Welcome to our exclusive cover feature with Jenn Drummond, an adventurer, entrepreneur, and mother of seven whose story redefines what it means to live with purpose. From surviving a catastrophic car accident in 2018 that defied all odds to becoming the first woman to conquer the Seven Second Summits—the second-highest peaks on every continent—Jenn’s journey is a powerful testament to resilience, courage, and the pursuit of the extraordinary. Her climbs, both literal and metaphorical, inspire us to rethink our own limits and embrace life’s challenges with unwavering determination. Join us as we dive into her remarkable story and uncover the lessons she’s learned from the mountains, the boardroom, and the heart of family life.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET FEATURED?
Grow Your Brand and Authority in Our Global Magazine
“You’re only as strong as your weakest link, and if you don’t speak up for what you need, no one will know.”
In 2018, you survived a car accident so severe that police couldn’t imagine you walking away. What went through your mind about why you were still here?
Jenn Drummond: For me, it was the pandemic. It allowed me to slow down, reflect, and become more creative, leading to the production of six more books. Fashion & Style became a #1 best-seller in France and also a bestseller in the US. The following year, things really started to take off.
After the shock faded, did you question whether your life as a businesswoman and mother was what you were meant to do?
Jenn Drummond: The days that followed felt like a line in the sand. I started living from a centered place, where my loyalty was to my own purpose rather than to others’ expectations. I realized no one leaves with you at the end to vouch for the type of person you were. You leave with only the knowledge of whether you lived true to your gifts. From that day forward, if something wasn’t a full-body yes, it became a no. That shift cost me some relationships, but it also brought the right people—those who would help bring my vision to life. That was the beginning of everything I’ve built since.
As a successful businesswoman, what did building a company teach you about climbing mountains?
Jenn Drummond: Building a business and climbing a mountain are the same game, just different landscapes. In both, new information is constantly coming at you, and your job is to sort through it to make the next best move. You’re only as strong as your weakest link, and if you don’t speak up for what you need, no one will know. People can’t read your mind. As a CEO, I learned that sometimes keeping the business alive meant walking away from an opportunity before it launched. On a mountain, it’s the same: I’ve turned back from summits I could have forced because the risk of not surviving was too great. In both, you always have to ask: Do I have enough bandwidth to not only get to the top but get back safely?
“Leadership under pressure isn’t about proving yourself; it’s about multiplying yourself.”
How did the life-or-death stakes of mountaineering shape your view of leadership under pressure?
Jenn Drummond: In business, you move fast when opportunity comes. On the mountain, moving fast is literally life or death; the longer you linger up high, the greater the danger. Both worlds taught me that speed matters, but intention matters more. Success doesn’t mean standing at the peak alone. Now that I know I can reach the top, the real game is: Who can I bring with me? What can I teach them? How can I position others to succeed? Leadership under pressure isn’t about proving yourself; it’s about multiplying yourself.
As a mother of seven, were you climbing for yourself or for your children?
Jenn Drummond: I told my kids the truth: our callings are ours, and they won’t always make sense to others. We don’t get to choose when we die, but we do get to choose how we live. On the mountains, I channeled my children, Joe’s sense of fun, Jana’s bravery, and Josh’s resourcefulness. They climbed with me in spirit. That’s what I hope my climbs show them: the journey will always include setbacks and obstacles, but that’s what makes reaching the summit worthwhile.
How did your son’s question about climbing Everest inspire you to dream bigger?
Jenn Drummond: It started with defiance. I told my kids I would be climbing a mountain called Ama Dablam. Later, when one was frustrated with homework, I said, “We do hard things.” He looked at me and said, “Mom, if we do hard things, why are you climbing a mountain called ‘I’m a dumb blonde’ instead of a real mountain like Mt. Everest?” That misheard name sparked a pivotal conversation. Kids don’t overcomplicate things; to them, Everest was simply the hardest mountain, and they believed we do hard things. So why not? His words permitted me to dream bigger than I ever had before.
What was it like entering the climbing world as a complete novice, feeling like an outsider?
Jenn Drummond: I was such a beginner, I didn’t even realize how much of an outsider I was; I was too busy trying to improve. Honestly, I wanted to quit every time something got hard, and sometimes so much went wrong the only thing left to do was laugh. But I was convinced I would make it happen. I didn’t care how long it took, how messy it looked, or how many times I failed. Most things in life are just skills we can learn. I wanted to prove to myself and others that transformation is always possible.
On Mount Logan, facing brutal conditions, you wrote potential final messages to your children. What was that moment like, and how did surviving it change you?
Jenn Drummond: The car accident was fast; Mount Logan was a slow burn, with relentless storms, long enough for me to sit with the question of whether I’d see my children again. I wrote notes to them and my family: to follow their intuition, to lean into their wild ideas, to not take life too seriously, and to have fun. Facing death that way changed me. When I came home, even eating a pear felt extraordinary, the texture, the sweetness. I thought, What a miracle that pears even exist. That storm gave me permission to live harder, love louder, and never apologize for who I am.
In Antarctica’s stark landscape, what did you learn about what truly matters?
Jenn Drummond: Antarctica stripped life to its essence. No birds, no bugs, no smells, no colors, just sky, snow, rock, and sun. The silence pulled me into myself in a way I’d never experienced. I realized how little we need to feel alive: laughter, curiosity, and connection. Coming home, I wanted to burn down the excess, all the stuff that distracts us. Grocery stores felt overwhelming, streets felt loud. Antarctica reminded me that abundance isn’t about more, it’s about less, and about presence.
How do you quiet fear enough to keep going in a storm at 20,000 feet?
Jenn Drummond: Fear is like a bored child, if you keep walking, it eventually realizes it can’t derail you and quiets down. On climbs, fear showed up often, but I learned not to negotiate with it. One step, then another. When things got darkest, I’d think of my family, recite what I loved about them, and send prayers into the sky. Those moments turned fear into fuel.
Why is sharing your story as important as climbing the mountains?
Jenn Drummond: I share my story because it’s not just mine. The mountains are metaphors for the struggles and dreams we all face. When I share my story, people see themselves in it, and that gives them courage. Their reflections back to me deepen my own understanding. The summits matter less than who we become on the way to reaching them. If my vulnerability permits someone else to keep going, every risk was worth it.
What do you want people to take from your story and do differently?
Jenn Drummond: I don’t want people to climb mountains, I want them to climb themselves. I want them to live with intention, look inward for answers, and treat themselves with more kindness. The one behavior I hope people change is how hard they are on themselves. Stop belittling your progress. Life isn’t linear. Every setback is feedback, not failure. Success is about learning to make things easier on yourself, not harder.
What do you hope your children say about you years from now?
Jenn Drummond: I hope my kids say I showed them that belief matters more than circumstance. That I modeled courage, not perfection. I taught them how to rise after setbacks and laugh in the middle of storms. And most of all, that I loved them fiercely, enough to chase the hard things so they’d know they could too.
In 2023, you became the first woman to climb all Seven Second Summits. What did it feel like to stand on that final peak?
Jenn Drummond: The last ten steps felt like an eternity. Every step forward carried the weight of every step before, every setback, every storm, every sacrifice. Then suddenly, I was there. It wasn’t triumph or relief; it was awe. A deep humility at the miracle of being alive to experience it. For me, it wasn’t about rushing to the next goal. It was about integrating the lessons, sitting in gratitude, and letting the moment change me before moving forward.
What’s the next mountain in your life, literal or otherwise?
Jenn Drummond: My next mountain isn’t on a map; It’s in the minds and hearts of others. My focus now is helping people climb their own summits, whether in business, leadership, parenting, or personal growth. The internal climbs are always harder than the external ones, and I still have those myself. To me, a mountain is simply a goal you haven’t reached yet. My work now is sharing the frameworks, mental models, and thought patterns that helped me on the world’s highest ridges so others can succeed on their own terrain.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Jenn Drummond for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Jenn Drummond or her company, you can do it through her – Instagram
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.
Read Special Edition Articles
- 10 Traits of Highly Successful Entrepreneurs
- Unlocking the Secrets of Smart Goal Setting Leads to Success
- Maximizing the Power of Networking: The Key to Growing Your Business
- Conquering the Top 5 Most Common Challenges Faced by Entrepreneurs
- Discovering the 3 Essential Steps to Building a Strong, Effective Team as a Startup Founder
- The 7 Key Roles of Market Research in Startup Success
- 5 Ways to Unleash the Benefits of Mentorship for Entrepreneurs
- Mastering Financial Management: The Key to Success for Small Business Owners
- The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Job Markets
- Resilience and Persistence: The Two Essential Ingredients for a Successful Business
Rockstar Profile
Jenn Drummond: The First Woman to Complete the World’s Toughest Climb
The first thing you notice about Jenn Drummond’s story is its sheer audacity. On October 9, 2024, she became the first woman in history and the only second person ever to complete the Seven Second Summits: the second-highest peaks on each of the world’s continents. Because of ongoing debate about what defines a continent, her challenge ultimately spanned nine mountains.
The list reads like a catalog of extremes: Ojos del Salado in South America, Mount Kenya in Africa, Gora Dyhk-Tau in Europe, Mount Tyree in Antarctica, K2 in Asia, Mount Townsend in Australia, Mount Logan in North America, Monte Rosa in Switzerland, and Sumantri in Indonesia.
Together, these nine climbs account for nearly 159,000 feet of elevation. To mountaineers, this feat is considered even harder than the more famous Seven Summits. And yes—Jenn has climbed Everest too.
What makes her achievement remarkable is not just the climbs themselves but the speed and circumstances in which she did them. Drummond only began serious mountaineering in 2020. In less than four years, she completed the Seven Second Summits while also raising seven children, writing a book, hosting a podcast, and building a speaking career. Her story isn’t about abandoning responsibility; it’s about expanding it. Her journey shows that growth unfolds through a series of summits, each one challenging us to rise higher and discover new limits.
From Tragedy to Transformation
Her journey began not on a mountain, but on a snowy Utah road in 2018. A near-fatal car accident destroyed her SUV and left her inches from death. Surviving what doctors said she shouldn’t have survived brought new clarity: life is short, unpredictable, and not to be lived on autopilot. The accident became the catalyst for a new chapter, one where “someday” became “today.”
Two years later, as she approached her 40th birthday, she set her sights on Ama Dablam, a striking Himalayan peak in Nepal, and soon after, on something even bolder: the Seven Second Summits.
That decision propelled her into one of the most grueling challenges in modern mountaineering. Between 2020 and 2024, she systematically ticked off the peaks that make up the Seven Second Summits: Ojos del Salado, Mount Kenya, Gora Dyhk-Tau, Mount Tyree, K2, Mount Townsend, Mount Logan, Monte Rosa, and finally Sumantri, which secured her world record. Each climb demanded technical skill, resilience, and unshakable focus. Along the way, she also gained critical experience by summiting Everest, Kilimanjaro, Mount Vinson, and other iconic peaks. Her climbing résumé now reads like the bucket list of professional alpinists, yet she built it in record time while juggling family life and business commitments.
Her journey began not on a mountain, but on a snowy Utah road in 2018. A near-fatal car accident destroyed her SUV and left her inches from death.
Beyond the Mountains
Drummond’s philosophy is captured in a single word: BreakProof. For her, resilience isn’t about never falling; it’s about building the mindset to keep rising. She translates the lessons of the mountain into strategies for life and business: pivoting after setbacks, tackling challenges head-on, and finding meaning in adversity.
Her book, BreakProof: 7 Strategies to Build Resilience and Achieve Your Life Goals, and her podcast, Seek Your Summit, share these insights with audiences worldwide.
A Living Legacy
Jenn’s story has captured media attention across the globe, with features in CNN, ABC News, Fox News, Good Morning America, TODAY, The New York Times, Women’s Health, Outside, and more. What fascinates audiences is not only the scale of her achievements but also the balance: the mountaineer who comes home to seven children, the entrepreneur who left the corner office to pursue summits. This speaker translates personal resilience into universal lessons.
For her, the climbs are not solitary victories but shared legacies. She wants her children and the next generation to see that courage and perseverance are transferable traits, whether you’re scaling K2 or navigating the demands of everyday life. “We don’t get to choose when we die,” she often says, “but we do get to choose how we live.”
Today, Jenn Drummond is not slowing down. Having completed the Seven Second Summits, she continues to pursue the Seven Summits challenge, adding peaks like Aconcagua, Denali, and Puncak Jaya to her list. She’s expanding her platform as an author, speaker, and podcast host, with a mission to help others discover and chase their summits. Her story is proof that transformation after trauma is possible, that resilience can be cultivated, and that greatness is built step by step, summit by summit.
Jenn Drummond is, in every sense of the word, BreakProof.
