By: Jacqueline Hayes, Owner of Crayons & Marketers, LLC
It hasn’t always been this way. For today’s aspiring women entrepreneurs, there are numerous programs and funding opportunities available to help us realize dreams of business ownership and taking control of our own destinies. And we’re doing just that. As of 2013, it’s estimated that there are over 8.6 million women-owned businesses in the US, generating over $1.3 trillion in revenues and employing nearly 7.8 million people. Between the years 1997 and 2013, the number of women owned businesses increased by 59%. That’s 1 ½ times the national average!
But 25 years ago, the landscape of business ownership looked extremely different and the road to entrepreneurship for women lie before them twisted and turned, if existent at all. And while it was possible to become the first American women in space (Sally Ride – 1983), in some cases, it was impossible for women to get a business loan without the co-signature of a male relative. That was just twenty five years ago.
But thankfully, times have changed. Laws have been passed. A new day has dawned.
So when asked to interview a handful of the breakout speakers for this year’s NAWBO WBC in Miami, Florida, I was humbled, nervous, and excited. For thirty minutes, with each conversation held, I listened to the outpouring of passion and support for women in business, heard pride in the voices of women who’ve endured and persevered, and was empowered through their stories of success and failure to pick up the baton and continue to run this race, not just for me, but your you, too.
Because there’s still work to do.
So thank Phyllis Hill Slater, Julie Weeks, Lawren Just, and Amy Hilliard for paving the way, and Beth Solomon and Catherine Corley for leading us into the future. It is because of women like you that the paradigm has shifted and we, as women, are closer to reaching our dreams, then ever before.