Zara Rutherford

Why organisations work with Zara Rutherford

• A named, verifiable Guinness World Record (youngest woman to fly solo around the world, first microlight circumnavigation) that gives an event a single, citable anchor moment for a STEM or women’s network audience.
• Direct credibility with the 16 to 25 audience that internal pipeline campaigns most struggle to reach, including school partnerships, early careers events, and graduate intake programmes.
• A clear, repeatable advocacy thesis on female participation in aviation (5%) and computer science (15%) that gives a commercial sponsor or internal D&I event a substantive content backbone, not just a celebrity booking.
• International recognition from named aviation bodies (Royal Automobile Club Segrave Trophy, Honourable Company of Air Pilots Master’s Medal, Living Legends of Aviation Baron Hilton Award), which gives partners in aerospace, engineering and defence a culturally specific credential set.

Biography highlights

• Guinness World Record holder: youngest woman to fly solo around the world, completed 20 January 2022 at age 19.
• First person to circumnavigate the globe solo in a microlight aircraft (Shark UL), covering 41 countries and five continents.
• 2023 Segrave Trophy from the Royal Automobile Club, shared with brother Mack Rutherford.
• 2022 Master’s Medal from the Honourable Company of Air Pilots; Baron Hilton Award from the Living Legends of Aviation; Nicolaus August Otto Award from Deutz AG.
• Undergraduate at Stanford University from September 2022, studying computer science and aeronautics and astronautics.
• Author, I Flew Around the World (DK Publishing); keynote speaker at the ZeroAvia Hydrogen Aviation Summit, Festival de las Ideas (Puebla), and Misk “Generation Transformation” (Riyadh).

Biography

The Shark UL microlight that touched down at Kortrijk on 20 January 2022 had been in the air, on and off, for 155 days. Zara Rutherford had flown it across 41 countries and five continents, alone, at 19. The flight produced a Guinness World Record for the youngest woman to fly solo around the world and the first solo microlight circumnavigation.

The record matters because of the audience it reaches. Women still make up roughly 5% of commercial pilots and 15% of computer science specialists. Pipeline programmes have moved those numbers slowly. A single, specific, verifiable feat by a teenager, told in her own voice, reaches school audiences, early careers cohorts and women’s networks that internal D&I campaigns rarely touch.

The credentials around the flight are substantive. The Royal Automobile Club awarded her the 2023 Segrave Trophy with her brother Mack, joining a list that has included only four other women. The Honourable Company of Air Pilots granted the Master’s Medal in September 2022. The Living Legends of Aviation presented the Baron Hilton Award the same year. Deutz AG presented the Nicolaus August Otto Award.

She is now at Stanford reading computer science and aeronautics and astronautics, which keeps the advocacy honest. The thesis is not retrospective. Rutherford is still inside the technical pipeline she is asking other young women to enter.

Key speaking topics

• Women in aviation and the female pilot pipeline
• Women in STEM and computer science participation
• Goal-setting and long-horizon ambition for young people
• Resilience and decision-making under sustained pressure
• Motivation and inspiration for early careers and graduate audiences

Ideal for

• Early careers, graduate intake and school outreach programmes in aerospace, engineering and technology
• Women’s networks, employee resource groups and International Women’s Day events
• Aviation, aerospace and defence industry conferences seeking a credible young voice on female participation
• Brand-led STEM campaigns and education partnerships targeting 16 to 25 audiences

Audience outcomes

• A concrete reference point for what sustained, high-stakes goal pursuit actually looks like at a young age
• Specific, current data on female participation in aviation and computer science, with an articulated thesis on what is keeping it low
• A direct view of the operational and decision-making demands of a five-month solo flight across 41 countries
• An anchor moment that early careers, school and women’s network audiences will talk about after the event