50 More Quotes From Female Founders

“Success is about creating opportunities for yourself to open up a path to wherever you want to go. Relentless determination, a ton of hustle, and a bit of luck help to self-actualize those dreams.” Abigail Cook Stone, Founder at Otherland

“I had to turn that negative voice and inner critic into a strong, positive force that could propel me forward rather than hold me back.” Aishwarya Iyer, CEO and founder at Brightland

“Even though you don’t have the job, don’t wait for the job. A good manager will encourage you to take giant steps instead of baby steps.” Amy Shecter, CEO at Ever/Body

“When you don’t value yourself, you allow others to devalue you. You can increase your skills and you can be valuable with whatever abilities you have. Focus on that and not comparing yourself to someone else, and you’ll see how fast things start to change.” Angelica Ross, Founder and CEO at TransTech Social Enterprises

“I’m more tired than I ever imagined possible, but I’m also very proud to think that one day my kids will know that they were the catalyst for my self-actualization.” Ashley Merrill, Founder and CEO at Lunya

“Come prepared to meetings, be open-minded to new ideas, and never be afraid to put your ideas out there. Just make sure you can back them up.” Bertha González Nieves, CEO and Co-founder at Casa Dragones Tequila

“Learn from the best, and don’t be afraid to embrace the traits that make you unique.” Candace Nelson, Co-founder at Sprinkles and Pizzana

“I truly believe everyone I meet has an impact on me in some way. I’m constantly seeking out others to learn from – to lend their ideas and inspiration.” Eliza Blank, Founder and CEO at The Sill

“As the boss, you’re always checking in on other people, but you have to be the one to check in on yourself.” Jaclyn Johnson, Founder and CEO at Create & Cultivate

“The career you are starting now does not have to be (and probably will not be) your last, but I have found that each job and subsequently each career gave me something to take to the next.” Jen Gotch, Founder at Ban.do

“It’s hard for people to take anyone seriously who’s never done this before. But that just gave me fire to move forward.” Jessica Alba, Founder at The Honest Company

“Stay determined. Don’t be afraid of pursuing an unexpected path.” Kathrin Hamm, Founder and CEO at Bearaby

“I’ve never been afraid to share my view or try something difficult, in fact I have found that the hardest things I’ve ever done have been the most rewarding.” Kathryn Petralia, Co-founder and President at Kabbage

“I truly believe that honor plays a great role in modern society. You see, we can’t function on a day-to-day basis without knowing our worth, without knowing where our dignity lies.” Khalida Brohi, Founder and Executive Director at the Sughar Foundation

“Don’t get stuck perfecting your idea before you bring it to the world.” Kim Malek, Co-founder at Salt & Straw

“When you start small, you can learn from the small mistakes. The bigger your launch, the bigger and more public your mistakes.” Mahisha Dellinger. Founder and CEO at Curls

“Take things one step at a time. When I was starting my business, I had this great idea but it was a bit overwhelming to build the idea into a real business, so it took me a while to get started. Now, I live off of to-do lists – taking things step by step and breaking things down into baby steps helps a ton.” Mandy Bowman, Founder and CEO at Official Black Wall Street

“You are never going to know everything that you need to know to run a business, so it is important to have a great team around you that can fill in those holes and areas of expertise that you do not possess.” Mandy Price, Cofounder at Kanarys

“I think as women, we play it safe. So my advice to women out there would be: don’t fear the unknown. Fear the not trying.” Michelle Cordeiro Grant, CEO & Founder at WearLively

“Early on as an entrepreneur, you got to try a lot of things. And you don’t need to know every single corner of your business, but you need to really have a high rate of learning. Actually, that’s an entrepreneur’s best friend. How fast can you learn, how fast can you take the feedback and iterate on it?” Michelle Zatlyn, COO & Co-Founder at CloudFare

“I’ve always been entrepreneurial and tried to make things out of nothing and see how the world should be or how people should be treated and try to make that happen.” Morgan DeBaun, CEO & Co-Founder at Blavity

“Success requires unwavering faith in your vision and terrific leadership.” Neeti Mehta, Co-Founder at Automation Anywhere

“Any startup is the sum of the small nudges in many directions.” Nicky Goulimis, COO & Co-Founder at Nova Credit

“The answers keep unfolding as your life expands, if you’re willing to see things for what they are—and what they can be.” Oprah Winfrey, Founder & CEO at OWN

“Good luck comes from good (and hard) work. So set your mind to it and watch the results.” Payal Kadakia, Executive Chairman & Co-Founder at Classpass

“There’s no more courageous human being than someone who says, ‘I’m making a choice because it’s the right choice. What we have to do is lift those people up and make sure there’s opportunity.” Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO & Co-Founder at Promise

“I may not be the smartest person in the room, but I will try the hardest.” Renee Dua, Founder at Heal

“The desire to be perfect holds us back in so many ways. We don’t speak up for ourselves, as we know deep down we should, because we don’t want to be seen as pushy, bitchy, or just straight-up unlikeable. When we do speak up, many of us agonize and overthink how to express ourselves, trying to hit just the right note of assertiveness without seeming too “bossy” or aggressive. We obsessively analyze, consider, discuss, and weigh every angle before making a decision, no matter how small. And if we do, heaven forbid, make a mistake, we feel as though our world is falling apart.” Reshma Saujani, CEO & Founder at Girls Who Code

“I always believed that when you follow your heart or your gut, when you really follow the things that feel great to you, you can never lose, because settling is the worst feeling in the world.” Rihanna, Founder at Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin and Savage x Fenty

“I am very inspired by people who, against all odds, are able to rise and make an impact in the world.” Ritu Narayan, CEO & Co-Founder at Zum

“Impossible is a mindset. Too often, the answers we got weren’t at all based on physics, they were based on precedent – which is a really important distinction.” Rosanna Myers, CEO & Co-Founder at Carbon Robotics

“Believe you can do it, and you will. Protect your dreams, ideas and goals.” Sara Blakely, Founder at SPANX

“It’s important to have the perspective to take things one day at a time, one thing at a time and celebrate the wins as they come. You do not have to run a marathon all at once. As long as you’re moving and you keep moving forward, it’s great.” Sarah Paiji Yoo, Co-founder & CEO at Blueland

“There’s nothing that I enjoy more than building things that the world has never seen before, but once they see them, they’re like, ‘How did we live without it?’ It brings them genuine joy. That is the thing I want to keep doing forever.” Shan-Lyn Ma, CEO & Co-Founder at Zola

“The best thing, I think, is [for women] to keep their belief in themselves; that is what I have always strived to do, and I think self-belief is invaluable for women. Being stripped of this can be very damaging.” Sheila Gujrathi, COO & Co-Founder at Gossamer Bio

“Sometimes you read [an interview with a female CEO], and it sounds like she’s got it all figured out. Like, no! The human part of this is so much more. What works for me doesn’t necessarily work for another family or another executive.” Sima Sistani, Cofounder & CEO at Houseparty

“I’ve lived a life full of things I never thought I could achieve. It takes effort and sacrifice but why not risk trying to be better?” Sofia Vergara, Co-founder at Latin WE

“I deeply believe that if you can just give people the biggest opportunity, the most freedom to be their best selves, you will get that.” Stefania Mallette, Founder at Cater

“Women need to become key decision makers in their organizations in order to bring about change.” Stephanie Benedetto, Founder at Queen of Raw

“You have to have a strong and supportive circle. The women that I’ve met doing certain fellowships and residency programs have been so helpful to me. I’ve bonded with other women entrepreneurs who understand exactly what I’m going through. They too understand what it feels like to have to disarm people, be likeable, and prove your competence as a black woman entrepreneur. On top of being an entrepreneur, which is difficult, the stakes are raised as a black woman.” Terri-Nichelle Bradley, Founder at Brown Toy Box

“Our world is in a transition period. We’re collectively starting to redefine how to conduct business that has just as much focus on human well-being as it does making a profit.” Tiffany Pham, Founder at Mogul

“There needs to be an active, inclusive co-owned heartbeat in the company from the get go.” Tina Sharkey, CEO & Co-Founder at Brandless

“Knowing what others think of you helps you form a better company culture and align the overall internal company strategies with those of your employees.” Tonya Lanthier, Founder at DentalPost

“The media tends to put CEOs who are harsh and driven at all costs on a pedestal, but you can be caring and authentic and still build a big, great company.” Tracy Lawrence, CEO & Co-Founder at Chewse

“Approaching every challenge as a unique opportunity to excel and problem solve has helped me keep a positive attitude.” Tze Chun, Founder at Uprise Art

“In any business, you have to build it before they believe it.” Wanona Satcher, Founder at Makhers Studio

“Don’t overthink, don’t doubt yourself, just find what you are good at and make it happen!” Yeva Hyusyan, CEO & Co-Founder at SoloLearn

“Leaders have an opportunity to lead through demonstration — whether it’s taking vacation or even just taking a midday mental break. This helps your employees to feel more comfortable (and inspired) to do the same.” Yunha Kim, CEO & Founder at Simple Habit

“Employees follow your lead. If I don’t take our values seriously, they won’t either.” Zawadi Bryant, Founder at NightLight Pediatrics

“Where other people see risk, all I see is excitement.” Zhang Xin, Co-founder at SOHO China