Female Business Owners I Look Up To (and Still Do)

Let’s be honest, women are pulling out all the stops to create and run successful businesses these days. Each year, more and more women pursue entrepreneurship. Younger women between the ages of 25-44 are especially found in entrepreneurial roles.

If you’re like me, I look up to the successful female business owners of our time. I love listening to women-hosted podcasts to learn about what female entrepreneurs can accomplish. There are certain female CEOs that I am inspired by on a daily basis.

If you’re a woman looking to grow as an entrepreneur, or if you just want to be inspired, continue reading to learn about some of the female business owners I look up to.

Cindy Mi, VIPKid

Cindy Mi is the founder and CEO of VIPKid. VIPKid is an innovative educational technology company that connects K-8 students in China with teachers in North America. The children in China are taught English by the North American teachers for an online, 1-on-1 English immersion experience.

VIPKid was founded by Cindy Mi in 2013, and it has since grown into one of China’s leading education businesses. VIPKid serves over 600,000 students in China and provides flexible employment for North American tutors.

VIPKid has extended beyond China and now connects students from 63 different countries around the world with fluent English teachers.

Cindy Mi has always been passionate about education and entrepreneurship. She strongly believes in the power of education to improve the lives of students, teachers, and families. Although Cindy makes running a business look easy, she is no stranger to the early mornings, late nights, and behind-the-scenes work that it took for her to start a successful business.

Lisa Skeete Tatum, Landit

Lisa Skeete Tatum is the CEO and co-founder of Landit. Landit is a one-of-a-kind and necessary business that offers personalized career paths for women and diverse groups to succeed.

Landit enables businesses to attract and retain diverse talent with high potential. The technology platform provides each woman with customized tools, resources, and connections that they need to find success in their ideal career path.

Lisa received her MBA from Harvard Business School and has been featured in Forbes, Vanity Fair, the Wall Street Journal, and more. She is passionate about unlocking the potential of underrepresented professionals.

Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe

You may have heard of 23andMe already because that’s how successful Anne Wojcicki has made her business. 23andMe is a human genome research company that provides information about customers’ DNA. 23andMe helps customers understand their ancestry, traits, and health based on their DNA findings.

23andMe has transformed into one of the world’s largest databases of individual genetic information. Anne streamlined the research technology so that many studies can be performed at once. This reduces the cost and time required to make discoveries.

Anne is largely responsible for bringing personalized medicine to the public in an accessible way. She earned a BS in Biology from Yale University and spent her professional life investing in biotechnology healthcare companies.

Ritu Narayan, Zum

Ritu Narayan is the powerhouse CEO and co-founder behind Zum, a company that provides reliable child transportation for school districts and busy families. Zum provides transportation services for children aged 5 and up in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego.

Zum handles flexible routes for home-to-school transportation, events, and delivery of educational materials and meals. Zum has been featured in TIME, the NY Times, CBS, and more.

Ritu found herself struggling to advance her career while making sure her children had trustworthy transportation to and from school. Ritu changed her mindset and set out to fix the very problem she was facing.

Afton Vechery, Modern Fertility

Modern Fertility is an innovative women’s health company that makes personalized fertility information accessible to women anywhere. CEO and co-founder Afton Vechery set out to provide the very first comprehensive fertility test that women can take at home.

Modern Fertility empowers women to make decisions about their health and future family planning. By educating women with powerful information about their own reproductive health, Modern Fertility is closing the fertility information gap.

Afton Vechery was featured in Fortune’s 40 under 40 in Health. Afton preaches the importance of time management because she has been busier than ever as her business continues to grow.

Yunha Kim, Simple Habit

Yunha Kim is the trailblazing CEO and co-founder of the San Francisco-based company, Simple Habit. Simple Habit is a mental wellness platform that features over 1,500 meditations and audio therapy sessions. The platform helps busy people reduce their daily stress.

When Yunha was working on her first business startup, she had difficulty managing her extreme stress. She sought out meditation to help, and she quickly saw a huge improvement in the quality of her work and life.

Taking what she learned from this experience, she created Simple Habit to help people just like herself benefit from mindfulness. The variety of sessions help situations like difficulty sleeping, lack of focus, and morning anxiety.

Yunha’s mission is to empower people to live better lives, and her award-winning app shows no signs of slowing down the success of her mission.

Reshma Saujani, Girls Who Code

Successful women tap into their potential early on, and Reshma Saujani is helping young women discover their potential through her non-profit organization, Girls Who Code. Girls Who Code inspires and equips young women with the resources and skills to pursue opportunities for an education in computer science.

Girls Who Code offers instruction in web design, robotics, and mobile development. All participants receive mentorship from other successful women in science and engineering.

Reshma has spearheaded an impressive organization. 90% of the alumni from Girls Who Code have declared or plan to declare a major or minor in computer science. Reshma was the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress, and she has more than 5 million views on her TED Talk, “Teach girls bravery, not perfection.”

These Women Belong in Business, and So Do You

Feeling inspired yet? Remember, while all of these innovative women have found great success, they all started with nothing but an idea and some ambition. They all mastered their mindsets, connections, and financial literacy.

Are you ready to join one of these lists of successful female business owners? Schedule a free consulting call with our team today. We will help you achieve your full potential as a healthy and profitable entrepreneur.