To celebrate International Women's Day, Ocean Independence gained some fascinating insight from Lauren Wardley on her entrepreneurial spirit, motivation and passion.
Founder of Ethical Yacht Wear, Lauren Wardley likes to keep occupied. She founded One Back in 2018, an ocean-conscious t-shirt company giving something back for each product sold. Then in 2019 she continued to launch Ethical Yacht Wear, filling a wide gap for sustainable uniforms in the superyacht market. All this was achieved whilst working on a busy yacht. As a long-standing stewardess on M/Y SAMADHI, Lauren found the incredible environment on board fostered a great sense of growth despite gender, which further inspired her to explore opportunities aligned with a clear respect for the environment. Celebrating International Women’s Day 2022, Ocean Independence gained some insight from this dynamic professional on her vision, motivation and passion.
Lauren’s journey within the superyachting environment over the last seven years has been something of an upward curve. From taking her STCW in Fort Lauderdale in 2016 to a full-time career in the industry alongside running two businesses, her life could be described as something of a whirlwind.
“I started out with my love for hospitality and my passion for the ocean and travel,” Lauren recalls. “I had previously worked in all areas of bars, restaurants, cafes and ended up managing hotels. I have a huge desire to make people happy and to create experiences that they can really appreciate. When I found out I could do all of this on the ocean, I was sold! It was not exactly the career path I intended to follow however I am so very grateful I did.”
Lauren did face challenges along the way as a stewardess, the biggest of which she has found to be the issue of sustainability. “It is hard when you see yachts that do not recycle or consider their environmental impact. It hurts! It is good to see that SAMADHI has done everything possible and continues to work in the direction of making a big eco-focus on board. Furthermore, the work-life balance can be very tricky – if nothing else, I have found that the little personal time you have is always a big driver to achieve as much as possible. Therefore, I have tried to learn languages, to play instruments, become knowledgeable about the stock market and the best thing yet…build Ethical Yacht Wear.”
