Female Entrepreneurs & Change Makers to Follow in 2019

Katrina Lake, 36 years old, is the founder and CEO of Stitch Fix, a subscription-based fashion service. She is also the youngest female founder ever to take a company public and CEO of the only female-led tech IPO. She rang the bell on the Nasdaq floor with her son and is a great role model for any female founders. Her company is currently valued at over a billion dollars.

Cashmere Nicole is a single mom & breast cancer survivor, who launched Beauty Bakerie in 2011. She used crowdfunding & social media to get her business off the ground. Her makeup line features a wide range of shades for women of all colors. Beauty Bakerie has even been featured by Beyonce. Her beauty line is now worth over $5MM and growing.

Arlan  Hamilton is the Founder and Managing Partner of Backstage Capital, a venture capital firm dedicated to minimizing funding disparities in tech by investing in high-potential founders who are people of color, women, and/or LGBT. Her company has dedicated to raising a $36 million dollar fund to invest in black female founders.

Amber Venz was a personal shopper, jewelry maker, and style blogger, who created Reward Style and the LiketoKnow.It app. Her affiliate marketing system, Reward Style, which connects digital content creators with brands and retailers, allowing bloggers and digital publishers to monetize their sites, has generated more than $1 billion in sales worldwide.

Emily Weiss was the blogger behind Into the Gloss which she parlayed into a fully-fledged business, raising $10.4 million in funding. in 2014 she launched her own beauty line, Glossier with 4 products. She used social media to build a cult-like following for the brand. Glossier has a very active community of 1.6 million Instagram followers, Glossier is currently valued at over a billion dollars.

Jaclyn Johnson, 31, is the founder and chief executive of Create & Cultivate, an online platform, and conference series geared toward women entrepreneurs in the digital world. I attended Create & Cultivate in Seattle and it was such a great community of women coming together. She recently released her career manifesto, aptly titled Work Party, where she shares how she built her career after losing her job. She is helping create a space for millennial women to create & cultivate the career of their dreams.

Summer Friday is a fabulous skincare brand launched by Beauty influencer Marianna Hewitt and business partner Lauren Gores. They launched with the Summer Friday Jet Leg Mask, which I use all the time. They have since added two more products to their brands. Its been exciting to see how they have been very thoughtful with their brand expansion.