In recent years, women entrepreneurs have been making significant strides in entrepreneurship and business leadership. These inspiring women have faced unique challenges and obstacles, but they have proven that with determination, hard work, and creativity, anything is possible. Here are five successful women entrepreneurs who continue to inspire others to pursue their dreams.
7 Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs and How They Built Their Successful Businesses
Melanie Perkins – Canva
Melanie Perkins is an Australian entrepreneur who co-founded Canva, an online graphic design platform that allows users to create professional-looking graphics and designs with ease. Perkins started the company in 2012 with her co-founder, Cliff Obrecht, and today, Canva has grown into a multi-billion dollar company with millions of users worldwide.
Perkins got the idea for Canva while teaching students how to use design software in her previous job. She realized that the software was difficult for beginners to use and that there was a need for a more user-friendly design platform. Together with Obrecht, she created Canva, which offers a simple drag-and-drop interface and a library of templates and design elements. Canva’s user-friendly interface has made it a popular choice for businesses, educators, and individuals looking to create professional-looking designs.
Since its launch, Canva has grown rapidly and now has over 40 million users in 190 countries. The company has raised over $500 million in funding and is valued at over $15 billion. Perkins’ success has earned her numerous awards and recognition, including being named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. She continues to inspire other entrepreneurs and is a strong advocate for women in technology.
Rihanna – Fenty Beauty
Rihanna is a well-known musician and actress, but she’s also an accomplished entrepreneur. In 2017, she launched Fenty Beauty, a makeup brand that focuses on inclusivity and diversity. The brand’s slogan, “Beauty for All,” reflects its commitment to offering a wide range of shades and products that cater to people of all skin tones and types. Fenty Beauty’s success has been nothing short of extraordinary, with the brand earning $100 million in its first 40 days on the market.
Following the success of Fenty Beauty, Rihanna went on to launch other ventures under the Fenty brand, including Fenty Skin and Fenty Fashion. Fenty Skin offers a range of skincare products that are vegan, cruelty-free, and cater to all skin types, while Fenty Fashion features a line of clothing and accessories that celebrate diversity and inclusivity. Rihanna’s commitment to inclusivity and diversity has made Fenty a popular and beloved brand among consumers. As of 2021, Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty brand is estimated to be worth $2.8 billion.
Whitney Wolfe Herd – Bumble
Whitney Wolfe Herd is another inspiring woman entrepreneur who founded Bumble, a dating app that has disrupted the traditional online dating industry. Wolfe Herd’s goal was to create a platform where women feel safe and empowered to make the first move in dating and networking. Today, Bumble is valued at over $13 billion and has expanded to include features such as Bumble BFF for making friends and Bumble Bizz for professional networking.
Whitney Wolfe Herd started her career in the tech industry as a co-founder of Tinder, another popular dating app. However, she left the company due to issues with discrimination and sexual harassment. Undeterred, she started her own dating app, Bumble, with a focus on creating a safer and more empowering experience for women. Bumble has since become one of the most successful dating apps in the world, Bumble has 58 million users, with 67.4% being male and 32.6% being female. In addition to her work at Bumble, Wolfe Herd is also a vocal advocate for women’s rights and has launched initiatives to support women in business and entrepreneurship.
Katrina Lake – Stitch Fix
Katrina Lake is the founder and CEO of Stitch Fix, an online personal styling service that uses data and algorithms to curate outfits for customers. Lake started the company in 2011 while she was a student at Harvard Business School. Today, Stitch Fix is valued at over $8 billion and has revolutionized the way people shop for clothing.
Lake’s idea for Stitch Fix came from her own frustration with the traditional retail shopping experience. She saw an opportunity to use technology to create a more personalized and convenient way to shop for clothing. Lake used her background in retail and technology to develop a data-driven approach to personal styling. Customers fill out a detailed style profile, and Stitch Fix uses algorithms and data analysis to select clothing items that match the customer’s preferences and budget.
Despite facing skepticism from investors early on, Lake was able to secure funding and grow Stitch Fix into a successful company. Today, Stitch Fix has over 4 million active clients and continues to innovate with new features like direct buy and more sustainable options. Lake’s vision and leadership have made her a role model for women entrepreneurs in the tech industry.
Jessica Alba – The Honest Company
Jessica Alba is the co-founder and chief creative officer of The Honest Company, a consumer goods company that provides eco-friendly and safe household products. Alba started The Honest Company after her own personal experiences with toxic chemicals in baby products. Today, The Honest Company has expanded to include a wide range of products, from skincare to home cleaning products. Alba’s commitment to sustainability and clean ingredients has made her a leader in the industry and an inspiration to other women entrepreneurs.
Jessica Alba started The Honest Company in 2011 with her business partner, Christopher Gavigan, after she struggled to find safe and effective baby products for her own children. The company started with a line of diapers and wipes, made with natural and non-toxic ingredients. The Honest Company has since expanded its product offerings to include skincare, household cleaning products, and personal care items. Alba’s dedication to sustainability and clean ingredients has earned her numerous accolades, including being named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” in 2016.
Alba’s personal commitment to sustainability and social responsibility has been a driving force behind The Honest Company’s success. The company is a certified B Corporation, which means that it meets high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. The Honest Company also partners with various non-profit organizations, including Baby2Baby and the Environmental Working Group, to give back to communities and promote sustainable practices. Alba’s passion for making a positive impact on the world has inspired many other women entrepreneurs to prioritize sustainability and social responsibility in their own businesses.
Katrina Craigwell – LinkedIn
Katrina Craigwell is a marketing expert who played a pivotal role in the growth of LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional networking platform. Craigwell used her innovative marketing strategies and storytelling skills to develop campaigns that helped LinkedIn grow to over 400 million users. Today, she serves as a role model for women entrepreneurs who are looking to make their mark in the tech industry.
Katrina Craigwell’s career at LinkedIn started with a summer internship while she was in business school. She quickly saw the potential for using LinkedIn to connect professionals around the world and to create new opportunities for them. After completing her MBA, she joined LinkedIn full-time and became responsible for developing and executing marketing campaigns that helped grow the user base. Craigwell used innovative marketing strategies and a focus on storytelling to establish LinkedIn as a leading social media platform for professionals.
Emily Weiss – Glossier
Emily Weiss is the founder and CEO of Glossier, a beauty brand that has disrupted the industry with its focus on natural beauty and inclusivity. Weiss started Glossier in 2014 as a blog called Into the Gloss, where she interviewed women about their beauty routines. The blog quickly gained popularity and Weiss saw an opportunity to create a brand that offered products inspired by the women she had interviewed. Today, Glossier is valued at over $1 billion and has a cult-like following of devoted fans.
Weiss’s idea for Glossier came from her experience as a beauty editor and the conversations she had with women about their beauty routines. She noticed a gap in the market for products that were inspired by real women and that celebrated natural beauty. Weiss used her blog as a platform to gather feedback from her audience and test out product ideas. She launched Glossier with a small line of skincare products and a focus on minimalism and inclusivity. The brand has since expanded to include makeup, fragrances, and body care, all with a focus on enhancing natural beauty. Glossier’s success can be attributed to Weiss’s ability to listen to her audience and create products that meet their needs.
These inspiring women entrepreneurs have achieved great success through hard work, perseverance, and innovative thinking. They serve as role models for other women who aspire to succeed in business and prove that anything is possible with determination and a strong sense of purpose.
![From Music to Perfume: How did your background as a music teacher influence your transition into perfumery, and how do you incorporate your musical sensibilities into creating fragrances? I’ve always thought in terms of metaphors, and music has many that can be related to perfumery! Beyond just thinking in terms of top, middle and base notes [soprano/alto/tenor in choir], I approach each fragrant idea as a composition. When documenting my ideas, song structures often come to mind. As the scent brief is visited, I meditate on what the fragrance should convey - do I want to create an accord or a “chord” of fragrance note combinations? Do I want an a capella soloist (a particular ingredient to stand out more than others?) Many of my thoughts regarding song composition transfers to my scent formulation process, with me treating each note as an intentional soliloquy at some point.
Brand Origin: What inspired you to start Pink MahogHany in 2005, and how has your vision for the brand evolved since its inception?
An avid lover of all things pleasantly scented (with slight modesty), looking back in retrospect, it’s no huge surprise that I’ve created an indie perfume house with just an idea to provide unique options for those who may be sensitive to unnecessary pungency. Initially, I just wanted to evaluate various blends to note their aroma profiles when “played” together…it wasn’t until I had friends and family asking if I knew of brands that catered to those who may be on the more olfactory sensitive side, that I really began to take my research more seriously. In the almost 20 years that Pink MahogHany has been in existence, our micro visions for the brand have evolved to larger territory. Where Pink MahogHany used to only be a personal brand, we are now also a bespoke formulation service provider to other indie brands seeking unique fragrance offerings for their products. These products range from (but are not limited to) perfumes, candles, body butters and lip balms. Ingredient Transparency: You emphasize transparency and the use of desirable ingredients in your products. How do you select your ingredients, and what challenges have you faced in maintaining this standard?
Being an indie brand often comes with a set of assumptions and misconceptions - one of them being more negative than positive as it relates to ingredients used. There is a lot of “fluff” in the industry with labeling falsification. Because fragrance formulas are a trade secret, not every molecular breakdown of a material has to be noted on the ingredient label (it would be incredibly long), but we at Pink MahogHany™️ adhere strongly to the IFRA [International Fragrance Regulatory Association] regulations that state for common and potential allergens to be listed on our ingredient label. We’ve taken this a step further to also include these ingredients listed on our website to promote further transparency, all while protecting our intellectual property. Unfortunately, we’ve had companies to unethically sell lesser expensive “dupes” of our artisan perfumes, so as a way to create a better authenticity stamp, we make it our duty to be honest about our claims. If our perfume says “Rose Bulgaria”, it is in fact just that and not a component of rose being passed off as the source material. Collaborations and Custom Scents: Can you share more about your work with private label clients? What excites you most about creating custom scent solutions for other indie brands? I could easily sum this up in one word and say “Funding.” True, there is money out there, but I’m always thinking outside the box. Having a program that has an “Each One Fund One” mentality doesn’t exist (that I’ve been made aware of). Bootstrapping can be quite the challenge, even when you’ve reached the 6-figure mark annually. Competition to be seen and set apart is extremely high, so having quality packaging and branding is a must. There are lots of factors to consider, though when desiring to make upgrades. If there were a unique, tier-geared funding operation available, it would help perfume brands offset packaging and bulk material costs in the beginning stages.
Industry Challenges: What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced as an independent fragrance house, and how have you overcome them to grow your brand? As the brand continues on the path of organic growth, I would like to expand our reach into schools, offering perfumery as an arts elective for middle and high school. I’d love to partner with botanists, farmers and horticulturists directly to grow and source raw materials for the students to work with in the creation of tinctures. My passion is getting back to nature as best as possible, as nature was my first “scent experience” as a child. We would also love to witness our fragrance creations being used to scent model homes, our focus diffuser blends being used in automobile dealerships as well as partner with Air Bnb and boutique hotels that specialize in highlighting minority, indie brands. Personal Journey: How has your personal experience, particularly as a divorced mother and someone who has experienced the loss of a child, shaped your approach to life and your work in perfumery?
Because I homeschool my twin sons, we are together a lot more than most, so one thing we all do is have moments of sharing where a neutral “floor” is laid to converse about anything. Though they are quite communicative by nature, I realize that sometimes I can be in work mode so much that it spills over into what should be our quality time. My sons see the authentic me and learn how to communicate through seeing authenticity. I’ve learned not to feel as if I have to be the epitome of perfection but allow them to see my imperfections vulnerably but with discernment. Having had two traumatic experiences pretty close together has taught me how to truly slow down and enjoy the simplicities of life - igniting a spiritual aspect that I’ve always carried but never fully explored…until Kenji’s sudden passing (2018.) Grief has a way of catapulting us into a quest for more meaningfulness in both life and business. After Kenji’s passing and my processing through the initial stages of grief, I was able to incorporate our spiritual bond into Pink MahogHany by way of essential oil diffuser blends for both focus and sleep and most recently aromatic perfume elixirs. It’s been quite the process channeling the void of his physical presence, but I also have peace knowing he can be honored in a great way through scent. I noticed once I began to be more open and receptive to spiritual signs, synchs and “winks”, more ideas began to flow. It’s been this way since his transition. Emotional Expression: Fragrance is often tied to memories and emotions. How does your personal life influence the fragrances you create, and do you have a particular scent that holds special meaning to you? My creative process is much more alchemic now, and I include Kenji by talking out loud to him, believe it or not. I’m a firm believer that when our loved ones transition from the physical plane, they are still present - just in another form. I choose to keep his memory alive by not pretending he never existed (even if for a brief period of time). I am working (slowly) on a book and accompanying fragrance, but I know it will require me to revisit some memories I’m not quite ready for, so until then, his big brothers will launch their debut fragrance, The Peaceful Tiger (they chose the name.) I’ve learned that even in what we consider “small things”, our transitioned loved ones want to be recognized and acknowledged. When the twins and I designed their fragrance label (with a designer out of the country that didn’t know anything about me personally), we had issues with the graphic - so much so that the designer asked if they could rework the design. When they sent the proof for approval, the Tiger was not only younger but sleeping, with an uncanny, angelic resemblance to baby Kenji! Becoming more aware and being more sensitive to my intention for launching a fragrance has definitely made room for more divine situations like these to occur. Healing Through Scent: In what ways has creating fragrances been a form of healing or expression for you, especially after the loss of your son, Kenji Mwamba? I know my sons may not necessarily want to be perfumers, but they definitely have an entrepreneurial heart. My desire is that whatever they decide to pursue (acting, script-writing, music or architecture), they know that anything is possible with the right amount of determination, grit, belief and immersion. One reason I chose to homeschool is so they could enjoy learning without restraint and have ample time to devote to their own separate passions and it still be fun. They know Pink MahogHany is theirs if they want it (many, many years from now - lol), and we are already discussing business structures for whatever they choose their role to be once I retire. Work-Life Balance: How do you find balance between your professional responsibilities and personal well-being, and what self-care practices do you prioritize? I’m not just a perfumer; I’m also a consumer, and self-care is huge for me. I often take salt baths to reset my energy and clear my mind after being around large groups of people or free a long day. I’m a habitual perfume sampler, and I have so many to choose from to wear as my “nightcap.” Even if just for 10-15 minutes, I cherish each moment I’m able to have some “me-time.” When time and co-parenting schedules permit, I’m definitely on a flight somewhere to indulge in some delicious food and mouth-watering mocktails!](https://www.womenontopp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG_3812-1200x720.jpeg)
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