Passion and Determination Against All Odds–Unraveling The Mystery of Cleopatra’s tomb

In this week's episode, I sit down with the incomparable, former Lawyer, National Geographic Explorer, and world-renowned Archaeologist, Dr. Kathleen Martinez - known for her ongoing search for Cleopatra's tomb at Taposiris Magna temple in Egypt. 

From the age of 4 or 5, Kathleen dreamed of one day becoming an archaeologist and working in Egypt. Her parents did not support her dream; they thought it futile. So, like her father, she studied law. Kathleen tells us the extraordinary story of her first case at the age of 18 that caught the eye of the most high-profile criminal attorney in the Dominican Republic. She ultimately practiced law for the next 19 years and then went to Spain to get her Masters in Law. 

In Spain, her childhood dream was rekindled, and she took classes in archaeology and researched Cleopatra and where her tomb might be with great intensity. After 5 years, she returned to the Dominican Republic and for the next 4 years, she enjoyed great success in her legal practice, but she wasn't happy. 

So, in 2004, Kathleen decided to leave her practice and move to Egypt to pursue her dream and see if her ideas and belief in the possible location of the tomb of Queen Cleopatra at Taposiris Magna was correct. The Egyptian Government gave Kathleen 2 months to find some kind of evidence. One hour before the Government shut down her project, Kathleen and her team discovered a tunnel, and the Government allowed her to continue her excavation. 

We talk about the many unimaginable setbacks Kathleen has experienced during her 20 years of excavating at the temple, her meetings with the Egyptian Government, and her relentless pursuit of finding Cleopatra's tomb, against all odds. 

Kathleen goes into great detail on how she determined the possible location of Cleopatra's tomb, a location where no other archaeologist has ever looked. For 200 years, archaeologists searched for the important foundation plate at Taposiris Magna temple and never found it. Kathleen found the foundation plate in 3 months. 

You will be totally captivated by Kathleen's detailed stories of her findings thus far and her work with world-renowned Richard Ballard, Oceanographer and Explorer, who is credited with discovering the wreck of the Titanic. 

An extraordinary, highly accomplished woman, raised in a third world country – on mission impossible, with the wind at her back. You won't want to miss this interview. A truly remarkable ongoing story of passion and determination against all odds. 

Watch the full episode, available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/88FxQLjLtVI