Mimi Hughes has a long history of social and environmental stewardship. After earning a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in reading, she now specializes in remediating dyslexia. Despite her many swimming accomplishments, including the length of the Danube River (chronicled in her memoir Wider Than a Mile), the Tennessee River, the Drava and Mura Rivers, and the Ohio River, Hughes does not consider herself a swimmer but a runner. Hughes has been married for more than thirty-three years and has four children. She currently resides in Taft, Tennessee.