Teara Fraser

A Métis woman from Canada’s Northwest Territories, Teara Fraser never planned to become a pilot. But on an aerial tour of Botswana’s Okavango Delta in 2001, she had a revelation: She wanted to fly. “It was one of the most pivotal moments of my life,” Fraser recalls. “I returned to Canada and started flight training. A year later I had my pilot’s license.”

Fraser was working for an aerial-survey company when the 2010 Vancouver Olympics brought global attention to Canada’s First Nations peoples. She recognized that while visitors from around the world were eager to learn more about these communities, transportation to those places was limited—a significant barrier to growing tourism. “Culturally, we’re taught to do good with the knowledge and skills we’ve been blessed with,” Fraser says. So she embarked on a mission to connect travelers to the remote communities of northern and coastal British Columbia.

 Her solution was Iskwew Air, Canada’s first Indigenous-owned and woman-owned airline. Launched in 2019, Iskwew operates daily service between Vancouver International Airport and Qualicum Beach, on the northeastern coast of Vancouver Island. The airline also runs private charters to other hard-to-reach destinations in British Columbia. The name (pronounced iss-kway-yo) means “woman” in Cree, a language spoken by some Métis people; Fraser chose it to symbolize matriarchal leadership, a touchstone of Métis culture.

Since the launch, Fraser has continued to champion a more diverse, inclusive, and sustainable aviation industry: Her nonprofit, Give Them Wings, encourages Indigenous youth to explore careers in aviation, while Iskwew Air offsets its emissions by purchasing credits from the Great Bear Forest Carbon Project. In 2023, she founded Elibird Aero, a “clean aerotech” company focused on innovations such as fully electric planes. Most recently, Fraser ventured into hospitality with the opening of Liberty Wilderness Lodge, a remote sanctuary in northern B.C. that she co-owns with her husband, Trevin. 

“I always say that getting my wings gave me wings for everything else in my life,” Fraser says. “It gave me courage and inspiration, and taught me the value of hard work.” —Gina DeCaprio Vercesi

Sarah Dusek

“Can we build a business that helps save the planet?” That’s the question Sarah Dusek is asking with her latest hospitality endeavor, the six-suite Few & Far Luvhondo, in South Africa. It’s the first safari lodge for her new company, Few & Far, but it’s not Dusek’s first rodeo: She’s the founder, along with her husband, Jacob, of the glamping operator Under Canvas, which the couple sold for $100 million in 2018. Her new venture sits amid the Soutpansberg Mountains, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve that’s home to wildlife including giraffes, leopards, and the endangered pangolin. An organic farm supplies the kitchen and, through the replanting of endemic flora, the project aims to eventually sequester more than 100,000 tons of carbon a year. “This is a place to immerse yourself in the wilderness and let it speak to you,” she says.​ —Elaine Glusac

Vikas Khanna

Celebrated Indian chef Vikas Khanna has written cookbooks, won Michelin accolades, and, in 2024, opened the buzzy restaurant Bungalow in New York City. But one of his greatest achievements had nothing to do with high-end dining. Soon after the pandemic began—while “things were falling apart,” as he puts it—Khanna set his mind to getting meals to families in need across his home country, a project he dubbed Feed India. “It started so small,” says Khanna, who was directing deliveries and fund-raising remotely from New York. “By the time I had to slow down to open Bungalow, which was my sister Radhika’s dream project, we’d delivered 84 million meals.” Though his sister died after a long illness in 2022, he opened the restaurant on the day that would have been her 50th birthday. “The greatest works of art have always come from broken hearts.”​ —Hannah Selinger