As a teenager, Estée Lauder gained valuable business experience working in her father's hardware store and learned important business principles of dedication, determination, and discipline. Inspired by her uncle, a chemist who created beauty products and fragrances, Lauder reali ...Show more
Indra Nooyi - “Taking Risks”
She’s one of the most powerful women in modern business. Current Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi’s design thinking, calculated risks, and clever strategy brought PepsiCo into the 21st century. We examine how Indra balances motherhood and a high-powe ...Show more
Lydia Pinkham - “Networking”
In a time when women were desperate for safe and effective treatments for women’s health issues, Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compounds became one of the best-known medicines of the 19th century. She began by giving away the compound for free to create a strong referral network, whi ...Show more
Lillian Vernon - “Bootstrapping”
Lillian Vernon had no formal business training but that didn’t stop her from starting her own business selling mail-order handbags out of her kitchen. An ad placed in Seventeen magazine for personalized purses and belts would lead to a multi-million dollar operation. Vernon would ...Show more
Debbi Fields - “Customer Experience”
Debbi Fields showed that anyone can make a dream business reality. As a young mother with no business experience, she was able to open her first cookie store in Palo Alto, CA in the late 1970s. She often gave cookies away, telling customers they were the most essential investment ...Show more