Women have always been known to challenge the norms, defy the odds, and tackle obstacles that stood in their way of success. From Oprah Winfrey to Michelle Obama to Hillary Clinton, women all over the world have challenged the idea that it is always “a man’s world”. Many industries today are dominated by men, but perhaps the most obvious one is the entrepreneur and business world. In fact, women make up only 8% of the business world! However, times are changing, and women are rising up. Below are 5 stories about women who dared to dream, defeated the odds, and succeeded with flying colors.

Judith “Judy” Faulkner

Born in 1943, Judy is one of the richest women alive today with a networth of $3.6B (₴86,944,608,000). After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s degree in computer science, she began a medical-record software company called Epic in the basement of her home in Madison, Wisconsin. She states that she was inspired by her parents, who were both in the healthcare field. She started her company with limited investment from friends and family but never took investment from large companies. To this day, she prides herself on having a “homegrown” company. Her company currently holds the medical records of over 250 million Americans and her software is used at the top medical centers such as Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic. In 2015, Judy signed a pledge to give away 99% of her earnings to philanthropic efforts.

Judy Love

Judy was born in Oklahoma City in 1937 and attended Oklahoma State University in 1960. It was here that she met her future husband, Tom Love. In 1964, she opened up a gas station in Watonga, Oklahoma with a small $5,000 (₴120,756.40) loan from Tom’s parents. She kept track of the finances and ran the small gas station until she decided to return to school in 1975. Soon, she expanded her gas station to include a convenience store and created “Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores”. People fell in love with her stores and sales skyrocketed. She is now chairman of the Love Family Fund, which operates more than 480 stores in over 41 states across the United States. Through her hard work and dedication to running a successful business, Judy has now acquired a networth of $2.9B (₴70,038,712,000.00). Looks like hard work really does pay off!

Jin Sook Chang

Jin was born in South Korea in 1963. She and her husband, Do Won Chang, immigrated to the United States, specifically Los Angeles, California, in 1981. They arrived speaking very little english, penniless, and without college degrees. Soon, she worked as a hairdresser to make ends meet. Jin thought they would eventually open their own coffee shop, but she soon realized that all the people in LA who were successful were in the garment business. Using this realization, she opened up a small clothing store in 1984 called “Fashion 21”. The strategy was to sell trendy clothing at a low price. The shop was so successful that she earned $700,000 (₴16,905,896.00) in sales in the first year. After this success, Jin and her husband began opening up new stores every 6 months, and renamed the store “Forever 21”. Today, Forever 21 operates in 800 locations worldwide, including America, Canada, Japan, Europe, and the Philippines. Jin’s brilliant idea led Forever 21 to be the pinnacle of cheap and affordable fashion.

Anastasia Soare

Anastasia was born in 1957 in Romania and studied history and architecture at university there. Anastasia’s husband sought asylum to the United States, and Anastasia and her during were allowed to join him three years later in 1989. At the age of 32, she lived in Los Angeles and spoke very little english. As a job, she worked in a salon and aided with manicures, pedicures, and facials. She soon realized that people were not structuring their eyebrows in a natural state. She developed a technique that made eyebrows relevant to people’s bone structure and natural eyebrow shape. Her manager did not think this would sell, so she rented a room in a Beverly Hills salon where she provided facials, waxing, and eyebrow shaping services. Her services were very successful and she was able to open her own salon in 1997. Soon, after her fame began to rise, she was sculpting eyebrows of celebrities, such as Jennifer Lopez. In 2000, she started her own beauty brand, “Anastasia Beverly Hills” most known for their brow pencils. Currently, her 480 different products sell at more than 3,000 stores worldwide!

Jayshree Ullal

Jayshree was born in 1961 in London, England and was raised in New Delhi, India. She went on to attend San Francisco State University in America where she received her degree in electrical engineering. She started working for the “Advanced Micro Devices” company in Santa Clara, California. She eventually worked her way up to the position of Senior Vice President of Data Center & Switching at Cisco Systems where she spent more than 15 years. In October 2008, Jayshree was named CEO and President of “Arista Networks”, a cloud networking company. In 2014, she opened up her company to the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange), so that others could buy and sell shares of the company. She currently owns about 5% of Arista Networks stocks and her work in the company has led her to be one of America’s wealthiest female executives.

While Business may not be the field you want to go into, just remember that, as a woman, you can be successful in any field.

Vocabulary List:

Networth: the total amount of money on has, based on salary and additional investments (into homes, stocks, etc.)

Homegrown: something that is made or created by one’s own efforts

Philanthropic Efforts: actions that benefit the community (example: donating money to a children’s hospital, opening a community recreation center)

Loan: an amount of money a bank gives out that must be repaid back later, often with interest

Convenience Store: a small store that has basic goods, such as food and water

Skyrocketed: to increase drastically

Make ends meet: a saying that means to make enough money to survive

Garment: a piece of clothing

Pinnacle: the center/main focus of something

Asylum: protection given to someone in a new country who fled from their home country

Women Entrepreneurs who Dared to Dream