Before summiting Everest, Tima had climbed 18 high mountains around the world including 6 out of the 7 summits (highest mountain on every continent) and became the 1st Arab woman to climb Ojos del Salado, the highest active volcano in the world. With her passion for exploring and redefining limits, mountaineering came as a second nature to her. Staying true to her wanderer spirit, she aims to continue leading an adventurous lifestyle and never stop climbing.
Tima grew up traveling the world collecting bungee jumps and memories of nature and extreme sports. She pursued her licenses in both skydiving and advanced scuba-diving as she made both the skies and the oceans her playgrounds. But, for her, nothing compares to being on the mountains. When on Elbrus, her first summit, Tima knew that this was not yet another hobby; but a natural and essential aspect of her life- just like breathing. It’s where her soul sparkles and her light shines. It’s where she feels she is the best version of herself. And so, it was no surprise that after Elbrus, she decided to focus on mountaineering.
The once-finance professional working in a multinational firm, gave up her career ladder for the love of mountains. Life changing decision is an understatement as she threw herself in a new path she knew barely about. Yet, she explored and excelled and later ventured into entrepreneurship by launching two startups while still climbing around the world.
When she’s not on a mountain, Tima, founder of Mountain Gipsy and a professionally certified coach, believes that her mission is to give back to the world what the mountains gave to her. As such, she works with people from all backgrounds and circumstances to develop an invincible mindset so they can achieve their most ambitious goals by becoming more resilient, creative, confident, and courageous.
Moreover, she dedicates her time to support and raise awareness for essential socio-economic topics that are shaping our world. She’s an advocate of children, youth, and women’s rights, and an activist of environmental issues. She works with various organizations to equip children, youth, and women with the means to follow their passion, develop their leadership skills, and carve their own path for a better future. In parallel, driven by her love of nature, Tima campaigns on environment issues such as climate change, deforestation, and waste recycling.
Tima’s priority remains being in the outdoors and going for any adventure that life has to offer.
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Show notes
- Her mission for Arab Women
- Going back to her childhood
- Being into sports and wanting to try everything
- Thinking it wasn’t for her
- Turning 19 and getting into scuba diving and sky diving
- Enjoying extreme sports and living on the edge
- Feeling the most alive when she was under pressure
- Never thinking she would climb mountains
- Being Nomadic and wanting to explore more of the world
- Going travelling with her family to Nepal at 14
- Deciding to go and climb mountains at 23
- Making her dream come true
- What her first steps are
- Why you need to be determined and serious about wanting to climb mountains
- Climbing Mt Elbrus - the highest mountain in Europe
- Not knowing what she was getting into….
- Deciding to focus exclusively on mountaineering
- Not reaching the summit on Mt. Aconcagua
- Dealing with failure in the mountains
- Learning to control her confidence
- Making a promise to herself
- Working as an accountant and climbing mountains
- Having a vision board
- Getting the deposit for Mt. Everest from her family
- Heading to Mt Everest in 2019 and becoming the first Lebanese Woman to summit the mountain
- Going to Kilimanjaro with 8 young women
- Wanting to use her platform to give back to others
- Struggling to find role models in mountaineering
- Going against society and the expected norms of society
- Being very focused on what she wants
- Confidence and being supported by her parents
- Dealing with sickness while out in the mountains and coughing up blood
- The push to reach the summit of Mt. Everest
- The practicalities of the journey
- Why every move counts at high altitude
- Being stuck in the bottleneck on Everest for 2hrs
- Deciding to go to Lebanon after the blast (2020)
- Working for an (NGO) - Non-Government Organizations
- Training for the mountains and figuring out what works for her
- Working as a mindset coach
- Values….
- The power of gratitude
- Planning her next climbs in Nepal & Africa
- Final words of advice for women who want to get into the mountains
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