Our world is full of strong and influential women who continue to pave the way in the business world. Keep reading to learn more about modern women leaders in business.
Barbara Corcoran
Barbara Corcoran’s humble beginnings start in 1949 in New Jersey. Born into a large working class family, Barbara was the second child of 10, performed poorly in school, and worked 20 jobs by the time she was 23. Barbara found her big break when she quit her job as a waitress and borrowed $1,000 to start a real estate company in New York City called The Corcoran Group. Barbara’s company became wildly successful and sold for $66 million in 2001.
Today, Barbara sits as a Shark on ABC’s show “Shark Tank” where she invests in smaller businesses to help them grow in the retail market. Her biggest investment from the show is The Comfy, which turned Barbara’s $50,000 investment into more than $450 million!
Oprah Winfrey
Born into poverty in Kosciusko, Mississippi, Oprah later moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin before moving once again to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee. While in Tennessee, Oprah began working for a local radio station in high school which marked the beginning of her gargantuan career in media. At 19 years old, she became the first black female news anchor for her local evening news station. Later, Oprah moved to Baltimore to host a local talk show before being recruited to Chicago where she ran The Oprah Winfrey Show which lasted for 25 years.
Oprah is now worth around $3 billion and owns or partly-owns several brands including Harpo Inc., Oatly, True Food Kitchen, Weight Watchers, and more.
Lori Greiner
Lori Greiner grew up in Chicago where she majored in communications at Loyola University Chicago while working for The Chicago Tribune. Although she started in the Liberal Arts, she later ventured into the retail world when she founded For Your Ease Only in 1996. Soon after founding her company, she created and patented an earring organizer station, which large department store J.C. Penney picked up where it sold like wildfire. Following her massive initial success, Lori continued to create and patent retail products to be sold in department stores and on TV shopping channels.
Today, she has created and marketed over 1,000 successful products and holds 120 U.S. and international patents. She’s also a Shark on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” where she’s invested in over 100 products with a 90% success rate and has helped 10 of the top 20 most successful companies from the show!
Beyonce
Beyonce is most well known for her stellar music career, though she’s no stranger to the world of retail. In 2005, she worked with her mother to start a women’s fashion line called House of Dereon, which featured denim, sportswear, outerwear, handbags, and footwear. Later in 2009, the mother-daughter duo launched a new junior apparel label for the back-to-school season that was sold in department stores like Macy’s and Dillard’s.
Her latest retail venture was in September of 2024 when she partnered with the denim brand Levi’s to recreate a classic Levi’s denim campaign from the 1980s.
Sources
https://www.barbaracorcoran.com/about/
https://theorg.com/iterate/what-companies-does-oprah-own
https://lorigreiner.com/about-lori/
https://lbbonline.com/news/levis-iconic-launderette-ad-is-reimagined-with-beyonce-in-global-campaign
retailconnection 