Ash Bhardwaj
Ash Bhardwaj is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, filmmaker, military strategist, and BBC travel expert who has explored and reported from over 50 countries.
Best-Selling Travel Guru
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Storytelling Champion
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Leadership Coach
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Best-Selling Travel Guru • Storytelling Champion • Leadership Coach •
More about Ash
Ash Bhardwaj is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, filmmaker, and author who has reported from more than 50 countries for outlets including BBC Radio 4, the World Service, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, Condé Nast Traveller, and Huffington Post. He is the resident travel expert on BBC One’s Morning Live and a regular contributor to BBC Berkshire, Channel 5, and Sky News.
His journeys include walking 621 miles through Uganda and Sudan while filming Walking the Nile for Channel 4, traveling 1,500 miles along the India–Pakistan border for a Discovery Channel series, retracing secret British missions in Albania, kayaking across New Zealand, and covering more than 5,000 miles of Russia’s European border—including Donbas and occupied Crimea—for his Telegraph podcast Edgelands. He has also contributed to Sky News’ coverage of Ukraine and worked on influence campaigns countering violent extremism in the UK and Middle East.
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Ash has written and presented BBC Radio 4 documentaries including How Ukraine Made Us Care, NATO’s Newest Member, and Britain’s Shrinking Army. He hosts The First Mile and The Human Advantage podcasts, leads The Moth storytelling events in London, and is a sought-after keynote speaker and coach on storytelling and human-centered leadership.
His debut book, Why We Travel, was named the Independent’s Best Travel Book of 2024. Ash is a captain in the British Army Reserve, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a lecturer in journalism at City University London.
Speaking Topics
Leadership
Managing Change
Team Dynamics
Exploration
Overcoming Obstacles
Culture
Watch Ash in action
Presentations
The Art of Traveling Well
We spend more time and money on travel than any other pastime—so why does it sometimes miss the mark? After 20 years exploring places from Uganda to Ukraine, award-winning journalist and filmmaker Ash Bhardwaj discovered the answer: we focus too much on what we do, not why we travel. In this lively talk, he shares insights on meaningful travel, emerging trends, sustainability, AI, and the deeper reasons travel shapes our lives.
Lead with Story: How Narrative Transforms Influence
How do you move people, teams, or industries? Award-winning journalist, filmmaker, global traveler, and British Army Reserve captain Ash Bhardwaj says it starts with stories. Host of The Moth in London, he shares lessons from the military, broadcasting, and global travel to help leaders use storytelling and human-centered leadership to build trust, shift behavior, align teams, and lead with purpose
“Our most fulfilling travel has nothing to do with where we go or what we do. Good travel happens when we understand why we leave home in the first place.”
– Ash Bhardwaj