Topic: Passion

Bill Lester

Bill Lester is an author, keynote speaker, and a former NASCAR driver. Bill Lester holds a B.S. degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. He has raced in the SCCA Trans-Am Series, IMSA Series, NASCAR Truck series and is one of only three African American drivers to ever race in NASCAR’S premier Cup Series. In 2003 and 2004, General Mills featured Lester on Honey Nut Cheerios collector edition cereal boxes.

Lester’s TV work began in 2003 with a two-year stint as a broadcast analyst for the Fox Sports South show “Around the Track”. In 2014, he also worked as a Broadcast Analyst for the NBC Sports show “NASCAR America.”

Bill Lester retired from professional racing in 2012, but he made a triumphant return in March of 2021 when at the age of 60 years old, he raced in NASCAR’s Truck Series at the Atlanta Motor speedway to support diversity efforts within NASCAR and promote his memoir. Bill Lester’s memoir, Winning in Reverse: Defying the Odds and Achieving Dreams—The Bill Lester Story was published by Pegasus Books in February 2021 and has been distributed by Simon and Schuster. It is the amazing and dramatic story of one of the most well-known NASCAR drivers in history—and a pioneer whose determination and spirit has paved the way for a new generation of racers.

Winning in Reverse tells the story of Bill Lester whose love for racing eventually compelled him to quit his job as an engineer to pursue racing full time. Bill still had a trifecta of odds against him: he was black, he was middle-aged, and he wasn’t a southerner. Bill Lester rose above it all, as did his rankings, and he made history time and time again, becoming the first African American to race in NASCAR’s Busch Series, the first to participate in the Nextel Cup and the first to win a Pole Position start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Bill Lester’s life story resonates with those contemplating a career or lifestyle change, challenging social norms, or struggling against prejudice or bigotry. His ability to persevere in the face of adversity is what make him a compelling speaker for the ages.  Bill Lester’s memoir has received rave reviews and currently sits on Amazon at 4.8 out of 5 stars.

He has received multiple awards, among them the Sam Lacy Pioneer Award from the National Association of Black Journalists and the Trailblazer Award from RYSE Magazine.

Isabel Suppé

Isabel Suppé is a Survivor with a capital S. But more than just that, she's also a climber, a writer, a long-distance cyclist, an adventurer and a true polyglot who speaks six languages. Suppé, a native of Germany discovered her two great passions at a very young age: mountains and words.

After many joyful childhood climbs with her German grand-parents, Suppé moved to France, then won a scholarship to the United States and eventually chose to continue her postgraduate studies in Buenos Aires. And it was in Argentina where her love affair with the Andes began. Irresistibly drawn to the highest peaks of the Americas, Suppé turned into a full-time climber and writer who'd migrate between Mendoza's stunning peaks and Peru and Bolivia's vertiginous ice faces.

Once again in Bolivia, on July 29th, 2010, a 400 meter fall on Ala Izquierda del Condoriri caused her climbing partner Peter's death and ended life as Suppé had known it. A shattered ankle with exposed bones in the icy oxygen-deprived solitude appeared to be a certain death sentence. But Suppé didn't give up. She spent two days and nights dragging herself over the ice until she finally found help.

“You'll never climb again” was the doctors' sentence as they were considering amputation. An initial 10 surgeries and one year later, Suppé used a pair of special crutches for the approach of what would be “The birthday of the broken foot”, a new extremely difficult vertical ice-route, Robert Rauch and Suppé opened in Bolivia. Suppé hasn't stopped since. Besides crutch-soloing several of the highest peaks in the Andes, she has also cycled across the US, from Germany all the way into the Sahara desert and handbiked across the Alps. Her award-winning books about her adventures, Starry Night and Travels with Rocinante have been translated into four different languages.