women-in-business
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Susan de França’s blueprint begins with the buyer
Raised on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Susan de França built a career helping developers imagine the people behind the floor plans. At Douglas Elliman, she brings brokers, designers and market research into the same conversation.
Margi Tooth and the long road from hoodie to stadium
Before Margi Tooth became Trupanion’s CEO, a company hoodie could start a conversation. Her career has been an exercise in making that conversation bigger - without losing the person on the other side.
Nevena Srebreva and the art of getting people to try
From Avon to Thermomix USA to Pampered Chef, Nevena Srebreva has built a career around the demonstration. Now the CEO is helping a business built on cooking parties find its next audience, one screen and one kitchen at a time.
Five Months to Make a Go of It
Barbara Spector Yeninas turned a waterfront reporting beat into a business that reached its fiftieth anniversary. Along the way, she changed the guest list, mentored women and made room for a successor.
Laura Van Eperen and the art of handing over the keys
She spent twenty years building the communications firm that became FOVNDRY. Then Laura Van Eperen passed ownership to a colleague and kept doing the work that had drawn her into the business.
Beth Monaghan’s experiment in going home
Beth Monaghan built Inkhouse around a wager: people could do ambitious work and still have lives of their own. The agency grew, the employees wrote books, and eventually its co-founder made room for a different kind of work herself.
Joanna Kulesa and the art of leaving the band playing
She followed the Grateful Dead west, built a Silicon Valley PR agency, and handed it to two longtime colleagues. Joanna Kulesa’s business story turns on a question of ownership: how much can a founder give away?
Jennifer Chapin and the Fine Art of Choosing Your Company
At Kikoko, Jennifer Chapin built a cannabis business around tea, a longtime friendship and six blunt rules. Her most revealing decisions concern the people she lets into the room.
Liat Primor and the Work Between the Job Titles
Before she co-founded FeelBetter, Liat Primor worked her way from engineering to a global executive role. Her career raises a quieter question about leadership: who gets into the conversation?
Joya Subudhi and the rooms that change a business
Before she built Wireside Communications, Joya Subudhi was inviting programmers to meet in person. Two decades of agency ownership have given that simple act a larger meaning.
Ann Marie Sorrell and the business of showing up
A $200 business registration started The Mosaic Group. The relationships Ann Marie Sorrell built around it would carry her from marketing campaigns to conservation ballots - with a few dating stories along the way.
Liz Grossman Kitoyi and the cost of being misunderstood
A grammar lesson in Dakar helped shape a career in communication. Now the Baobab Consulting co-founder is asking what happens when entire markets are misunderstood.
Natalie Boden and the question that outgrew the brief
Before she built BODEN Agency, Natalie Boden wanted to be a librarian. Her career has followed a related instinct: pay attention to the stories people overlook, then give them somewhere to go.
Barbara Zenz and the art of making the complicated useful
From Silicon Valley technology campaigns to marketing for independent alarm dealers, Barbara Zenz has built her work around a practical question: what will help the customer take the next step?
Kassy Perry knows when to change course
A last-minute newsroom internship became a career in Sacramento public affairs. Thirty years into running her own firm, Kassy Perry is still competing on horseback - and now leads the business alongside the daughter who once raced her around the ring.
Bronwyn Le Grice knows what an open door is worth
A temp job gave her an unexpected start. After venture capital, a pet-sitting startup and an IPO, Bronwyn Le Grice built ANDHealth to help other founders find their way through.
Ruwayda Mustafah and the art of making introductions
A Kurdish refugee childhood, a career in political communication, and a shelf of children’s books meet in the work of Saaba’s founder. For Dr. Ruwayda Mustafah, questions of belonging keep finding new audiences.
Lori Chollar and the art of knowing what to leave out
From print shops to ultrawide screens, Lori Chollar has built a career around making ideas visible. The co-founder of TLC Creative Services brings the same close attention to a corporate presentation, a business workflow, and a badly spaced street sign.
Sandra Lee knows what a team can become
Before she founded ES Advertising, Sandra Lee played after-school volleyball at KYCC. Her return as a board leader brings a long career in multicultural advertising back to a place that helped her grow.
Shamira Jaffer and the business of getting time back
An early touchscreen kiosk gave Shamira Jaffer an idea. Building Signifi meant learning how to move quickly, sell across borders, and wait for a market that took years to catch up.
Manuela Sánchez and the shop on the other side of the screen
She helped build Laika around the convenience of buying pet supplies online. Then Manuela Sánchez Villamarín went to work on its physical stores, a second apprenticeship that led to the CEO’s chair.
Dorothy Ssemanda and the art of starting again
The accountant who became ATC Uganda’s first Ugandan CEO keeps putting herself back in the learner’s seat. Her story runs from paper ledgers to telecom towers, community computer labs and a swimming lane in Nairobi.
Corie Barry and the education of a reluctant CEO
She learned commerce at her parents’ art booths and chose accounting for its order. At Best Buy, Corie Barry built a career by taking on work she had not planned to do - including the top job.
Reshma Kewalramani and the art of changing course
She never planned on the corner office. From Mumbai to Boston, Reshma Kewalramani built a career by reconsidering the plan - and keeping the people who mattered close.
Kristin Johnson’s long bet on the connection next door
Before she co-founded Hotwire Communications, Kristin Johnson ran restaurants. Her next business would put fiber into residential communities, attract infrastructure investors and give her a much larger guest list to look after.
Nicole Alvino and the people the company email missed
An early career at Enron gave Nicole Alvino a reason to question corporate leadership. Building SocialChorus and Firstup gave her a way to work on the answer - one employee at a time.
Echo Liu and the business of Saturday night
A rack of clothes in a Sydney living room became Hello Molly. Echo Liu built the business around a familiar question: what are we wearing this weekend?
Sarah Jenkins and the trouble with too many tools
Before she ran Genesis Digital, Sarah Jenkins knew the nuisance of selling online with software that would not work together. Her career traces what happens when a customer helps build the tools, leads the company, and eventually hands over the CEO’s chair.
Melissa Chang and the art of making yourself replaceable
She helped build DemandScience, then handed over the CEO job while the company was still growing. Melissa Chang’s career turns on a practical question: where can she do the most useful work next?
Irene Rosenfeld and the art of making a big job smaller
After decades learning why people buy, Irene Rosenfeld made a different calculation: why keep two businesses together? The 2012 Kraft split put her in charge of Mondelēz and gave a familiar cupboard of brands a new corporate shape.