Martyna Wojciechowska

Martyna Wojciechowska
Martyna Wojciechowska in 2007
Born	(1974-09-28)September 28, 1974 Warsaw  Poland
Occupation	TV host and author
Known for	Adventure, mountaineering

Marta Eliza Wojciechowska (born 28 September 1974 in Warsaw)^[1] is a Polish TV presenter, traveller, journalist and writer. In 2010, she completed Seven Summits.^[2] The hostess of ‘Woman at the Edge of the World’ TV series. National Geographic Poland Editor and Chief.^[3]

Media career

At the age of 19 she began her career as a model in one of the top private TV broadcaster in Poland - TVN. She was a hostess of variety of programs such as Big Brother, Mission Martyna, Kids with Class, in TVN Turbo she was one of the authors and hostess of the “auto-moto” orientated Automaniak . Since September 2009 she has been the hostess of the weekly series ‘Woman at the edge of the world’.^[4] As a journalist she worked with magazines like The world of motorbikes (Swiat motocykli), Auto moto, Playboy or Voyage . In February 2007 she became the editor and chief of National Geographic Poland and National Geographic Traveler. She is also a head editor of Polish-English monthly travel magazine Kaleidscope

''The woman at the edge of the world'' TV series

The series started off in 2008 and it’s now at its’ 8 season. It is aired every Sunday at TVN. Each episode focuses on Martyna traveling to a different country where she meets a new woman. Along with introducing the story of the main character, the audience gets the big picture of the hosting country and women’s status in there. The series covers feminine points of view but occasionally episodes will feature male characters. Every episode brings out social issues from within the hosting country, among them: sexism, violence, poverty, animal cruelty, human trafficking, work ethics, and human rights. Among many characters, it has featured: The smallest woman in the world Jyoti Amage, Colombian female wrestler, The student of Shaolin School, Geisha from Kyoto, Long Necks Tribe from Myanmar,The female sapper, Hippopotamus Mum, The female pilot from Tanzania or Fa’afafine of Samoa.

''The ghost people'' Documentary

In 2015, one of the episodes of Woman at the edge of the world,was made into a longer documentary film, directed by Wojciechowska and Marek Kłosowicz ‘The Ghost People’ (‘Ludzie duchy’) won Golden Nymph Award in the category: Current Affairs Documentary.^[5]

It tells the story of albino children in Tanzania who are being hunted for their limbs, which are believed to have magical healing powers. Main character ,17-year-old Kabula, lost her arm, which was cut off by anonymous attackers. Wojciechowska created the special charity ‘Between heaven and earth’ (‘Miedzy niebem,a ziemia’) which collected around 100 thousand zloty to help Kabula make her dream of becoming a lawyer true.^[6]

Seven Summits

In August 2002 she began her expedition to climb seven tallest mountains on Earth,^[7] starting with Mont Blanc. On January 22, 2010 she summited her last mountain Mount Carstensz becoming the third Polish woman to achieve that and the second to do it in Reinhold Messner way. Her expedition was featured in the 55 minutes long documentary Korona Ziemi (The crown of Earth) and two books Przesunąć horyzont (Move the Horizon) and Misja Everest (Mission Everest).

In 2004 while filming on of her programmes ‘Mission Martyna’ in Iceland she had a serious car accident in which her friend and camera man Rafał Łukaszewicz died and Wojciechowska broke her spine.^[8] She promised herself she would get better and after long therapy in May 2006 she climbed Mount Everest. This whole story was described in her book Przesunąć horyzont (Move the Horizon)

In 2007 while summiting Elbrus she was 3 months pregnant.^[9] When her daughter was 8 months old she decided to go to Antarctica to summit the highest local mountain Vinson Massif. At the 4000 meters high the whole expedition got surprised by a strong snowstorm, which completely destroyed Wojciechowska’s tent. For dozens of hours, the group was trapped in their tents with temperature around minus 30 degrees and no food.^[10] After that many tabloids criticized Wojciechowska for being irresponsible mother who left her little daughter alone and risk her life too much.^[11]

Mountains summited

• Mont Blanc (August 28, 2002)
• Mount Kilimanjaro (February 26, 2003)
• Aconcagua (February 11, 2006)
• Island Peak (April 11, 2006)
• Mount Everest (May 18, 2006)
• Mount McKinley (June 11, 2007)
• Elbrus (August 29, 2007)
• Vinson Massif (January 2, 2009)
• Mount Carstensz (January 22, 2010)

Personal life

She has a daughter Maria (born 17 April 2008). Maria’s father famous Polish scuba diver Jerzy Blaszczyk, who was separated from Martyna at the time, passed away in 2016.^[12] In 2015 many rumors grew around Wojciechowska’s possible health problems. She lost around 20 kg and media started suspecting a tropical disease. Wojciechowska wrote an official public statement in which she asked media to respect her privacy.^[13] She did not name the sickness, but denied the rumors claiming that it was malaria.^[14]

In September 2016 on her official facebook page she mentioned that she had had a serious motorcycle accident^[15] in which she ended up with a broken collarbone. Week later she was back at the set of ‘Woman at the edge of the world’ which caused her further health complications and she had to have another operation. The new season had to be postponed.^[16] In October 2016 Wojciechowska announced that TVN is going to run half of the season, using all the episodes she managed to record before the accident.^[17]

Sports career

Wojciechowska is a licensed racing driver since she was 17. In 2002, she took part in Paris – Dakar Rally and finished it as the first Polish woman and the woman from Middle- Eastern Europe.^[18] She is also a licensed diver and a big fan of mountaineering.

Bibliography

• Przesunąć horyzont (Move the Horizon) (ISBN 83-7515-010-X)
• Misja Everest (Mission Everest) (ISBN 83-7515-009-6)
• Etiopia. Ale czat! (Ethiopia. But the Chat!) (ISBN 978-83-7596-064-8)
• Kobieta na krańcu świata (Woman at the Edge of the World) (ISBN 978-83-7596-079-2)
• Kobieta na krańcu świata 2 (Woman at the Edge of the World 2) (ISBN 978-83-7596-110-2)
• Kobieta na krańcu świata 3 (Woman at the Edge of the World 3)(ISBN 978-83-7596-209-3)
• Zapiski (pod)różne (Travel journals) (ISBN 978-83-7596-182-9)
• Automaniaczka. Od rometa do Rajdu Dakar (Automaniac) (ISBN 978-83-7778-101-2)
• Dzieciaki Świata,2013 (Children of the world) (ISBN 978-83-7596-507-0)
• Zwierzaki Świata ( Animals of the world) (ISBN 978-83-7596508-7)

Filmography

• 2002: Jak to się robi z dziewczynami (How To Do It With Girls): as journalist
• 2005: Anioł Stróż (Guardian Angel) (TV series): as teacher
• 2006: Auta (Cars) (voice role): as reporter Turbicka

Awards

• 2009: Róże Gali Plebiscyt (The Beautiful Web-Roses (Gala Magazine) ^[19]
• 2010: Woman of the Year 2009 award from the magazine Twój Styl (Your Style)^[20]
• 2010: MediaTory – Studenckie Nagrody Dziennikarskie w kategorii AkumulaTOR'^[21]
• 2011: Nagroda Bursztynowego Motyla im. Arkadego Fiedlera za książkę „Kobieta na krańcu świata 2”
• 2011: Osobowość Roku w kategorii "Media"2011: Złota Kropa Onetu w kategorii “Największa kobieca osobowość popkultury”^[22]
• 2013: Bestseller Empiku w kategorii koncept multibranżowy za serię "Zwierzaki świata"^[23]
• 2014: National Geographic Internetional Media Conference 2014, nagroda za najlepszy projekt książkowy za serię “Dzieciaki świata” i “Zwierzaki świata”^[24]
• 2015: Wiktory 2014 w kategorii Wyjątkowa Osobowość Roku^[25]
• 2015: Złota Nimfa na festiwalu filmowym w Monte Carlo za dokument "Ludzie Duchy"^[26]
• 2015: Nagroda ReformaTOR w plebiscycie MediaTory za dokument "Ludzie Duchy"^[27]

References