Like many New Yorkers, Eighth Day chief executive officer Savannah Sachs looks forward to the occasional summertime respite found in the Hamptons. But her seaside forays call for much more than resort chic casual wear and copious amounts of SPF. A roughly four-foot-long spear often comes into play, too, a needed tool when she’s practicing her favorite pastime: spearfishing.
“You either use a pole spear or a spear gun, which kind of operates with this rubber-band mechanism,” said Sachs, who was in her 20s when she first began joining her cousins on their fishing trips in Montauk, N.Y., and immediately became hooked.
“I love being in, on or near the water — it’s my happy place — and on top of that, I love an adventure,” said Sachs, who joined the luxury skin care brand in January, after building Tula Skincare into a booming business and exiting to P&G Beauty in five years.
It wasn’t long before Sachs and her cousins made the leap from traditional line fishing off of a boat to spearfishing, typically along the shores of Block Island or Narragansett. The latter makes for an admittedly more challenging pastime — hence its appeal for the CEO.
“With spearfishing, more than half the battle is being comfortable in the water and being able to control your breathing,” she said, adding “I’m certainly not successful every time, but that’s why when you are able to catch a fish, it’s that much more incredible. It’s definitely taught me — given my long days and many failed attempts — about the importance of persevering.”
That lesson that has proved relevant across several facets of life for Sachs, who also meditates daily, attends breathwork classes and is also an avid free diver — having recently inaugurated a personal diving record of 75 feet under water in just one breath.
“It’s sort of beyond your imagination what your body can do, and so [spearfishing] is something that has pushed me outside of my comfort zone, while also being a meditative experience,” said Sachs, who finds a similar appeal in heading up growth-stage companies like Eighth Day.
Founded by skin cancer surgeon Antony Nakhla, the brand is best known for its Regenerative Serum, $325, which contains a proprietary blend of peptides, amino acids and growth factors, informed by Nakhla’s work healing open wounds.
“Joining at an early stage and helping to shape and build a brand, while bringing a founder’s vision to life, is so meaningful because it’s both challenging and fun — the same combination that makes for an adventure,” said Sachs. “Whether you’re underwater or being a leader — there’s a parallel in learning how to stay calm in those moments when a lot is at stake.”
There has been, perhaps, more at stake of late given the uptick in shark sightings on the shores of Long Island — though leave it to Sachs to find a takeaway, too, in this phenomenon.
“The resurgence of larger sea life is great for the health of the overall ecosystem — plus the added visibility is great — but we’ve definitely had to be extra careful. It’s just an example of how your favorite fishing spot can evolve and change; it is a wild habitat, after all,” said Sachs.
Sachs and her cousins eat everything they catch, preferably in the form of ceviche (“Trigger fish, in particular, are great for ceviche”), though blackfish or striped bass are equally likely — and tasty — catches.
“My most memorable catch, by far, was a gorgeous striped bass,” said Sachs. “It’s my largest catch to date and came after a long day of failed attempts, which made it especially exciting.”
However much her approaches to spearfishing and work may have in common, her measurement of success as a fisherwoman is different in that it doesn’t rely on traditional notions of progress.
“Sometimes I struggle with whether it makes sense to put a sense of achievement or concrete goals up against a hobby that I also want to be a sense of escape and fun and joy,” said Sachs. “Having a great workout and a chance to be present in nature and outside of my comfort zone is worthwhile in and of itself — realizing that has also been a great journey for me.”
