Rebel Girls Awesome Entrepreneurs: 25 Tales of Women Building Business
CONTENTS FOREWORD BY SANDRA OH LIN AILEEN LEE Founder and Investor ANJALI SUD Business Executive ANN MIURA-KO Founder and Investor ASMA ISHAQ Entrepreneur and Business Executive JENNIFER DOUDNA Biochemist and Entrepreneur JULIE CHEN Environmentalist and Entrepreneur KATHY HANNUN Engineer and Entrepreneur KATRINA LAKE Entrepreneur 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 MADAM C.J. WALKER Inventor and Entrepreneur MAGI RICHANI Engineer and Entrepreneur 22 24 MAR HERSHENSON Founder and Investor 26 MARGARETE STEIFF Seamstress and Entrepreneur 28 MARÍA TERESA KUMAR Voting Rights Activist and Entrepreneur 30 MELANIE PERKINS Entrepreneur 32 MIKAILA ULMER Bee Conservationist and Entrepreneur 34 NINA VACA Community Leader and Entrepreneur 36 NOURA SAKKIJHA Entrepreneur 38 PAIGE BROWN Engineer and Entrepreneur 40 PURVA GUPTA Entrepreneur RIHANNA Singer and Entrepreneur 42 44 SARAH FRIAR Business Executive 46 SOLVEIGA PAKŠTAITĖ Inventor and Entrepreneur 48 STACY BROWN-PHILPOT Business Executive 50 URSULA BURNS Business Executive 52 WHITNEY WOLFE HERD Anti-bullying Activist and Entrepreneur 54 WRITE YOUR STORY 56 DRAW YOUR PORTRAIT 57 BUSINESS WORDS 58 BUILD YOUR OWN BUSINESS 60 SUPER SLIME SHOPPE 66 THE ILLUSTRATORS 67 ABOUT REBEL GIRLS 68
4 FOREWORD Hi Rebels Growing up I was constantly making things I would make handbags out of takeout containers and process black-and-white photos in my middle school darkroom I didn't know at the time that I would start my own business encouraging other kids to make things too everything from cardboard catapults and felt capes to wooden clocks and arcade games But I did and it's been a lot of fun It's also been a lot of creative hard work Have you ever thought about starting your own business If you are reading this book there's a good chance you have And that's really exciting The world can always use more curious energetic people who spot a problem and then create a product or a service to solve it That's how I got started When my kids were young I wanted them to have lots of hands-on experiences making building and tinkering with things like I did when I was little I couldn't find what I wanted in the market so I made it myself And that's how my company KiwiCo was born Now we've sent out more than 25 million crates filled with all the materials and inspiration kids need to experiment create and explore As you'll see in these stories successful entrepreneurs often build businesses around their own interests What do you love to do What problem do you want to solve Mikaila Ulmer's entrepreneurial journey started when she was four years old After being stung by a bee she learned all about them Then she turned her love for bees into a business making honey-sweetened lemonade Kathy Hannun turned her desire to protect the planet into a business using natural heat from under the Earth's surface to heat and cool homes
5 Solveiga Pakštaitė found out that tons of safe healthy food is thrown away every year because of the sell-by dates that are printed on packaging She knows food waste is a huge problem So she got to work inventing a special kind of label that would change from smooth to bumpy to let people including visually impaired people know when food has expired The women in this book have started more than 30 businesses The companies they have founded built or run employ more than 50,000 people today And the investors in these pages have invested millions of dollars to support the visions of creative hard-working entrepreneurs They've had an enormous impact All of the women in this book have also gone through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship If their experiences were anything like mine I'm sure they learned a lot along the way I am inspired and energized by their stories and I hope you are too Read on to learn more about how 25 incredible entrepreneurs and executives brought their business ideas to life find out about the importance of investors and do activities that will help you dream up a business of your own Entrepreneurship is a roller coaster Welcome aboard Sandra Oh Lin Founder and CEO KiwiCo
