11 Of The Most Successful Female Entrepreneurs
Throughout American history, and especially the last 120 years, women have paved the path for today’s entrepreneurs. This lineage includes women such as Estee Lauder—who launched a massively successful makeup company back in the 1940s, Ruth Fertel, who launched Ruth's Chris Steak House, and Madam C.J. Walker, who founded a haircare company with just $1.05 and became the first black woman millionaire in America.
Fast-forward to present day, and there are hundreds of thousands of women entrepreneurs innovating in hundreds of industries, and building businesses in countries across the world.
Below, we’ve compiled a list of just some of the top female entrepreneurs who have made a huge mark throughout the last decade. The list isn't in a particular order, but each of the women on it have created a powerful brand through drive, hard work and focus.
Tech, Real Estate and Healthcare
Zhang Xin
Zhang Xin is the co-founder of SOHO China, a massive real estate development firm in China, which went public more than 10 years ago. Since launching, the company has experienced double-digit growth.
Raised in Hong Kong—where she worked in a factory for five years during her teens to save money for university, Zhang is now worth over $3.5 billion, and heads a $100 million charitable organization dedicated to “funding disadvantaged Chinese students at top institutions across the globe.”
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw founded Biocon, which is a bio-pharma company based in India. Mazumdar-Shaw launched the company out of her garage and eventually it became a global powerhouse. In its first day of trading, the company reached a billion dollars; this was only the second company in the history of India to do so.
Weili Dai
Dai co-founded Marvell Technology Group, and she is the only female who has founded a semi-conductor company. She has played a pivotal role in growing the company's earnings and revenues. As a result, she has won various prestigious awards, including a Gold Stevie Award which recognizes accomplishments & contributions of companies and business people worldwide.
Entertainment & Media
Beyoncé
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter is best known as being the lead singer of Destiny's Child, a top-selling multi-platinum solo artist, and accomplished film actress. One top of that, Beyoncé has also gone on to become a fashionista, and she’s former owner of House of Dereon and shop.beyonce.com, formed in 2012. At one point, she was also named as the number one celebrity by Forbes.
And although music isn’t typically considered an entrepreneurial enterprise, Beyoncé has been able to leverage her brand in a way that very few, if any, other artists ever have. Her ‘On the Run II’ tour with husband Jay-Z grossed an estimated $5 million per night, putting the total earnings for just that tour at more than $250 million. Her current net worth is estimated to be north of $400 Million.
Oprah Winfrey
Winfrey is just one of a few women in the world who are self made billionaires, and is the only woman African-American billionaire. After her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, became one of the most-watched series on television, she leveraged her talent for business & interpersonal skills to launch an entire media platform, ranging from O magazine, to Oprah.com which gets ~75 million views per month.
She also owns her own production company, Oxygen Media, which has produced various tv shows and movies under the OWN network. Above all, she’s remained passionate about empowering & educating females around the world. In fact, this is one of the reason she launched the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.
Fashion & Beauty
Jessica Alba
For most of her career Jessica Alba has been more well known for her acting roles than for anything else. But that started to change around 2008, when she experienced an allergic reaction to laundry detergent, which put her on a path that led to lobbying congress for reform on how the U.S. regulates chemicals. The Honest Company launched in 2012, hitting $10 million in sales in just the first year, and now has an estimated valuation of around $1 billion.
Tory Burch
Burch is the CEO of the company Tory Burch, a clothing line and fashion line based in the United States. Since launching in 2004, the company has grown to include of 250 branded shops, and it has a presence in thousands of other stores. Not only is she a businesswoman, but she is a well-known philanthropist, and founded the Tory Burch Foundation, which helps women who are aspiring entrepreneurs.
Sara Blakely
Sara Blakely is the creator of Spanx undergarments for both men and women. She started off with just $5,000, an idea, drive and focus. Today, the company's revenue is around $400 million. She also has a foundation that helps female entrepreneurs from around the world.
Leslie Blodgett
Blodgett is the CEO of the mineral-based makeup company Bare Escentuals, which was struggling when she took it over in 1994. Under her leadership, the company eventually went public after she regularly cleared over $1 million per hour selling her bareMinerals line on QVC during non-peak hours. The company was acquired in 2010 for over a billion dollars.
Kathy Fields & Katie Rodan
Proactiv is one of the most well-known companies in the skin-care industry, and it was launched by Katie Rodan and Kathy Fields. They joined forces to launch their first product in 1995. Fast-forward to present day, and the company is one of the most ubiquitous acne products on the market.