Five Female Entrepreneurs

Starting any sort of business venture can be daunting. However, the truth is, no matter your skills or your interests, women have the power to make a difference and find success in any field.  Here are the stories of a few savvy businesswomen who inspire us:

• Katia Beauchamp & Hayley Barna: These pals and Harvard Business School grads wanted to improve the way women try new beauty products. The result was Birchbox, a hugely popular beauty service that sends fun, diverse samples to its subscribers each month based on their unique needs and interests. The startup was a hit, raking in $60 million last year alone!
• Sandra Kurtzig: With only $2,000 in savings and a goal to spend more time with her two boys, Kurtzig founded ASK Computer systems in 1972. Twenty years later, after huge success, her hard work paid off. Kurtzig stepped aside in 1992 and shifted her focus to family. Unsurprisingly, her sons are now tech entrepreneurs, too!
• Rashmi Sinha: Sinha is an India-born businesswoman who earned her PhD in cognitive neuropsychology from Brown University. She left academia and put her interpersonal skills to use in the tech world when she relocated to San Francisco and founded SlideShare, a popular online platform for sharing presentations. Sinha and her husband, Jonathan, operated the company together until 2012, when LinkedIn bought it for over $100 million. Now she focuses on her personal blog, sharing her thoughts on business and leadership.
• Lauren Bush: In addition to being a fashion designer, photographer, anthropology student, model and foodie, Lauren Bush runs one of the coolest and most compassionate non-profit organizations in the world – FEED Project. The foundation produces artisan-designed apparel, jewelry and bags that are at the height of fashion, and then uses the proceeds to help feed hungry children worldwide. Plus, FEED’s Board of Directors is full of successful female businesswomen, and strongly encourages women to take part in global change.

As you can see, women from all walks of life are making their dreams come true—and building bank accounts, too! What are you waiting for?