'Here we go!' I said, psyching myself up as I stepped out of the sauna into the snow. It had been on my bucket list for ages: traveling to Lapland during the magical winter months. After years of heart-stopping Wim Hof ice baths and spontaneous naked-rolling-through-the-snow sessions in my back yard - my neighbors must love me! - I felt prepared for the cold. But as my wet feet started to literally stick to the snow in the - 23°C night, I realized I wasn't. There's cold, and there's COLD: the kind that is simply unimaginable.

Most female adventurers brave enough to travel to the Polar regions couldn't imagine it either: the terrifying cold and hardship that was waiting for them beyond the 'frostbite frontiers'. 'It's impossible', they were told. And: "This is NOT a place for women.' Dead set on breaking the ice ceiling, these explorers only became more determined. But determined to find what exactly? Well, that's the whole point of exploring: you'll discover it when you get there.

All my life, I've been mapping uncharted territories. Destined to become a housewife, I freed myself from the shackles of my social class to go to art school ('Impossible', I was told). After graduating cum laude, I left the high-brow world of art to start my own business (in 1993, there were only two female CEOs in the Fortune 500 list; NOT exactly a place for women). And through my female-empowering designs, I aimed to gain ground in the (ironically) male-dominated world of lingerie. All, unfamiliar territories. No maps or mentors to help me navigate. But, like the female outcasts conquering the Poles, I did have one thing that kept me warm and going: a burning passion.

- Marlies Dekkers