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As we celebrate Women\u2019s History Month this month and International Women\u2019s Day on March 8, we\u2019ve been inspired to think about some of the amazing women in business history. As we enjoy revisiting some of those big names and their stories, we wanted to share a few of them with you. We decided to rank these by year \u2013 there\u2019s no way we could rank them by importance. Here they are:<\/p>\n
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Mary Katharine Goddard (1738 \u2013 1816)<\/strong><\/p>\n Goddard took over the Pennsylvania Chronicle<\/em> in 1770 while her brother feuded with financial partners and, in 1774, he handed her control of the Maryland Journal too. That role led to her being named Baltimore\u2019s postmaster general in 1775. In 1776, she even printed the Declaration of Independence. While her family business got complicated and she was ousted as the postmaster general, she might have been America\u2019s first woman employee.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lydia Pinkham (1819 \u2013 1883) <\/strong><\/p>\n Although many of the women on this list got their start by manufacturing products for women, Lydia Pinkham is recognized as a pioneer in women\u2019s health. She was an inventor and marketed a herbal remedy for menstrual and menopausal problems. While descendants of her product are still available today, many in the industry mocked Pinkman for her approach to treatment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Anna Sutherland Bissell (1846 \u2013 1934)<\/strong><\/p>\n When Bissell\u2019s husband died in 1890, she became CEO of the Bissell Sweeper Company. Within 10 years, Bissell was the biggest company of its kind. Bissell was the United States\u2019 first female CEO and one of the first business owners to reward employees with pensions and benefits.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Madam C. J. Walker (1867 \u2013 1919) <\/strong><\/p>\n A daughter of slaves and an orphan at the age of 7, Walker built her business out of nothing. She created Madam Walker\u2019s Wonderful Hair Grower in 1905 and eventually expanded into Central America and the Caribbean. Walker held one of the first national meetings of businesswomen in 1917 and carved a path for both women entrepreneurs and the African-American community.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Coco Chanel (1883 \u2013 1971) <\/strong><\/p>\n Chanel opened her first hat shop in 1910 and, after being recognized for her creativity, started selling additional clothing items a few years later. Today Chanel is one of the world\u2019s top luxury fashion brands and Chanel No. 5 was the first perfume to be sold worldwide.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Olive Ann Beech (1903 \u2013 1993)<\/strong><\/p>\n As the \u201cFirst Lady of Aviation,\u201d Beech and her husband grew Beech Aircraft Corporation from 10 employees to 10,000 employees. She production some of the most popular aircrafts of the 20th<\/sup> century and has earned more awards than any other woman in aviation history.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Est\u00e9e Lauder (1906 \u2013 2004)<\/strong><\/p>\n Where Chanel\u2019s brand is built on clothing, Lauder is the powerhouse in cosmetics. Her chemist uncle helped her make her first products, which she sold to beauty salons and hotels. Lauder\u2019s company later added Clinique, Origins and MAC to the umbrella and Lauder was the only woman on Time Magazine<\/em>\u2019s 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th<\/sup> Century.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Brownie Wise (1913 \u2013 1992)<\/strong><\/p>\n The founder of Tupperware parties, Brownie Wise was a pioneering sales woman who caught the eye of Tupperware\u2019s inventor, Earl Tupper. She was hired as the vice president of the company and her approach to marketing is still used by major companies today, including Mary Kay Cosmetics.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We originally were going to include Martha Stewart, Sara Blakely and Rihanna on this list, but since we\u2019re talking about women in history for this post, we\u2019ll come back to those pioneers for a future blog post!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As we celebrate Women\u2019s History Month this month and International Women\u2019s Day on March 8, we\u2019ve been inspired to think about some of the amazing women in business history. As we enjoy revisiting some of those big names and their stories, we wanted to share a few of them with you. We decided to rank […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":1685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[838,846,847,780,848,849,850,851,852,853,854],"yoast_head":"\n