A list of some of the definitive historical boss babes.
Female Legends
We all know that in the past it has been significantly more challenging for women to make a place for themselves in the workplace or be innovative.
For many generations women were considered to be keepers of the home, and watching over children while the men worked.
Now we make great strides in diversifying our work places to include equal opportunities for men and women, for the most part. But in this piece we will take a look at just a few of the exceptional women throughout history who took their challenge head on and pursued their dreams.
Lydia Pinkham
“Yours for Health”, read a 1904 pamphlet depicting Lydia Pinkham. The creator and marketer for an herbal tonic used by women for menstrual and menopausal problems.
Some have compared her remedies to other popular fakes such as magical waters, elixirs, and snake oils. But regardless of the real effectiveness of the product she did take the marketing efforts to the next level.
She instated trust within the female population by using her face on the product labels, including testimonials from grateful women, and encouraging women to write to her personally.
These personal letters would be answered and communication maintained to persuade the potential clients to buy the product. The letters continued to be answered by Mrs. Pinkham even after her death.
So one might draw some shady conclusions about Mrs. Pinkham. But maybe not, maybe the product was just fine to consume and did have some relief effects. Either way, Mrs. Pinkham was in a unique position to tap into a large market with her special product, and the marketing efforts were ahead of their time for sure.
Brownie Wise
The mastermind behind one of the most well known marketing tactics in history: the Tupperware party.
Brownie Wise devised the Tupperware party model and eventually became a high-ranking executive for the Tupperware company.
Her efforts in sales outside of the department stores set off a chain reaction of different companies adopting similar methods and continuing them to this day, from make-up producers, lingerie companies, to the health food and supplements boom.
“I needed the money for me and my kid. So I got out there and made it.” This is what she humbly claimed, but simultaneously her impact for women everywhere was massive. She created a system where a woman who was normally a homebody could take control of their own situation and make their own living; it was a huge change to the norm at the time.
Brownie Wise sadly had a tragic end with the Tupperware company as she was forced out upon irreconcilable differences with the owner.
But despite this she is easily one of the most impressive female entrepreneurs of all time. During her high time with Tupperware she took in about $275,000 per year in todays dollars, and was the first woman on the cover of Business Week.
Her legacy lives on in the home party sales method that no doubt will continue for some time.
Ruth Handler
The woman behind the famous doll, “Barbie”, a nick-name of Ruth’s daughter Barbara. Ruth and her husband had a knack for latching on to ideas that materialized into extremely popular toys, some altering pop-culture history, such as Barbie, and Hotwheels.
Ruth’s husband at first wasn’t too keen on the Barbie idea. He didn’t think that parents would buy such a doll for their children. But they took the risk and thankfully it took off in a hurry, with their garage-run Mattel company becoming a fortune 500 company within 5 years of the Barbie release.
Barbie at a time brought in around a billion dollars per year for the company. Mattel experienced some issues in the 1970s and both Ruth and her husband Elliot were ejected from the company at one point.
Despite the issues the company later experienced, Ruth and her husband Elliot did have that tolerance for risk that paid off tremendously. This is an absolutely essential trait of entrepreneurship and why Ruth is included on this list.
Martha Stewart
You know who Martha Stewart is, thus she likely makes the short list of the most influential businesswomen of all time.
Martha Stewart is a household name that has captured followers across mediums including television, books, magazines, among other things.
Martha Stewart’s success in becoming so widely known is matched by few. She greatly impacted a generation through her TV shows and books.
She grew through showing people various activities such as cooking, decorating, and restoring furniture. Plus marketing dozens of branded products for such things.
She also had her fair share of bad media after a securities scandal in which she was convicted and served her time.
But you can’t hinder a woman as determined as Martha Stewart and she quickly bounced back from the experience and remains one of the most successful influencers in the world.
Oprah Winfrey
Another household name, and arguably one of the most celebrated members of the television and media world.
Oprah Winfrey took the media by storm with her talk-shows and used this power to support a variety of different causes that she strongly believes in.
She created a more confessional type of talk show, and challenged the norm by bringing LGBT people into the mainstream via her influence and power in the media world.
Through her wildly successful career she has been able to help enrich the lives of likely thousands of people across the globe in her support of different causes and projects, one being education, which by 2012 she had donated $400 million to various initiatives.
She was on the list of the top 50 most generous Americans and we all know she is a giving person who has no problem putting her influence and financial support behind things.
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