Majka Burhardt has a passion for creating unusual connections. As a professional climber, social entrepreneur, author, mother of twins, and filmmaker Majka has spent more than two decades leading multi-stage international ventures focused on current issues of environmental and cultural significance spanning Africa, Europe, South, and North America.
Majka is the Founder and Executive Director of Legado, an international organization that helps secure Thriving Futures for both people and the places they call home. Legado originated in 2011 during a pioneering climbing and conservation research expedition to Mozambique and is supported today by some of the world’s most influential social change funders and decision-makers.
Majka is the author of More: Life at the Edge of Adventure and Motherhood (Pegasus Books ’23), a Next Big Idea Club Must Read. More is an intense and emotional journey born at the confluence of motherhood, adventure, career, and marriage. Raw, candid, and galvanizing, the book is a passionate and poignant testament to the enduring power of love and our lifelong journey to understand ourselves as we strive to always pursue more.
Majka’s first book Vertical Ethiopia: Climbing Toward Possibility in the Horn of Africa (2008) was short‑listed for the Banff Book Award. Her second book, Coffee Story: Ethiopia, was released in August 2011 and featured by Starbucks in 2013, and re-released as a second edition in 2018.
In 2010, Majka produced Waypoint Namibia and the film was featured at international film festivals and shown on NBC’s Universal Sports. Majka was nominated for an EPIC Emerging Artist Award for her work as the Executive Producer. Her 2016 film Namuli was released to acclaim at over 50 international film festivals and across the US on PBS. Namuli tells the story of Majka’s climbing and conservation research Mount Namuli, Mozambique’s second highest mountain and a critical target for conservation in southeast Africa— and of the origins of Legado.
As a keynote speaker, Majka addresses a diverse group of organizations and companies. Her clients have included Google, Nespresso, the Commonwealth Club, Banff Film and Book Festival, Colorado Environmental Coalition, universities and colleges throughout North America, and many others.
Her work and projects have been featured in The New York Times, The Economist, Outside Magazine, The Weather Channel, NPR and many other major international media outlets.
Resources:
Majka Burhardt (@majkaburhardt) • Instagram photos and videos
Majka’s book recommendations:
Fair Play (Eve Rodsky)
Good Inside (Dr. Becky Kennedy)
Lessons in Chemistry (Bonnie Garmus)