Making Waves

Turning His Back on a Hedonistic Lifestyle, Scott Harrison, Ceo and Founder of Charity: Water, Set Sail for More Meaningful Waters.

- Jennifer Sijnja

After working for a decade as a nightclub promoter in New York City, Scott Harrison discovered that the pleasures afforded by his lifestyle concealed a deeper lack of meaning. “I made my living getting other people wasted,” he tells The CEO Magazine. “Rarely sober myself, I woke up one day and realised I was spiritually and morally bankrupt. So I asked myself the question: What would the exact opposite of my life look like?”

This moment of reflection prompted a radical change. Quitting his job and his vices, and selling almost all of his possessions, Scott spent the next two years on a humanitarian mission in Liberia, working as a volunteer photojournalist on a hospital ship. On this voyage, Scott’s eyes were opened.

After bearing witness to the horrors of extreme poverty and the deadly effects of dirty water, Scott knew he had a responsibility to do something about what he’d seen. He returned to New York City in 2006, started charity: water, and has seen the charity, in the ensuing 12 years, raise more than US$300 million to fund clean water projects around the world.