Ann Shoket On Why Ambitious Women Need Each Other

If you are a millennial woman, Ann Shoket likely shaped how you view beauty, fashion, and pop culture. As the Editor-in-Chief of Seventeen during its peak era, she was the gatekeeper of cool. However, looking back, Ann doesn’t see her time at the legacy brand as the ultimate destination. She sees it as a lesson in the power that women hold.

When asked if ambition has become a dirty word for career women, Ann is quick to reframe the narrative. “Pick another word,” she challenges. “Freedom. Do you like freedom? Do you like possibilities? Ambition is just wanting what you want and knowing you have the ability to get it,” she stated in the episode.

Ann describes her time at Seventeen as sitting in a borrowed seat, a legendary throne she was honored to sit in, but realized she didn’t own. Shoket admits the transition to entrepreneurship wasn’t initially the plan, but it became her savior. Ann recalls the weight of trying to save the magazine business from the 2008 crash and digital shifts.

“The day I realized those were no longer my problems to solve was the best day of my life,” she clarified. Freed from trying to save a dying industry, she focused on her true mission: talking to the next generation of women about their life plans.

After the pandemic halted her summit-based business, Ann pivoted again, acquiring The Li.st, a high-impact community featuring names like Shonda Rhimes and Jodi Cantor. Why? Being a high-achieving woman can be inherently lonely.

“The world is not built for you. The world is not built for me,” Ann says. By creating a community for women who have already broken the rules, she is moving past incremental change toward sparks of creativity. 

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