Lebanese elite mountaineer, motivational speaker, conservation architect, and activist Joyce Azzam was appointed as a UN Women National Goodwill Ambassador for Lebanon in September 2022.
She is the first Lebanese woman, and one of only a few Arab women, to climb all seven summits of the world. She will become one of only two women around the world to have completed the Full Explorers Grand Slam in its long-distance version.
Throughout her career as an accomplished and influential mountaineer, Azzam has shown her commitment to women’s and girls’ rights and to being an inspirational role model. In 2017, she fulfilled the goal of summiting one of the world’s seven highest peaks, Mt. Kilimanjaro, as part of a girls’ empowerment project with three young women (ages 13, 14, and 16 years old). Her work with young people since 2017 includes with The Dreams Project.
Through this she meets with students across the world, including Lebanon, Canada, USA, UAE, India, and Nepal, to share her story and inspire others to achieve their goals and ambitions, regardless of their background. She was appointed as an Ambassador for Lebanese-based children rights organisation, Himaya NGO, in 2018 and as an Ambassador of the Lebanese Ministry of State for Economic Empowerment of Women and Youth in 2019.
She was born during the Lebanese Civil War in Beirut with hypermobility syndrome.
(unwomen)
