Before the superyacht Venus sailed into Laurene Powell Jobs’ world, water meant something far simpler to her. Not the polished decks, glass walls, and endless blue horizons of the reportedly $120 million Philippe Starck-designed superyacht, but the lakes of rural northwest New Jersey, where she swam with her three brothers in summer and skated on the ice in winter. Think Laurene Powell Jobs, and you think of a hefty net worth of over $14 billion. You do not think of money troubles. You think of Apple and Disney stock. You think of the owner of Venus. It is all a picture of wealth, success, and now even philanthropy, thanks to her role as the founder and president of Emerson Collective.
It appears as if Powell Jobs is surrounded by so much wealth that everything in her life is a result of it, from her massive real estate portfolio to her mega giving, with reports stating that she has distributed approximately $5 billion. But the foundation of this wealth was not wealth, inheritance, or a jackpot. It was financial hardship, hard work, perseverance, and a sprinkle of luck, including the fact that she met her late husband, Steve Jobs, at Stanford University’s business school when she attended one of his guest lectures.
The 62-year-old Powell Jobs’ early life was not shaped by yachts, European summers, or global privilege. She was a sister living with her mother and three brothers in northwest New Jersey. Her father passed away when she was only three, and her mother, an educator, became the biggest influence on her life. In striking contrast to her life today, those years were much more rural. Still, it was her life, and it revolved not around things money could buy, but around what nature offered, which was usually free.
In an interview with Tilting Futures, Powell Jobs shared some childhood memories, one of the most vivid being that she swam in lakes with her three brothers. It is hard to imagine that the woman now linked to Venus did not spend her summers in pools, but in natural swimming spots with her siblings. Today, however, Venus often draws attention wherever she cruises, from the Mediterranean to Australia. Back then, the children had little money but plenty of family love and joy, skating on winter ice when the seasons changed.
From skating on winter ice to enjoying a glass palace of a superyacht, life has truly shown the mother of three all the seasons. It is, in fact, what she stated in her interview, “We are all products of our lived experiences and education and explorations and practices. I grew up in northwest New Jersey, in a place that was much more rural than suburban. The natural rhythms of the seasons were one of my first teachers. I had three brothers and we were all very close in age, so we sort of operated as a pack. We swam in the lake and skated on the ice in the winters. We were lower middle class. We didn’t travel at all. We didn’t go on holidays per se. But the place where we lived was abundant and full of interest and we were very curious kids.”
What is most interesting is that Laurene never described that childhood as empty. She described it as abundant, full of interest, and shaped by curiosity. Even as she grew older, her choices were laced with passion, compassion, and an earnest desire to do good, not just make money. This debt-laden Penn graduate may have chosen Goldman Sachs over the Peace Corps to support herself and pay off significant student debt, but as soon as she was able, she chose to give back to society.
The little girl who smiled in the lakes of New Jersey later launched Terravera, an organic vegetarian food company she started with a Stanford classmate. Their food truck was called the Earth Cruiser, a white van with a candy-striped canvas awning, serving healthy meals in California office parks. Nothing connects people like a hearty meal, and bringing healthy lunches to office workers was one of the first steps on the path of a woman who would later commit billions to organizations addressing climate change through her Waverley Street Foundation.
Before Venus, there was the Earth Cruiser. Before the high seas, there was a lake in New Jersey. And before Laurene Powell Jobs became one of the most influential women in America, she was a curious girl from a lower-middle-class home whose world was small in money, but rich in nature, books, family, and possibility.
