Women Entrepreneurs

Jai Jai Greenfield had a great job with Morgan Stanley but it wasn’t personally gratifying. So in February 2002, she decided to open Harlem Vintage with her partner, Eric Woods.

Steinberg became the first person to hold the title of Forensic Artist in Miami-Dade County. In 2001, she was selected by the FBI to attend their Forensic Facial Imaging course.

Making work fun is not the responsibility of the supervisor, manager, or co-workers. When we bring our sense of humor to the workplace or workspace, we make our own fun.

Rene Higgins turned her love of baking into a home-based business known to her clientele as Cakes Plus by Rene. Don't jump to conclusions. She's not a stay at-home mom with kids in school looking for something to do. The dessert business plays second fiddle to her fulltime job as a chemist, a position Higgins has held at a local chemical plant in Kentucky for almost a decade.

Dr. Taryn Rose leveraged her career as an orthopedic surgeon to footwear designer after seeing the problems suffered by her patients in their pretty but painful shoes. She felt passionate that the industry needed a stylist who would focus on comfort and health, and knew she could make the difference.

Jennifer Ballot and Fiona are craft junkies who designed seven great styles of bags and launched Sadie Pulitzer Handbags online. They came up with the idea of hosting a pre-Mother's Day Gift Sale where they'd sell their items and encourage other like-minded women to sell their wares, too. It shaped up to be a wonderful social link for a group of women with common interests, but who had never crossed paths in this way before.

Mary Kay devised a plan for women to be personally and financially fulfilled. Liz Lange, founder and president of Liz Lange Maternity is one of Mary Kay’s admirers. Lange made news as the first designer to partner with Nike for a hip maternity line, and then turned industry heads when she closed a deal with Target to create stylish maternity clothes at affordable prices.

Let’s face it, we no longer need to bring along a guy to help us buy a car, and we don’t have to wait for an engagement ring to move out on our own. Amie Chilson understands that power of independence and ownership, and she’s empowering women to establish financial security through real estate.

Jeanne Fitzmaurice has dedicated herself to helping women who are enduring the realities of Stage IV breast cancer. She formed the Gal to Gal Foundation, dedicated to generating funds for existing organizations supporting those living with this least understood and least recognized phase of breast cancer. To assure the fundraising success, Fitzmaurice formed Design-her Gals to celebrate women and the world of fashion and fun.

Heidi Nel and her husband, André, would joke about starting a business, and out of desperation came inspiration; last Christmas Heidi’s Heavenly Cookies produce more than 20,000 cookies for orders across the country.

A shopping trip in 1998 in search of some new bed sheets ended up planting the seed that allowed Jeena Hunget to create her ideal life. She decided to work on her third baby, Body Linens, her line of luxurious one hundred percent Egyptian cotton sleepwear

From her Chicago apartment in 1998, Katrina Markoff created a makeshift chocolate factory with $15,000 she had saved. Inspired by her global apprenticeships, she experimented with different ingredients— wasabi, chili, fennel, and tropical flowers—and shipped products from her living room.

Gayle Martz designed a soft pet carrier with mesh side panels, and a cushioned interior for a cat or dog, that could be stowed as a carry-on. She sold her jewelry, borrowed $5,000 from her mother, found a bag manufacturer, and started Sherpa’s Pet Trading Company in 1988.

Venus McNabb, a 22-year-old owner of a small Internet company and mother of a four-year-old son, drew up a business plan for a 24/7-computer-repair service that would send professional technicians to broken computer sites, saving the customer a trip to the service center.

On track to be a partner at a small law firm in New York City, Donatella Arpaia quite practicing after eight months when she realized her true calling was in the environment directly under her apartment. Arpaia lived over her brother’s restaurant, and one night she realized that the food service business was what suited her best.

In 2001, Jen Bilk took the profits from the sale of some New York real estate, hired an assistant, rented a space, and put together a catalog of 13 initial products that she shipped to 1,500 stores nationwide.

Planet Mom was born when longtime friends Elise Nappi and Eileen Schneidman were brainstorming about starting a business together—ideally a creative endeavor that joined their varied careers and allowed them to remain stay-at-home moms.

With a new job as Special Agent with the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security division came the need for a new wardrobe, and that’s where Annette Paxson faced her biggest career challenge.

Sarah Endline realized the growing trend for natural food that’s healthy and still tastes great and launched SweetRiot.com. About a month after launching, in October 2005, she landed the Whole Foods account.