed across the Atlantic, a considerable feat that had never before been achieved by a woman. After the idea came the planning: Peggy had to raise funds, find sponsors and work on the perfect boat. She sailed across the Atlantic as a crew member on a yacht to gain experience on the high seas before throwing herself into her adventure. On March 10, 1998, following final careful preparations with her team, Peggy gave the first stroke of the oar – the first of one million – as she left the Canaries and headed for the West Indies. A voyage of 5,500 km and 79 days lay ahead, as she rowed 10 hours every day, sometimes in troughs of up to 8 m! And then disaster struck: Peggy capsized and was stranded 120 km off Guadeloupe in raging seas. For nine long hours she clung to the side of her boat as it began to sank, with no hope of saving it. Peggy herself ended up being rescued only in extremis.

But Peggy refused to admit defeat: 18 months later, she left Cape Verde. Never forgetting her motto – Be bold, give in at times but never give up – she embarked on the 4,400 km crossing, arriving victorious in Martinique on January 5, 2000.

Peggy’s exploits were covered far and wide in the media, and she secured a number of partnerships and advertising contracts from major brands: Peugeot, Citroën, BMW, SFR and Roxy Quicksilver to name a few. Television and radio fought over her, and she began giving talks across Europe. She took part, for instance, in the TED X at the prestigious London School of Economics on March 2016 on the theme: Be an adventurer in your life.

Peggy was elected chair of the European Envie d’Agir panel, set up by the French Ministry of Youth and Sport to encourage and showcase the entrepreneurial mindset among young project promoters. She was patron of the class of 2009/2010 at the Ecole des Mines in Paris, where she is a lecturer. But that’s not all! Peggy was a member of the panel for the 2016/2017 Women of Influence awards and patron of the Extraordinary Voyages Prize awarded by the Lombard Odier Foundation and Libres Ensemble. This event is organised by the Organisme International de la Francophonie (OIF) and the frigate Hermione Lafayette. The Hermione will stop off in 11 ports with hundreds of young sailors on board, mobilised by the OIF to support citizen-led, artistic and economic youth initiatives. It’s a bold project that demonstrates once again that the sea is an extraordinary “university of life”.

Finally, in 2018/2019 Peggy is making preparations for a cinema film on a subject she knows all about, bravery: « Osez! »