Jane hails from Hong Kong but is a product of our nomadic 21st century, having lived in said city as well as London, Singapore, Dundee (Scotland), Beijing, Guangzhou, and upstate New York. An alumna of Raffles Girls’ School (Secondary) and Hwa Chong Junior College, Jane graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University. Currently, Jane works for one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds with an investment portfolio of well over USD 100 billion, focusing on hospitality investments.
A firm believer in the tenacity of the human spirit, she likes to challenge the status quo. As the Vice-President of her school’s chess team, she clinched the national championship title with her team while competing as a secondary school student in the A Division (Junior College/ High School) category. Jane served as the President of her high school’s Drama, Debate, Literary, and Film Society.
In all, Jane has been involved in theatre for the better part of a decade, and the plays that she has written and directed have garnered accolades such as Best Play and Best Director in addition to other awards.
While in university, Jane co-ordinated and completed the first-ever student-led cycling expedition down 1,000 kilometres of the Nile River.
Her desire to fully experience and understand the world has brought her to all seven continents, including a solo trip to Argentina that ultimately led her to Antarctica. Her journey has been featured by Quark Expeditions, a leading polar adventuring company. Jane holds a Black Belt in karate and was a National Bronze Medallist in kumite (sparring). Diving isa budding hobby and Jane is currently a certified PADI Rescue Diver.
Being an amateur photographer, capturing stories and moments has been a key focus during travels. Jane has been named a top 10 finalist in an international photography competition jointly held by National Geographic and World Nomads. Her works have also been selected for exhibitions by Singapore’s National Arts Council.
Jane has a long-standing commitment to humanitarian causes. She raised funds for breast cancer research as part of her Nile River cycling expedition. She has also served on the Board of Bridges to Community, an NGO, and joined them to build brick houses for underprivileged communities in Nicaragua that lacked permanent shelter.
Of the more recent expeditions, Jane completed the 250km Sahara Race, which is a week-long, self-supported foot race in the Sahara in Egypt. With the support of sponsors including Canon, GNC, Asics, Singapura Finance, and Pan Pacific Hotels, the expedition was a success and also helped to raise USD 18,000 for World Vision’s microfinance subsidiary, VisionFund. For the travel stories from the Sahara Race, click here.
In 2013, Jane travelled to New Zealand with a sponsorship from Air New Zealand. Using the photos captured on the trip, Air New Zealand ran an 7-episode, month-long travel campaign on their official Facebook fan page, which garnered significant attention amongst the airlines’ fans.
The latest project is the Aurora x EGBOK Expedition, an adventure to capture the vistas of the Eastern Sierra and Death Valley in America and to capture the northern lights in Yellowknife, Canada. As part of this expedition, she is fundraising for EGBOK, an NGO that is dedicated to alleviating poverty through education and empowerment. For more details on this project, please click here.
JJPedersen.com (a.k.a. SwimmingCow.com) is the platform on which the stories from these adventures are shared with the world.
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