Last fall, thousands of millennials boarded a cruise ship and set sail for Summit at Sea,the coolest, weirdest, most off-the-grid leadership conference in the ocean. The idea is to put a ton of young entrepreneurs, artists, and activists together on a boat, get them way out of their comfort zones—like, a hundred miles out—and see what magic unfolds.
The most recent summit in November featured everyone from Martha Stewart to John Legend to Edward Snowden (via video chat, of course). When they got back to shore we caught up with five of the most inspiring women on board to get their best advice for making it in the working world. (And yes, this ship will sail again this year if you want to try to get on board.)
Take the First Step
"The trick to accomplishing something is just to take the first step. Don't procrastinate. Don't push it off until the next week or even an hour from now. I don't know when we all just started assuming that we can never get anywhere, because if we could we'd be there already—that we can't write a book because we haven't already written a book, or whatever it is. You can. Just get started."
Satya Twena, milliner, creative director, factory owner
Wait for the Right Moment
Wait for the Right Moment
"I have a million ideas a weekly, and most of them don't amount to anything. But when there's a big idea that you have the background for, the foundation for, the experience for, and when you can see the path forward clearly—that's when you go for it. You could get mired in day-to-day fears, but you have to have the conviction that lets you stay focused on the path forward."
Robin Berzin, functional medicine physician, entrepreneur
Make Your Own Luck
"When I was young I didn't think I could be an artist, because I believed that art was something you did if you were very lucky or very rich and I wasn't either of those two. After I got older I could see that I can be one of those lucky people because luck is something that you work for. If you are lucky it's because you've worked and worked and worked. You've not given up. You've not stopped. Do that and you can be lucky too."
Shantell Martin, artist
Set Goals, But Don't Be a Slave to Them
"Goals are good, but it's not the end result that is important, it's becoming the person that you have to become in order to meet that goal. The titles, the accomplishments, the accolades, those are all spin offs of being that person. I feel like I became an Olympian before I ever made it to the Olympics, because I was living my life like an Olympian. So choose a path, but don't be too worried about reaching the end of it. If you're living on the right path, that's what matters."
Gretchen Bleiler, Olympic snowboarder, environmental advocate, business owner
Do Your Best Work. Every. Single. Time.
"Whoever people can turn to to get stuff done, whether it's the intern or the president, the work will flow to them and so will power and responsibility. And so no matter what you're doing, do it with the care and consciousness that you would approach it with if you were doing it for yourself."
