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Andrea Cardona is founder and CEO of The Altitude Company, which focuses on corporate health, wellness and technology. She is the author of ‘Sin Límites, Everest’ (Limitless, Everest) and is an international speaker. Born in Guatemala, as a little girl, she often travelled through the Guatemalan countryside with her family. She also lived for three years in Lake Atitlan as a teenager. These experiences
aroused her interest to explore the world. After obtaining a scholarship, Andrea was able to study economy for tourism in the Università degli Studi di Genova, in Italy. Upon graduation she started her professional life by working for a major hotel chain. However, she still dreamed about traveling the world, after saving money, she was able to backpack through Asia for 8 months. This journey took Andrea to Everest Base Camp for the first time and gave her the opportunity to start working as a tour operator for an adventure agency. She continued to travel around 60 different countries in 5 years. In November of 2007, Andrea climbed her first snowy mountain: Island Peak (20,460 feet). This experience inspired her to attempt reaching the highest peak in the world. This was not an easy task as only one in every three people that attempt the climb, are able to summit. She designed an intensive training schedule, taking her to climb 13 different snowy peak mountains and trekking for months, as preparation for the biggest challenge. On May 23, 2010, Andrea became the first woman in Central America and the Caribbean to have reached the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest (8,805 meters). This makes her part of an exclusive group of climbers, as only around 275 women have been able to summit Mount Everest. On September 22, 2012, Andrea became one of only 42 people in history to have completed the Adventurer’s Grand Slam, which challenges climbers to summit the tallest peak in every continent and to ski to the geographical North and South Poles. Upon doing this, she became the first Latin American to have achieved this milestone. She collaborates with Funsepa as an “Education Hero” and volunteers with La Alianza, a home for sexually abused teenagers. Andrea is a Fellow of the fourteenth class of the Central America Leadership Initiative and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
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