8 Successful Women Who Broke Gender Barriers In Entrepreneurship

They often said that entrepreneurship was a man’s world, but a lot of women have accomplished a ton of great things in the business world as of late. Today, a ton of influential women are powerful leaders or media moguls putting these gender stereotypes to rest.

Here are 8 successful women who broke gender barriers in entrepreneurship:

1. Cher Wang

One of the most successful female entrepreneurs in the field of technology goes by the name of Cher Wang. She is well-known for producing and manufacturing smartphones for other people and eventually ended up launching her own company.

She launched a mobile company that is currently competing against well-known companies such as Apple or Samsung. Her company is called HTC and they produce HTC smartphones that have gained popularity since its first release in 2010.

2. Oprah Winfrey

A philanthropist and of the most famous names in the entertainment industry is Oprah. She is not only a successful talk show host, but she is also one of the most influential and powerful businesswomen in the world.

Her success has reached new peaks in recent years as she was given her own network, The Oprah Winfrey Network. She is considered as the voice of African American women for being an influential person and she has done a lot to empower women everywhere to achieve their wildest dreams.

3. Sheryl Sandberg

They say in every man’s success, there is a woman behind them. This is also true for the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. Sheryl Sandberg isn’t romantically involved to Mark, but she was a valuable member of the Facebook team.

During the early years, she helped exceed the expectations of shareholders and investors. Her main focus was to help Facebook generate revenue and become profitable. Since being assigned that role, she has done a fantastic job allowing the company to be valued nearly $100 billion dollars.

4. Folorunsho Alakija

Folorunsho Alakija is the wealthiest female entrepreneur in the country of Nigeria. She isn’t well known in comparison to others such as Beyonce or Oprah, but her net worth totals around $2.5 billion.

Her first company was a tailoring company, which became very successful after just a few years of hard work. After that, she expanded into various other industries such as the oil and print industry allowing her to expand her wealth in the last decade.

5. Arianna Huffington

Most everyone has definitely heard of the company, The Huffington Post. However, very few people realize that the very successful female entrepreneur Arianna Huffington is the founder of this highly successful publication.

Not only did she build the company herself, she was able to successfully sell the company to AOL for around $315 million. Even after selling the company, she is still playing a big role in the daily operations of the company.

6. Debbi Fields

Debbi Fields is more popular known for her delicious sweets company known as Mrs. Fields Bakeries. She launched this company in 1977 as the founder with one goal in mind. She wanted to be the biggest retailer of fresh cookies in the world.

Since founding her business, Debbi managed to expand her company into 11 different companies and there are over 700 bakeries spread across the world. Her net worth currently is listed at $65 million.

7. Sara Blakely

Sara is the founder of a multi-million dollar undergarment company known as Spanx. She didn’t have very much money to invest when she founded Spanx, but she is a great example of a woman who broke every barrier possible to become successful.

Her idea was rejected over and over again from potential investors when she needed seed funding. It took a ton of hustle and persistence for her to find outlier ways to grow her business. She is currently valued at $1 billion now.

8. Sophia Amoruso

Sophia is the founder of Nasty Gal, an online clothing retailer with an edge and forward-thinking style that is just as unique as the founder. Amoruso is hailed as “Fashion’s New Phenom” by Forbes.

Her company, Nasty Gal, is an iconic brand despite the ups and downs the company has dealt with along the way. She has also released a bestseller called #GIRLBOSS, which contains her memoir, management guide, and girl manifesto.

Conclusion

Regardless of what your gender is, you should not let that hold you back from achieving massive success. In this post, I shared with you 8 successful women who broke gender barriers in entrepreneurship.