This Woman Built an Island Paradise — and Banned Men

Kristina Roth has made every woman’s dream come true: a private island getaway where no men are allowed.

The resort, called SuperShe Island, is just off the coast of Finland and is open to eight women at a time — all whom have to apply and be properly vetted prior to visiting.

But it's not only the vacationers who are women: Every single person who works on or in relation the island identifies as one.

“We even created jobs for female photographers, because some of the journalists who came here worked with male photographers and I said that they had to hire a woman,” Roth told Forbes. “We get the vegetables from [women] who are farmers who live 10 miles away. I only go to men when there’s no other alternative."

While SuperShe Island has only been running since June 23, over 8,500 women have already applied to visit the femme oasis.

But despite the paradise's policies, Roth wants people to know it’s not a man-hating island. She just believes in surrounding herself with positive, feminine energy and building other women up. 

“With SuperShe, I inspire others, and I meet women who inspire me,” she said. “The exchange of energies and the inspiration of who you surround yourself with, I think there’s a science behind that. If you surround yourself with five inspiring people, you’re the average of them.”

Before SuperShe, Roth was already a successful businesswoman.

“I studied computer science and did something unlikely in Germany at the time: I started in a techie job, surrounded by men, then I moved to management consulting,” she said.

Roth then moved to the United States and says the very same day she received her green card, she started her own company. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m living the American dream," she said. "I started without a penny to my name and grew a business and just hustled.”

Roth founded Matisia Consultants, a $45 million consulting firm, which she left in 2016 in search of a more fulfilling career path. It was then that Roth got the idea for SuperShe, which was initially a blog and community designed to bring inspiring women together over the internet. She began hosting retreats for SuperShe followers in common vacation destinations like Hawaii and Turks and Caicos. And in December, she purchased her own 8.4-acre island in the Baltic Sea.

Roth oversaw the construction of the island into her very own paradise.

“With SuperShe, a lot of people just see the tip of the iceberg. But it’s a hustle,” Roth said. “I needed to build an island, which I did singlehandedly — I contract managed it and architected it through a Finnish winter. I am a big believer in hustling. It’s not insta-success. I believe in old-fashioned work.”

For now, Roth’s plan is to “chill a little bit” before she takes on her next project.

And for those women wanting to take after Roth and start their own company, Roth offers her advice: “Be aware that with anything you start, you really need to put your whole soul, body, emotion, and resources into it. You really need to put a lot of other things on hold … Fall on your face, dust yourself off and keep going. Grow a thick skin. Be strong. Don't get discouraged.”