What shapes a life of success? Some may say it’s ability. Others might point to intellect, resources or access. But what if the resolve to say “no” in key moments most propels us to thrive?

That premise is at the heart of a new campaign to uncover stories from icons whose refusals created something extraordinary. Inspired by founder Charles Tanqueray’s rejection of more than 300 recipes to perfect the London Dry Gin that still makes Tanqueray famous nearly two centuries later, The Power of No celebrates influential women whose uncompromising spirit has defined their path to success.

Forbes interviewed three UK luminaries, Susie Wolff , June Angelides and Crystelle Pereira , to explore the intentional choices, boundaries and sacrifices that come with great achievement. For Wolff, in removing distractions from a mission in motorsport. For Angelides, by codifying balance in venture capitalism. For Pereira, with honoring heritage in the pursuit of culinary excellence.

Read their stories below.

The No That Protects The Mission

When Susie Wolff was appointed to build Formula 1’s first-ever all-female racing league in 2023, the accomplished former professional race driver and Formula E team CEO immediately declined more than 200 interview requests.

“I said, ‘Well, I’m not doing any of them because I’ve done nothing yet. Let me do it first, and then I’ll talk about it,’” Wolff recalls of her first days as F1 Academy managing director. “Where we are now is only possible because I shut everything out … and really focused on the job at hand.”

Four years on, the racing series – also a platform training and funding women to advance in motorsport – has rapidly grown in numbers, recognition and support. But, Wolff refuses to shift focus until the F1 Academy becomes a primary pipeline of the world’s most elite driving talent.

“What we’ve achieved in such a short space of time gives a lot of hope for what more we can do in the future. But, we've got to get it right,” she says. “I need to be quite ruthless in really only saying yes to the things which are of real relevance to F1 Academy.”

Three Nos, One Defining Yes

As a competitive racer for more than 14 years, Wolff’s notable feats included becoming one of the only women to ever compete in a Formula 1 race weekend. When she retired from the cockpit in 2015, she weighed offers to become a commentator, launch a wellness brand or invest in a retail venture. Instead, she chose to be part of something that hadn’t been done before: lead a team in a newly-formed racing series with electric cars, Formula E.

“It’s about analyzing all the opportunities, but definitely trusting your gut instinct, not always going for the biggest income initially,” she says. "I always like to put myself in a position where I'm forced to be uncomfortable, because that's where you learn the most.”

She followed that philosophy more recently when she decided to write her memoir, “Driven,” which became a Sunday Times bestseller shortly after it was published in 2025.

"It felt very much a moment where I had to get my story out,” she says. “Despite it being a lot of extra work, I felt it was definitely the right thing to do at the right time.”

No To “How We’ve Always Done Things”

Wolff attributes her continued impact on motorsport in part to a refusal to accept the status quo, particularly as she manifests her vision for the F1 Academy.

“Sometimes, I have to really fight to bring others on board with me,” she says. “I’ve sat in meetings [and] heard ‘Well, that’s just not how we do things,’ and I said, ‘No, but this is how we have to do things now — because if we just keep doing the same thing, then nothing is going to change.’”

For Wolff, the key to affecting change is strategically investing her energy in what matters most.

“I definitely pick my battles in order to win the war,” she says. Those wins seem to be compounding, one of which came earlier this year when F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling became the first woman in history to win the UK's top single-seater motor racing category.

“If we want to inspire the next generation and get more young women into the sport and create the opportunities, then we need to be bold. We need to be confident,” Wolff says. “We need to do things differently than they’ve ever been done before.”

The No To Limiting Oneself

"Traditionally, we’ve been taught that you have one job, you're one thing always, and just diminish the rest. And I say no."

That conviction has shaped the inspiring journey of venture investor and entrepreneur June Angelides, who’s backed more than $100 million in investment across Europe and Africa, sat on the UK government’s taskforce for high-growth women-led businesses and received an award from the British royal government for her services to women in technology – all while building her own company, MyPholio, the first AI-powered software platform to help professionals that run multiple careers.

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Angelides attributes her entrepreneurial spirit to watching her mother run a family business her grandfather started in the 1950s.

“I saw firsthand the importance of women playing a role in society,” she says. “I really carried that through with me when I moved over to the UK at 17 and observed the inequality in the workplace, the way women didn't show up as themselves.”

Now a British resident for more than two decades, Angelides advocates for greater female representation in business as a partner at a venture capital firm that invests in high-growth startups and as the founder of a mentoring group that has grown to 350 members.

“There’s space for everyone — and the pie only gets bigger,” she says. “The more of us that grow wealth, then [there’s] a multiplier effect. If we all get successful together, we're all able to pour into each other's businesses.”

Saying No To Holding Too Tightly

Angelides has a central motivation for working to empower underrepresented founders:

"I've always tried to be the one in the room who will speak up for the women who feel like they don't have a voice," she says.

That’s what led her to found Mums in Tech in 2015, the UK's first coding school where mothers could bring their babies to class. Over three years, it taught more than 250 women to code.

"Creating an environment where women could turn up as themselves, leaky boobs, all the lot, crying babies … I think that judgment-free environment was super important," she says.

But three years in, funding ran out and Angelides wound the company down deliberately, using personal money to make sure every teacher was paid.

“It was like grieving. It was very much like I was burying a relative,” she recalls. “We get very emotionally tied to our businesses. And as much as we may love it and we feel that we can throw everything at it, sometimes it’s important to recognize when it's time to say goodbye."

While painful, Angelides discovered that letting go of Mums in Tech actually enabled her to support the same women in a new way: venture investing, which has created millions for female business leaders.

No As A Decision Framework

In the eight years since she closed Mums in Tech, Angelides has triumphed in securing the kind of capital she once struggled to raise through an impressive portfolio of diverse professional and personal pursuits. Her success stems from what she describes as a strategic framework that two years ago she operationalized into MyPholio, a popular software platform for others who, like herself, refuse to be defined by one role.

“The way you’d manage your assets is the way you need to manage your career,” she says of MyPholio’s model, which lets users assess whether an opportunity will strengthen their careers based on data and AI-powered decision-making. “We tend to minimize ourselves too much. Don’t hide your superpowers, because we were given them for a reason.”

Angelides says MyPholio is especially valuable for people with multiple income streams to maximize a key capability: knowing when to say “no”.

“The key is a system to … know when it's time to cut things out, what no longer serves. The more you do it, you build a muscle,” Angelides says. "You learn that ‘fear of missing out’ thing – it’s not real.”

No Doesn’t Have To Burn A Bridge

Crystelle Pereira never planned on becoming a star baker and chef. Just after graduating from university with a language degree, she joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst in 2018 and stayed for more than four years. It wasn’t until she applied to the Great British Bake Off at the encouragement of friends and family that she discovered her true calling.

When her season aired in late 2021, invitations to appear on television and meet with producers came quickly. At first, Pereira hesitated to leave the security of her finance day job to pursue a growing culinary passion.

“After about seven months, I thought, ‘You know what? I can see this happening, but in order for me to really give this my all, I need to grab this with both hands.’ Because I don't want to do two jobs halfheartedly. I want to do it properly,” says Pereira. “That was the time I thought, ‘Now's the time I need to quit and take that risk.’ And I've, thankfully, not had to look back.”

When it came time to resign from Goldman Sachs in 2022, Pereira said no to a messy exit.

“Whichever career you’re planning on leaving, never burn bridges,” she says. “I did say to my manager when I was quitting, ‘Look, if for whatever reason this career doesn’t work out, I would love to come back.’ And he said to me, ‘The door’s always open.’”

When No Guards The Non-Negotiables

Pereira discovered her new career required juggling several competing priorities, particularly when she began writing her debut cookbook, Flavour Kitchen. To reach key milestones, she had to choose commitments to forego.

“I just sat down with my friends and I said, ‘Look, I’m really sorry, but you’re not going to see me for a bit,’” she recalls. “Sometimes, you do have to make those small sacrifices, and if you’ve got a good enough circle, they’ll understand. … I love food. I love writing recipes. And because I love it, I wanted to dedicate time to it. I really wanted it to be the best book I could make.”

For her cookbook, Pereira developed and perfected 100 original recipes with easy-to-find ingredients that infuse accessible dishes with rich flavors inspired by her Portuguese-Goan heritage and travels around the world. But, the publisher’s page count limitations forced a choice.

“I said, ‘I want a photo with every recipe,’ they said, ‘Well, if you want a photo with every recipe, then you can only include 75,’” she recalls. She took the 75. “Even for me as a consumer, if I’m reading a cookbook, and there’s not a photo for the recipe, I’m most likely not going to cook it.”

For Pereira, visual engagement is also critical to showcase culinary innovation by those far underrepresented in their field.

“I look at chefs on TV, there's barely any women, first of all, and then there's barely any women of color. I don't think I've ever seen a Portuguese-Goan woman,” she says. “I think the fact that I've been given this opportunity to be a person of influence, a woman of influence in this industry is, for me, such an honor. I just want to do my heritage proud and do it justice.”

The No That Filters Out The Noise

Pereira, a former client relationship manager, knows the value of exposure to success.

“Your network is so important. I’ve been to events where I've met one person and it's led to huge, huge opportunities that have been so pivotal in my career. So, if I think that there is an opportunity to meet someone important, I will go. I’ll say yes,” she says. “But, equally, if I’ve got three events in one day, something will have to give.”

“Sometimes, in this industry, the lines can be quite blurred between work and pleasure,” she says. “I think it’s important to really draw that distinction. I’ve been declining things more because I can’t burn out, and I can’t risk burning out.”

When saying no closes a door, Pereira doesn’t dwell.

“I’m also a big believer in ‘everything happens for a reason,’” she says. “So, when things don’t work out, there’s a reason why.”

Nearly two centuries ago, an iconic global brand was born of one entrepreneur’s conviction to say no when Charles Tanqueray rejected more than 300 different iterations before arriving at the perfect London Dry Gin recipe that still defines Tanqueray today.

Those like him who refuse shortcuts, compromise and mediocrity are cultivating true excellence today. Explore the distinctive voices who use the Power of No to create focus, quality, autonomy and build a life of remarkable success.

Designer: Martine Ehrhart