Championing female trailblazers

Emma Camp

Emma Camp is a British-born marine biologist and explorer on a mission to conserve corals in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. With support from Rolex, Camp has been able to expand her research on specific species of "super corals" that are able to survive in the extreme conditions brought on by climate change.

Camp and her colleagues have discovered several places where certain corals are able to thrive in murky waters around mangroves. Whereas most corals prefer clean, crystal-clear waters low in nutrients and sediment, stable in temperature and rich in oxygen, these "super corals" demonstrate remarkable adaptability and resilience.

"We need to understand how they're there and why they're there - and how we can utilise their abilities to help save coral reefs globally," she says.

By identifying similar hotspots of resilience along the 2,000 km of the Great Barrier Reef, and studying the behaviour and genetics of these resilient corals, Camp hopes to revitalise coral reefs that have been impacted by bleaching and other forms of coral death.

"Corals globally are dying from climate change, from more acidic oceans and waters low in oxygen. But, while we're desperately trying to lower humanity's carbon emissions there are very few options beyond that to try to help reefs persist.

"I believe we need to think outside the box. We need to go back to nature and see how it has survived for so long, and use that knowledge, combined with innovation and technology, to try to conserve what we've got."

With support and assistance from Rolex as well as local ecotourism operators, she is currently studying the two new hot spots of resilience on the northern Great Barrier Reef - the Low Isles and Howick Island. If she and her colleagues can identify the distinct traits of these corals, they may be able to turn the tide and rescue large areas devastated by mass coral death. Then Camp may once again see the coral landscapes she fell in love with at the age of 6 when her father took her snorkelling.

Garbine Muguruza

Spanish-Venezuelan tennis player Garbine Muguruza rose to prominence in 2014, after reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open and beating a former world No 1, Caroline Wozniacki. She also defeated thenworld No. 1 Serena Williams in the second round of that year's French Open. While the pandemic raged in 2021, she won her first WTA Finals championship and ended the year ranked No 3.

For the Rolex Testimonee, a critical moment in her life happened when she was only 5-years-old: Her parents decided to move from Venezuela to Spain so that she could become a professional tennis player. It would take 16 more years of gruelling dedication to achieve global prominence: "It was such a long road to my breakthrough in tennis. It's all about preparation before the tournaments because when we go out, everything is polished."

After her major victory in 2014, she bought her first Rolex to remind herself that sacrifices come with a reward: "Since I was a kid, my father and my mother both had a Rolex and I always wanted to have one as well. But my father always told me, 'You have to earn it, you have to work hard and one day you will have the chance to buy one yourself.' At the end of 2014, I felt that that moment had finally come.

"When I look at this watch today, I see joy. I see myself working hard for what I want. I see myself giving everything I have to catch my dreams."

Yuja Wang

Born to a dancer mother and percussionist father, Chinese classical pianist Yuja Wang was encouraged to play music from a very young age. By 15, she had won the Aspen Music Festival's concerto competition and started performing professionally while still studying at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. By 21, she was an internationally recognised concert pianist giving recitals in legendary musical halls.

On stage, she is a vision to behold, demonstrating sheer technical prowess and offering vivid interpretations of works by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Ravel and other composers. The New York Times describes her as a "prodigious" talent whose "virtuosity goes well beyond uncanny facility".

Off stage, Wang is known for her sleek, glamorous style. The Rolex ambassador particularly loves her Oyster Perpetual Datejust 31 in Oystersteel, white gold and diamonds. She says: "It's not just the watch but what it signifies: the beauty, the elegance, the passion, precision, perfection - it's similar to what I'm striving for in classical music.

"Music uplifts people and I think Rolex is there to also give me a goal to look forward to, it's almost like a motivation for me to always strive for the best. There's always a higher aim in life, in what I do, in the arts and in what we can achieve."