Join in a celebration of Women in Business with all the local women who appear in this week’s print edition of The “Times”.
In 1963, Katherine Graham took over control of The Washington Post, and by 1972 she was the very first woman Fortune 500 CEO.
As the first woman in such a position, she had no role models to look up to or even to learn from.
Instead she had her own intelligence and bravery to help forge her way in the male populated business world.
Graham though, was not the only woman who managed to persevere as a businesswoman throughout America’s history.
Eliza Lucas Pinckney began managing the family farm at only sixteen years of age and is credited with the success of the South Carolina indigo industry a few decades before the Revolutionary War.
Bridget ‘Biddy’ Mason made a name for herself after winning her freedom by suing her owners after their move to California, a free state.
She bought some downtown Los Angeles land for $250, and by 1884 had grown a real estate empire worth $300,000, estimated at almost $10 million in today’s money.
Elizabeth Arden opened her first, now world-famous, shop in 1909 on Fifth Avenue.
By 1914 she had expanded and included cosmetics into her lineup, and in 1922 became international with the opening of a salon in France.
Mary Kay Ash took $5000 dollars and started Mary Kay Cosmetics, a direct sales company that is known far and wide for quality products.
It is now a multimillion-dollar conglomerate with nearly two-million independent beauty consultants across the globe.
In 1977 Dr. Juanita Morris Kreps became the first woman to serve as the U.S Secretary of Commerce, and the fourth woman to even hold a Cabinet position.
She was also the first woman to ever sit on the New York Stock Exchange Board of Directors.
One of the many companies who boards she had set on was JCPenney, who created an annual award for an outstanding professional woman in Kreps honor.
These frontrunners, and many more like them, have led and opened the path for many other women to become formidable figures in the business world.
Women such as Sheryl Sandberg – Facebook COO, Indra Nooyi – CEO and chair of PepsiCo, Virginia Rometty –first ever CEO of IBM, and many more who are still trailblazing and setting paths for those that come behind them.
National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs began working towards a celebration for women in business as early as 1924.
The first national observance began after National President Lena Madesin Phillips opened the week of April 15-22, 1928 with a nationally broadcast speech.
U.S. President Herbert Hoover recognized the day in 1938 and moved it to the third week of October, as it still is today.
The United states has around 7.2 million majority-owned, privately held, women-owned businesses that employ 7.3 million people and generate $1.1 trillion in sales.
Navarro SBDC serves the four county regions including: Ellis, Navarro, Limestone, and Freestone County.
In the business that Navarro SBDC oversees, women are owners in approximately 50% of the businesses.
Women have come a long way through time and history, and this one week each year is a great reminder that there is more to come.
