Lead-HER-Ship

Archive for November, 2010

For many years women were accorded secondary status in both business and society in general. It is arguably more difficult for woman to succeed due to cultural bias and entrenched social norms regarding woman in the workplace. Despite these barriers thousands of women defy the odds everyday and embark on both entrepreneurial and corporate careers that inspire others to follow in their footsteps. This list celebrates five of the most influential and pioneering woman business leaders.

Madame CJ Walker—Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Social Activist

“I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations….I have built my own factory on my own ground. I got my start by giving myself a start.”

Madam C.J. Walker (December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African-American businesswoman, hair care entrepreneur and philanthropist. She earned her wealth by formulating and marketing an immensely profitable line of beauty and hair products for black women through her eponymous company the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company.

In 1908 Walker established Lelia College to teach “hair culturists.” Shortly after, in 1910 she relocated to Indianapolis, Indiana where she built her corporate headquarters as well as a factory. Walker organized her agents into local and state clubs. Her Madam C. J. Walker Hair Culturists Union of America convention in Philadelphia in 1917 must have been one of the first national meetings of businesswomen in the country. She began to lecture other black women and help them to build their own businesses. Following the East St. Louis Race Riot, Walker joined leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in their labors to force legislation making lynching a federal crime. Madam Walker perpetually donated money to the NACCP, YMCA, and to black schools, organizations, individuals, orphanages, and retirement homes.

At the time of her death Walker was considered to be the wealthiest African-American woman and known to be the first self-made female American millionaire. Walker’s estate had an estimated value of $600,000 to $700,000 (equivalent to approximately $6 million to $7 million in today’s dollars). The total sales of her company, the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, during the final year of her life reached more than $500,000, making the value of her company several times that amount. The combination of her personal assets (real estate, furnishings, jewelry, etc.) and the value of her business totaled well over $1,000,000.

The Guinness Book of Records cites Walker as the first woman who became a millionaire by her own achievements. Additional accolades include:

• being inducted into the National Business Hall of Fame at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago

• being inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York

• receiving the Distinguished Service Award from The Direct Selling Association

• Cited by the Harvard Business School as one of the “great American business leaders of the twentieth century.

Mary Kay Ash—Business woman and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics

“You can have anything in this world you want, if you want it badly enough and you’re willing to pay the price.”

Mary Kay Ash (May 12, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American businesswoman and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc. Following a divorce, Ash went to work for a direct sales firm but realized shortly the obstacles facing her as a woman in a corporate setting. Frustrated when passed over for a promotion in favor of a man that she had trained, Mary Kay Ash retired in 1963 to author a book for women in business. That book morphed into a business plan for her model company, and in September 1963, Mary Kay Ash launched Mary Kay Cosmetics with a $5,000 investment. Sixteen years later she was being interviewed on CBS’ 60 Minutes news program due to her outstanding success.

Both during her life and posthumously, Ash was awarded copious honors from various business groups, including the Horatio Alger Award. She was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1996. A long-time fundraiser for charities, Ash founded the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation to raise money to battle domestic violence, cancers, and other issues affecting women. Mary Kay Cosmetics has over 1.7 million consultants worldwide and revenues in excess of 2.2 billion. Mary Kay Ash has been honored as leading female entrepreneur in American history. Other notable achievements include:

• Ash authored three books, all of which became best-sellers.

• Her autobiography, Mary Kay, has sold more than a million copies and was translated into several languages.

• Mary Kay’s business philosophy, Mary Kay on People Management, has been included in business courses at the Harvard Business School.

Suze Orman—Personal Finance author, Certified Financial Planner and Media Personality

“People first, then money, then things.”

Susan “Suze” Lynn Orman (born June 5, 1951) is the host of The Suze Orman Show on CNBC, author of seven consecutive New York Times Best Sellers, writer, co-producer, or host of six PBS specials based on her books, and is the most successful fundraiser in the history of public television.

Suze Orman began her career as a waitress at the Buttercup Bakery. In 1980, a longtime customer named Fred Hasbrook loaned her $2,000 and took up a collection from other customers totaling $50,000 to help Orman open her own restaurant. The loan was to be paid back in ten years with no interest. Orman invested the money through Merrill Lynch and was broke again four months later due to bad investment advice and decisions made by her stockbroker. Realizing she couldn’t earn the money back as a waitress, and having started learning more about finances and investing, Orman contacted Merrill Lynch and joined their account executive training program. While training Suze learned that her stockbroker had committed an illegal act and she thus sued Merrill Lynch. Suze received the entire $50,000 back plus interest and was able to repay her former customers. Following training, Suze was hired by Merrill Lynch and remained there until 1983 when she left to take a position as a vice president of investments at Prudential Bache Securities. In 1987, she resigned to launch her own financial planning firm, the Suze Orman Financial Group, in Emeryville, California. She acted as director of the firm until 1997, when she stepped down as her writing career took off with the publication of her second book.

In 2009, Forbes magazine listed Orman 18th on their list of The Most Influential Women In Media. Other accolades include:
• two daytime Emmy Awards

• six Gracie Awards, more than anyone in the 34-year history of the awards

• presented with an honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Illinois

• selected by Time magazine as one of the TIME 100, The World’s Most Influential People

• Orman was presented with the Amelia Earhart Award for her message of financial empowerment for women

• an honorary degree at Bentley University on May 15, 2010

• She received the honorary degree of doctor of humane letters from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009

Oprah Winfrey—Female Billionaire Talk Show Host/Actress and Media Mogul

“Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.”

Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is an American TV host, actress, producer, and philanthropist, best known for her eponymous, award-winning talk show—the highest-rated program of its kind in history. She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history and was once the world’s only black billionaire. She is also, according to some measurements, the most influential woman on the planet.

Raised in poverty, and abused throughout her childhood Oprah would overcome to become a millionaire at age 32 when her talk show went national. Because she was in a position to negotiate ownership of her show as well as form her own production company, by age 41, Winfrey had a net worth of $340 million and supplanted Bill Cosby as the only African American on the Forbes 400. That same magazine’s international rich list listed Oprah Winfrey as the world’s only black billionaire from 2004-2006 and as the first black woman billionaire in world history. Again, according to Forbes, in September 2010 Winfrey was worth over $2.7 billion and has overtaken former eBay CEO Meg Whitman as the richest self-made woman in America.

Oprah Winfrey was described as “arguably the world’s most powerful woman” by CNN and Time.com, called “arguably the most influential woman in the world” by the American Spectator, “one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th Century” and “one of the most influential people” from 2004 to 2010 by Time. She is the only person in the world to have made the latter list on all eight occasions. Other honors include:
• Life magazine named her the most influential woman and the most influential black person of her generation and in a cover story profile called her “America’s most powerful woman.

• USA Today ranked Winfrey as the most influential woman and most influential black person of the previous quarter century

• Ladies Home Journal her number one in their list of the most powerful women in America

• As a senator, Barack Obama said Oprah “may be the most influential woman in the country”

• Entertainment Weekly’s list of the 101 most powerful people in the entertainment industry

• Forbes named Oprah the world’s most powerful celebrity in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2010.

• In 2010 Life magazine named Winfrey one of the 100 people who changed the world, alongside such luminaries as Jesus Christ, Elvis Presley and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Winfrey was the only living woman to make the list.

• Oprah was named the greatest woman in American history as part of a public poll as part of The Greatest American. She was ranked #9 overall on the list of greatest Americans (2005)

Martha Stewart—Entrepreneur, Media personality and billionaire Lifestyle guide

“Without an open-minded mind, you can never be a great success.”

Martha Helen Stewart is an American business tycoon, TV host, author, and magazine publisher. Martha Stewart is the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and achieved success through a range of business ventures, spanning publishing, broadcasting, and merchandising. Her syndicated talk show, Martha, is broadcast worldwide, she has authored numerous bestselling books, and she publishes Martha Stewart Living magazine.

Her first book, Entertaining, a cookbook became a New York Times Best Seller which lead to other opportunities. Stewart has also written newspaper columns, magazine articles and other pieces on homemaking, and made many television appearances on shows like The Oprah Winfrey Show and Larry King Live. In 1990, she launched Martha Stewart Living magazine which led to television shows. By 1995 she was being recognized by New York Magazine as “the definitive American woman of our time”. Beginning in 1997 Martha began to purchase the various television, print, and merchandising ventures related to the Martha Stewart brand, and consolidate them into a new company, named Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia where she would serve as chairwoman, president, and CEO. In 1999, Martha Stewart took her company public on the NYSE under the ticker symbol MSO. The IPO was set at $18 per share, and rallied to $38 by the end of trading, making Martha Stewart a billionaire.

Honorable Mention:

Meg Whitman— businesswoman, graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School, former President and Chief Executive Officer of eBay

“You can kill a man but you can’t kill an idea.”

Margaret Cushing “Meg” Whitman is an American businesswoman, graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School. Whitman served as an executive in The Walt Disney Company where she was vice president of strategic planning throughout the 1980s. In the 1990s, she served as an executive for DreamWorks, Procter & Gamble, and Hasbro. Whitman served as President and Chief Executive Officer of eBay from 1998 to 2008. During her ten years with the company she oversaw expansion from 30 employees and $4 million in annual revenue to more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in annual revenue when she stepped down.

In February 2009, Whitman announced her candidacy for Governor of California, becoming only the third woman in a twenty year period to run for that office. She won the Republican primary in June 2010 spending more of her own money on her candidacy than any other self-funded political candidate in U.S. history although she lost the election.
• Inducted into the U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2008

• Received numerous awards for her work at eBay.

• Named among the Top Five most powerful women by Fortune Magazine (more than once)

• Harvard Business Review has named Meg Whitman the eighth-best-performing CEO of the past decade

• Financial Times name Whitman as one of the 50 faces that shaped the decade

Louise Baker is a freelance blogger and journalist who writes for Zen College Life, the directory of higher education, distance learning, and online schools. She most recently wrote about the top online colleges.

Simmons College in Boston. Tuesday, April 26. This is the 32nd year of an incredible one-day event that brings women from around the U.S. Check out this link http://www.simmons.edu/leadership/, And make plans to attend. You’re just minutes from Logan Airport at Seaport World Trade Center.

Imagine: an opportunity to hear Anne Mulcahy (now-retired CEO and Chair of Xerox), fashion queen and successful entrepreneur, Donna Karan, Marilyn Carlson Nelson,Chair of the Carlson Companies–and others. I am thrilled to have been invited back for the 2nd year in a row to speak! Check it out: SIMMONS