Travels from Arizona, USA
Jessica Cox's speaking fee falls within range: $25,000 to $30,000
Motivational Speaker, “Possible Thinking” Business Consultant, Guinness World Record Holder
Despite being born without arms due to a birth defect, Jessica has lived an otherwise normal life. After overcoming her self-esteem issues, Jessica earned a degree in psychology and got her airline pilot’s certificate.
Earning her pilot’s certificate also earned her meetings with heads of state, an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records, and even a meeting with the Pope. Putting an emphasis on the way we think versus our physical limitations, Jessica has shared her positive message in her travels to more than 20 countries.
Flying continues to be a passion for Jessica as she attends many of the largest aviation events in the world. Along the way, she has been recognized for numerous awards including Inspiration International from the Inspiration Awards for Women, UK, and a distinguished speaker award from Egypt’s President at the World Youth Forum in 2019.
Jessica is recognized internationally as an inspirational keynote speaker. Born without arms, Jessica now flies airplanes, drives cars, and otherwise lives a normal life using her feet as others use their hands. She holds the title of the first person without arms to earn a black belt in ATA Martial Arts and the Guinness World Record for being the first armless person in aviation history to earn a pilot’s certificate. Convinced that the way we think has a greater impact on our lives than our physical constraints, Jessica chose to pursue a degree in psychology at the University of Arizona. Since then she has traveled to 26 countries on six continents sharing her inspirational message.
Born in 1983 in Sierra Vista, Arizona, Jessica has learned to live her life with her feet. There were many questions at the time about whether Jessica would be able to live a “normal” life. However, Jessica’s father has said he never shed a tear about her birth condition. He had full confidence in her potential. With the support of her parents and family, Jessica became confident in herself as an adult and continued to explore the world with her feet.
Jessica’s parents eventually met a Taekwondo instructor named Jim Cunningham. His response, when told of Jessica’s birth condition, was that she would be more than physically able to participate and that only her attitude could hold her back. At the age of 14, Jessica earned her first black belt in the International Taekwondo Federation.
After graduating from high school, Jessica attended the University of Arizona, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. When talking about her degree, she frequently explains that psychology credits the way people think with having a greater impact on their lives than a physical limitation.
During college, Jessica joined an ATA Martial Arts club and resumed training in the sport of Taekwondo. Even though Jessica already had one black belt in a different style, she had to relearn all new material for the ATA system. The instructors created a standardized curriculum that would be accessible to any future armless students. Jessica then became the first armless person to earn a black belt in the ATA.
Jessica’s most famous accomplishment was learning how to fly. It took three states, four airplanes, three flight instructors, and three years to find the right aircraft: a 1946 415C Ercoupe Airplane. In 2008 Jessica earned her Light Sport Pilot Certificate. She received the Guinness World Record for being the first person certified to fly an airplane with only their feet in 2011.
In May 2012, Jessica married in the beautiful city of South Pasadena, CA. In the fall of that same year, Jessica became a Goodwill Ambassador for Humanity and Inclusion, a Nobel Peace Prize winning NGO and advocated for disability rights in Ethiopia, the Philippines, Nepal, and the US Senate.
In 2019, a generous fan donated a 1946 415C Ercoupe with tail number N26R (“two-six-romeo”) for Jessica’s use. With an 85 horsepower engine, two seats for pilot and a copilot/passenger, a cruising speed around 90 miles per hour, and a flying time a little over three hours, N26R is a fair weather airplane designed primarily for local daytime flights. Despite the performance limitations, Jessica plans to fly N26R to airshows across the USA to show that “disability does not mean inability.
At this speaking engagement at the AOPA Aviation Summit, Jessica demonstrates to the audience the physical challenges she had to overcome to get her pilot certification. By “thinking outside of the shoe”, Jessica taught herself different ways to succeed by focusing on her ultimate goal.
Never seeing herself as a victim, Jessica shares her inspirational stories of success and overcoming failures in a “two-handed” world. Jessica’s seminars help people find inner strength and overcome their own challenges in business or any walk of life.
Using the four elements of creativity, desire, fearlessness, and persistence, Jessica’s speaking engagements encourage her audiences to overcome the seemingly impossible.
Possible Thinking Events: Motivational and Corporate Keynote Speeches Achieve the Impossible is a keynote speech that was born from Jessica’s own adversities. As such, it’s an ideal vehicle for corporations needing to address various polarizing circumstances and achieve whatever now seems impossible. The keynote is fun, lively, entertaining, thought-provoking and deliberately challenges your audience. Entertaining stories of trial and success lead the audience to their own thinking and conclusions. I serve as an inspirational force, instigating them to believe that they can achieve the impossible.
Commitment We all have times in our lives when fear and excuses overpower us and get in our way. Excuses can be so easy to use and “get away with”. We seldom have anyone who holds us accountable to our dreams. What works to defeat fear and excuses then? Commitment does. Commitment clears a path to achieving the impossible. You need to develop the level of commitment where—when you commit to a goal—you can’t back out, you won’t back out.
Hidden Assets We all have hidden assets of Determination, Courage, and Willpower. They are there under the surface all along. To achieve the impossible, we need to uncover those assets and apply them to our impossible goals. Determination is an unshakeable persistence that doesn’t give up ever for any reason—far beyond the expectations of others. Courage is the ability to rise above fears to snatch the impossible into possibility. Willpower is an unwavering yet flexible application of our own will to a problem. It’s flexibility that adds steel to the will.
Inspiration Jessica’s stories transform adversity into inspiration for her audience. Her attitude, her approach entertains while also nudging people to examine and drop their own self-imposed limitations. Jessica challenges her audiences to make a shift from an inward focus to the big picture of possibility. Her monumental journey of learning to fly crystalizes her ideas of “achieving the impossible.” Inspiration alone—without motivation to action—is a failure. Inspiration must also provoke action. It’s action that transforms your situation.
RIGHTFOOTED™
Motivational Speaking Services Turning the “Impossible” into “Accomplishment”
What limits people in your group from attaining their highest potential? How can they push limitations aside?
Jessica believes in combining creativity, desire, persistence and fearlessness; with them, nothing is impossible. In her presentation, she digs deep into her experiences living armless in a two-handed world and how these four elements helped her achieve the seemingly impossible.
Think Outside The Shoe™
Are you letting fears stand in the way of your opportunities? Is it easier to come up with an excuse than a creative solution to a challenge? What handicaps do you and others harbor that you do not need? How soon should you give up when confronted with a difficult challenge?
“You left us in awe, Jessica! – GoDaddy
“It is rare that indelible impressions are left in such a short period of time.” – Diana Han, MD, GE Appliances
“Jessica far exceeded our expectations.” – Michelle Paul, Salt River Project
“It was a speech that I wanted to go on and on.” – Marissa Carvell, Inspire ’17 UK
“Amazing. Do everything you can to join one of her audiences as soon as possible.” – Dave Calder, UBT
“She is so positive and she holds the audience spellbound with such an incredible story.” – John Donald, The Brandlaureate
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Disarm Your Limits: The Flight Formula to Lift You to Success and Propel You to the Next Horizon
Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong? Like everything was chaos around you, you didn’t have the support you wish you had, and your motivation to keep going was slipping through your fingers? If this sounds familiar, then you know how it feels to be “disarmed.” Jessica Cox was born without arms, yet she exceeded her limits to become the first woman to fly a plane with her feet, earn a Taekwondo State Champ title, travel the world as a motivational speaker and advocate for people with disabilities, and achieve her greatest triumph of all: unrepentant regard and self-acceptance for herself.Disarm Your Limits delivers the tools you need to design your own “formula for flight” and shows you how to: Innovate to overcome obstaclesAct with courage to push through doubtShake off false roles and embrace your authentic selfPersist through hard challenges to reach successTap into faith to soar to new horizonsYou have the ability to turn the obstacles you face around and use them to your advantage. All you need is the formula for flight. Are you ready to become the pilot in command for you?
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