Alison Levine

There are many life lessons to be found at sea, where the caprices of water, wind, and sky lay out the daily terms. The elemental battle for survival that sailors once faced has been recounted in centuries of seafaring stories, but Levine’s life, dramatically relayed in an inspirational talk given this December on Seabourn Sojourn’s Caribbean cruise, is a modern tale of resilience in the face of adversity. The diminutive polar explorer, sportswoman, and mountaineer, who was once the deputy finance director of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign to be California governor, was born in Phoenix in 1966 with a heart defect that meant she could barely walk up the stairs to her bedroom. It took three surgeries to correct it—during which time she vowed to climb. By her early 30s she was working at Goldman Sachs on Wall Street and had already reached the highest peaks on six continents, Mount Kilimanjaro included. In 2002, she led the first team of American women to climb Everest. They were within 200 feet of the summit before deteriorating conditions forced them to descend—but eight years later she succeeded. By then Levine had joined the ranks of those who have completed the Adventure Grand Slam, having summited seven of the world’s most challenging peaks and skied to both poles. As a leadership mentor and gifted storyteller with a life to rival explorers of old, Levine’s motivational lecture is the most raw and uplifting lesson to be found on December’s smooth Caribbean seas.