Plastic pollution harms our planet and health, but thankfully, companies like Copenhagen Cartel are combating this environmental problem by converting lost or abandoned fishing nets into bikinis with a modern twist on an ancient textile tradition.

Copenhagen Cartel’s founder and ocean lover, Katrine Lee Larsen, was motivated to help mitigate the adverse effects of plastic use and came up with a “brilliant solution” destined to become a global superstar.

Launched in 2019, Copenhagen Cartel has produced swimwear and athletic wear from ocean waste plastic. The deadly ‘ghost nets’ that would otherwise waste away in the ocean and kill countless marine life can be put to good use in this way. Compared to making brand-new nylon, Copenhagen Cartel’s manufacturing process uses less energy and resources.

Larsen views each day as a fresh challenge while launching her own company. Moreover, as a true nature lover, she has been guided and helped by her purpose. She feels the entrepreneurial world is dominated by masculine values that leave little room for feelings and higher goals. However, her experience has shown that a focused, emotional strategy can be very beneficial. She believes a new era of entrepreneurs will emerge due to shifting to a mindset that values meaning over financial gain.

Larsen is an entrepreneur herself, and she has been through the experience of seeing the ocean being depleted of its resources. Despite this, she knows that there is still room for change, which drives her to continue to assist the environment and natural resources.

Indian American Ann Mukherjee CEO and chairman of Pernod Ricard, has been a model for success and women’s empowerment. At 56 years old, she is currently managing the world’s second-largest seller of wine and spirits and is also renowned for top-shelf liquor brands such as Absolut, Jameson, and Malibu. In an industry dominated by men, she is the first woman of color to hold the highest position for alcoholic beverage brands.

As soon as she assumed the position of CEO in 2019, she realized that there was a stereotype rooted in an exaggerated machismo of being a self-confident leader. After giving it some thought, she concluded that those beliefs were not only completely false but also destructive, so she chose to disregard them. 

Mukherjee thought the most challenging part of being a CEO was knowing when to ask for help or admit you couldn’t do it alone. She believes it is essential for a leader to accurately understand herself and her people and then learn from them. Although confident in her abilities, she also recognizes the importance of showing humility and honesty.

She also reveals how her failure became the key to her success. She has become more resilient because she has learned to change course when necessary and take advantage of setbacks to advance. And while also acknowledging her drawbacks, she stresses the value of accepting failures. 

Her one piece of advice for anyone just starting in their career is, “Do not worry about fitting in, and do not be afraid to speak up, because when you have confidence in yourself, anything is possible,” she shared with CNBC’s Make It.

Mukherjee is well aware that to be an effective leader, she must first be able to love herself without condition, taking into account all of her attributes, including her strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. And with that comes the realization that knowing one’s shortcomings can better help one deal with and overcome those. This is the only way for her to achieve genuine personal and professional development.

Its key product, Dongnae FLEX, offers short-term, fully-furnished rentals with low deposits, appealing to fresh graduates or travelers unable to cough up the hefty deposits typically required of Korea’s apartments.

Former WeWork executives Insong Kim and Korean-American Matthew Shampine founded Dongnae in 2020. They are “Making it a better experience for the brokers, for the landlords, and especially for the tenants,”  Shampine said in an interview.

Dongnae has welcomed local and global investors. Its $21m series A funding round in March included Lyft and Doordash backer NFX, Airbnb backer MetaProp, and Korea’s oldest investment fund Daol Investment and Hana Financial.

More than 80% of Korean household wealth is in real estate, but it’s increasingly harder to become a homeowner. In Seoul, South Korea’s capital and most populated city, the average apartment price doubled between 2017 and 2021.

The startup company began as a listing platform for renters to book agency visits, but it was unsuccessful. Shampine believes the business model’s early failure generated “good and healthy” but painful reflections. According to Forbes, conversations with customers, brokers, and team members on the ground informed Dongnae’s goal of “becoming the supply, instead of hunting for the supply.” 

The firm switched to serviced apartments in July 2021. At the end of its current investment, the business had 60 apartment buildings; now it has 80 across 12 Seoul districts.

Dongnae wants to offer more home services to its residents in the future, taking advantage of Korea’s booming market for furniture and other lifestyle goods.

Who wouldn’t want to engage in something that generates value? It took a while before you could achieve something like this. You had to be determined and keep going to get through the process. 

Think about how CEO Sun Yong Kim-Manzolini runs Lush Enterprises as an entrepreneur and, at the same, an investor. After working in the medical field for 33 years, she transitioned into entrepreneurship and trading options. She used her same can-do spirit and created opportunities.

All of her struggles, Kim-Manzolini told the USA Today, have helped to mold her into the woman she is today. She grew up as an orphan in Korea and was adopted by an American couple at 14. As an adult, she got into an unhealthy relationship but eventually got the courage to leave and move forward.

Kim-Manzolini knows that changing careers requires a great deal of hard work and self-control on her part. For years, she dedicated many hours per day to studying the ins and outs of the options trading industry and eventually mastered it. She simply had faith that she could pull it off, so she gave it her all without holding back.

Trading options expose investors to a diverse range of potentially significant risks. Even a single misfortune can completely wipe out a trader’s profits on the foreign exchange market due to the high risk associated with trading. But Kim-Manzolini did not let the challenges she faced discourage her, as she started gaining a new perspective on the situation. Instead of questioning why her experience was challenging, she adopted the mantra “Why not me?”

And as a result, she made $178,000 in her first year of live trading. Kim-Manzolini is now the owner of a multi-million dollar business. Her understanding of how to trade successfully was aided by the incredible commitment and sacrifice she made. 

The fact that Kim-Manzolini didn’t give up when it would have been simpler to do so is something for which she is grateful. She decided to focus on the positive aspects of the situation rather than ruminating on the potential downsides. She also put in a lot of time and energy and came up with a unique approach.