Adriana Aristizabal climbing Lobuche Peak in the Everest region of the Himalayas, Nepal.
From Colombia’s war frontlines to the Himalayas, Aristizabal shares lessons on courage, leadership and reinvention on global stages in English and Spanish.
Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the ability to keep moving forward with it”— Founder, The Courage to Ascend™ | International Keynote Speaker
NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, November 5, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — A new keynote speaking venture called The Courage to Ascend™ has been formally launched by iVoice Communications, the strategic communications firm founded and led by Adriana Aristizábal. The platform, which event organizers can now book through two distinct websites — couragetoascend.com for English-speaking audiences and adrianaaristizabal.com for Spanish-speaking audiences — represents a pivot from behind-the-scenes counsel to front-of-room inspiration.
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Aristizábal’s path to the podium has been anything but conventional. From 1998 to 2004, she worked as a television journalist and war correspondent for RCN Televisión in Colombia, reporting directly from the frontlines of the country’s armed conflict. After receiving threats against her life, she made the difficult decision to leave her homeland and rebuild in the United States. She went on to serve as Consul of Colombia in New York from 2004 to 2013, and in 2014 she founded iVoice Communications. Most recently, in June 2026, she added high-altitude mountaineer to her résumé, successfully summiting Lobuche Peak in the Everest region of the Himalayas.
“Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the ability to keep moving forward with it,” said Aristizabal. “My journey to Nepal this year, and my encounter with the Himalayas, transformed me deeply. There, in one of the most remote places on Earth, I felt a calling to share my story to help others face fear and uncertainty. In a time shaped by wars, artificial intelligence and social crises, I believe my story can help people find answers and learn practical tools to keep moving forward.”
The practice is built around three signature keynotes, each tailored to the audience, industry sector and specific moment: The Courage to Ascend™ — focusing on leadership, fear and resilience under pressure; Leading Through Uncertainty — drawing lessons from war zones, boardrooms and the world’s highest mountains for organizations navigating change; and The Power of Reinvention — turning adversity into opportunity. At the heart of her message is a philosophy she calls Five Steps. Five Breaths.™: high on the mountain, the summit is too far away to think about, so you focus on the next few steps and the breath that makes them possible.
Aristizabal has already delivered keynotes at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), Columbia University, Liberty Mutual, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), The City University of New York and the International Conference on Mine Action in Baku, Azerbaijan. She is also the author of Caught in the Storm of War: Memoirs of a War Reporter (York House Press, 2017) and serves on the boards of Roots of Peace and SHE IS Foundation. She is executive producer of the documentary Inside the Fire: Women on the Frontline (Diosas de carne y hueso: reporteras de guerra in Spanish), now in post-production by Yerbabuena Films.
Keynotes are available in English or Spanish, in person or virtually, for leadership summits, annual conferences, employee resource groups, Women’s History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month events, and universities.
ABOUT IVOICE COMMUNICATIONS
Founded in New York in 2014 by Adriana Aristizabal and Rene Mandeville, iVoice Communications helps organizations be heard, trusted and remembered across cultures. The firm advises Fortune 500 companies, Broadway productions, governments, cultural institutions, tourism destinations and global nonprofits in the United States, Europe and Latin America, including New York City Tourism + Conventions. iVoice combines strategic communications, public affairs, reputation and crisis leadership, executive positioning and multicultural engagement, with deep expertise in the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets, to turn complex moments into lasting impact. Learn more at ivoice.agency
Rene Mandeville
iVoice Communications, Inc.
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Why it matters: In an era defined by global instability, rapid technological change and widespread uncertainty, Aristizabal’s story — spanning war reporting, diplomacy, corporate leadership and Himalayan mountaineering — offers a rare, lived example of navigating fear and reinvention. Her new platform provides organizations with a concrete framework for building resilience and leading through disruption, grounded not in theory but in firsthand experience.
