The world is filled with inspirational women. From moms to businesswomen, wherever you look, there are great women who are making the world a better place. For National Women’s Equality Day, we wanted to highlight three amazing and inspirational women who changed the business world forever. We think that’s pretty cool and we’re sure you will too!
Inspirational Women
Indra Nooyi
Indra Nooyi represents the America Dream in its fullest. Coming from a small village in India to pursue higher education in the States, Nooyi developed an unbreakable will to succeed. While getting her education, Nooyi worked from midnight to sunrise to afford her degree. She even saved up on a bare-bones budget to afford a professional suit for her interviews. Even facing rejection, Nooyi learned to keep pushing. Soon she adopted the mindset of always being herself. She forwent the traditional suit and donned a traditional sari. This idea of being comfortable in your own skin and with your own identity has driven her to the top.
After years of working her way up the corporate ladder, Nooyi earned the role of CEO of PepsiCo International. She played a part in everything from strategic planning to product development. During her time with Pepsi, Nooyi led the company to new sales records and a restructuring that made Pepsi one of the country’s best places to work.
With all these achievements, Nooyi still manages to retain a work-life balance. Her work hard, play hard mentality is something work imitating no matter where you work. From humble beginnings to a leader of one of the most successful companies in the world, Nooyi is an inspiration to all.
Marissa Mayer
Ever wonder who got Google off the ground and into one of the most powerful companies in the world? Well, Marissa Mayer was crucial to that. Coming on as employee #20, Mayer started writing code and working with engineers to improve the platform. Her attention to detail and hard work earned her accolades and promotions. Soon she was promoted to Vice President of Google Search Products and User Experience. Her integral role in the company propelled Google to its position as the country’s most visited search engine.
After many years at Google, Mayer received and took a job offer to lead the helm as Yahoo’s CEO. Mayer made major changes at the failing company. Facing pushback and criticism head-on, Mayer introduced new ways of addressing company issues and changed the company culture to be more inviting. Throughout her time at Yahoo, Mayer created $43B in market capitalization, tripled Yahoo stock, grew mobile users to over 650 million, built a $1.5B mobile ad business, and transformed Yahoo’s culture. Pretty impressive!
Mary Kay Ash
Mary Kay Ash is the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics and one of the most successful businesswomen in American history. She got her start selling books door to door to make money for her family while her first husband was abroad fighting in World War 2. She then went to work for Stanley Home Products. After being passed up for a promotion, she quit and decided to write a book on women in the workplace. This book ended up serving as a guideline for starting her own business.
Mary Kay Ash transformed the lessons in her book to launch Mary Kay Cosmetics. With her sons, Ash launched one of the most successful cosmetic businesses in the country. Soon she was overseeing a company with eight hundred thousand representatives in almost forty countries. During her time at the company, Mary Kay Cosmetics made hundreds of millions of dollars in profits. Her insights and business know-how set the groundwork for Mary Kay Cosmetics to become the billion-dollar company it is today. Starting up a cosmetics company needs a lot of work, especially as establishing this sort of business will need round-the-clock input. From choosing the best ingredients to finding the best packaging, which can take some time to sort through to find the best retailer with multiple out there, new businesses will look for ones that can provide them with the most secure output and will hear things like “Impacked Packaging is like ebay for packaging” or “this packaging company can get it done in 24 hours”, etc. so they need to sort through what is best for them like Mary Kay Cosmetics did.
Final Thoughts on Inspirational Women
These three amazing businesswomen are worth recognizing. Through adversity, they made their way to the top of the business world and serve as an inspiration for all of us. On this national holiday, let’s all take a minute to thank the women in our lives who have made an impact on us. When we treat everyone as equals, we start to see the best that everyone has to offer! Happy National Women’s Equality Day!
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