Record-setting sailor tells her brave story

DINNER, CONVERSATION, AND SPECIAL PROGRAM STAND-UPS: “THE BEST ADVICE I EVER GOT” Noriko Nakamura, Chief Executive Officer, Poppins Corp. Josette Sheeran, President and CEO, Asia Society Belinda Wong, President, Starbucks China ROUND THE WORLD WITH VICKY SONG Vicky Song, The First Chinese Women to Circumnavigate the Globe, Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. Interviewer: Pattie Sellers, Fortune - See more at: http://www.fortuneconferences.com/mpwi-asia-2014/agenda-overview-2/#sthash.6sVHwlBr.dpuf

Photograph by Philipp Engelhorn — Fortune MPW

Every successful woman derives her power, at least in part, from her mother. And if life plays out as it’s supposed to, a mother gains power from her daughter too.

So it happened with Vicky Song, the first Chinese woman to circumnavigate the globe in a sailboat. As Song, an amateur sailor, completed the 11-month, 45,000-mile Clipper Round the World Yacht Race last summer, she vowed to her mother, terminally ill with liver cancer, that she wouldn’t give up. And her mother vowed the same.

Here’s my interview with Song, 32, at the Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit in Hong Kong in mid-November. It’s a poignant and inspiring story for a holiday weekend with family.

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