Three Women Who Rocked the Business Boat

For far too many years, women were left out of the business scene altogether – and when they did finally gain inroads they were patronized, pet on the head and called ‘baby’ a few too many times. The business world has never been an easy arena wherein women could gain power, but a few women have not only managed to karate-chop the door down, they’ve kicked ass and taken names. Here are three amazing women who have not only managed to succeed in a man’s world, but have built their own empires.

Margaret Whitman – Meg’s not just the former President and CEO of the world’s largest auction site and most valuable internet brand, eBay.com. She’s also one of the most financially successful women in history, with a net worth valued at $1.6 billion. Prior to starting eBay, she held high-level position at a variety of big-name corporations including Hasbro, Stride Rite and Walt Disney.

Meg has managed to keep eBay on top despite fierce efforts by competitors like Yahoo and Google, using her business savvy to make decisions to move eBay beyond the realm of garage sales and into a phenomenon with 22 million users and growing.

Oprah Winfrey – Oprah may be an obvious choice for this list, but there’s just no leaving her off. She’s one of few women internationally known just by their first names and rose from a poor rural upbringing to become the most influential women in the world, with a legion of followers numbering in the millions who take her word as gospel. Her resume is almost too incredible to be real: her internationally-syndicated talk show has earned her many Emmys and is the highest-rated talk show in the history of television; she’s an Academy-Award-nominated actress, a magazine publisher, the richest African American of the 20th century and the world’s only black billionaire.

Oprah broke into a field dominated by white males, embarking on a meteoric rise to the top of the TV ratings that would lead to a media empire crowned by her publishing company, Harpo Productions. She has her own XM satellite radio channel called ‘Oprah & Friends’, and will debut a new cable channel called ‘OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network’ in 2009.

Martha Stewart – No matter how you personally feel about her, Martha’s a serious role model for women in business. Though her star might have become tarnished over the last few years after the infamous trading scandal and resulting jail time, only Oprah’s media empire rivals Martha’s in scale and influence. Martha’s rise in the business world began when she became a stockbroker in 1967, enjoying success in that field until she decided to quit to focus on raising her daughter and restoring her new home in Connecticut. What she learned during her restoration efforts coupled with her interest in cooking led over the years to what we now know as Martha Stewart Omnimedia, a company that consolidated her various television, print, and merchandising efforts related to the Martha Stewart brand.

The beauty of Martha Stewart’s career is that she not only broke numerous glass ceilings in various industries, but did it by making crafts and baking apple pie. She took what were stereotypically women’s tasks done in the kitchen for free and spun them into a multi-billion-dollar empire that will leave an indelible mark on the history of women in business.

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