From Glamping to Global Impact: Sarah Dusek on Building with Purpose
When Sarah Dusek was young, she wanted to be a lawyer. Not for the career… for the fight. She wanted to right wrongs. To make things better. She looked up to Ruth Bader Ginsburg: a woman who showed up, said what needed saying, and didn't stop.
Photo: Sarah Dusek
She never became a lawyer. But the instinct behind it (the belief that she had a responsibility to leave things better than she found them) has driven everything she's built since.
That includes a glamping empire that she scaled from a tent on a family farm to luxury hotels near America's national parks, eventually selling for a sum she doesn't disclose but that changed her family's life. It includes Few and Far, a regenerative travel company with a goal of sequestering one million tonnes of carbon a year. And it includes Enygma Ventures, the fund she built because she experienced firsthand what it costs women not to have one.
None of it started with a plan. Most of it started with a crisis.
Rock bottom, Montana
In 2008, Sarah and her husband Jake lost everything. The socially conscious property development company they'd built in the UK collapsed in the financial crash. With two small children, they moved back in with her parents. Eventually they relocated to Montana to start again.
"The pivotal moment came after we hit rock bottom," she says. "I had always loved the African safari experience from my time working as an aid worker in Zimbabwe. The idea of being immersed in nature but with the comforts of a hot shower and a soft bed stuck with me. Montana, with its wide-open spaces and wildlife, inspired me to ask: what if we could create an accessible safari-like experience here?"
They launched Under Canvas in 2009 on Jake's family farm. The first site was in the wrong location - too remote, too quiet. Nobody came. So they pivoted. They moved the tents to events. They listened to what people actually wanted. Eventually, they landed on the idea that changed everything: luxury tented hotels near national parks. Yellowstone. Zion. Glacier. Places people already wanted to go, now with somewhere extraordinary to stay.
Then came the literal storm.
"We opened our first tented hotel near Yellowstone. That first season, a thunderstorm flattened nearly every tent. I stood in the pouring rain with two small children and thought, this is it - we're done."
Instead of closing, they rallied. Neighbours, staff, guests… everyone helped rebuild the camp that same night. Not one person asked for a refund.
"That night taught me that resilience isn't just about grit. It's about asking for help. Letting people lift you."
The $7 million no
As Under Canvas grew, so did the pressure to take money on other people's terms. Sarah turned down a $7 million investment offer while the business was nearly out of cash, because the terms were predatory and undervalued what they'd built.
"It was terrifying. We were running out of money. But saying no was one of the most powerful things I've ever done."
They found a better deal. One that valued the business properly and didn't cost her control.
It's a moment she comes back to often, because it taught her something that shaped every decision since: that saying no to the wrong thing creates space for the right one. And that knowing your worth, even when everything around you is telling you to be grateful for whatever's on offer, is both harder and more important than anyone tells you.
Under Canvas was eventually sold in 2018. Sarah could have stopped there.
Building what she needed
She didn't stop. She built Enygma Ventures because she knew exactly what women building businesses were missing - not just capital, but belief.
"I experienced firsthand how many barriers exist for women in business, especially when trying to build something big. I wanted to change that narrative and become the investor I wished I'd had."
Enygma focuses on women entrepreneurs in underserved markets. Not just with funding, but with mentorship, community and the specific kind of encouragement that tells a founder she belongs in the room she's standing in.
"We're not just funding companies. We're funding futures."
Alongside that, Few and Far (her regenerative travel venture) is building a blueprint for what responsible tourism can look like when it's taken seriously: outdoor experiences in extraordinary places, designed to protect the environments that make them worth visiting.
"Our goal is to sequester one million tonnes of carbon a year - proving that travel can help heal the planet if we do it right."
On thinking bigger
The thread running through all of it is something Sarah talks about with the particular conviction of someone who learned it the hard way.
"Early on, I kept my goals achievable. But that version of safety became its own kind of limitation. I realised I was unintentionally playing small. I had to learn to think bigger. To believe I was allowed to."
She's clear that impostor syndrome hasn't gone away - it doesn't, for most people who are doing anything worth doing.
"Impostor syndrome? I've had it a hundred times. But you show up anyway. Doubt doesn't disqualify you."
What she'd tell a younger woman starting out (starting out anywhere, with any idea) is the thing she wishes someone had told her earlier.
"Stop waiting for permission. You don't need anyone else to validate your ideas or tell you it's the right time. The sooner you trust yourself and take action, the sooner you'll discover what's possible."
What flying higher means
I always ask the founders I speak to what flying higher means to them. Sarah's answer is the one I keep coming back to.
"Flying higher means refusing to settle for what's easy or expected. In business, it's about aiming for impact and innovation - creating something that not only succeeds but leaves a meaningful legacy. In life, it's about growth and courage - pushing past fears and limitations to become the best version of myself."
She wanted to be a lawyer to fight injustice. Instead, she built a fund for women, a company sequestering carbon, and a travel business proving that doing good and doing well aren't opposites.
RBG would probably approve.
Want even more from Sarah? Her book Thinking Bigger: A Pitch Deck Formula for Women Who Want to Change the World offers practical strategies, powerful mindset shifts, and funding advice for women ready to lead with purpose.