Women's Leadership Blog

8 Influential Businesswomen and Their Smart Lessons

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A guest post by Melissa Tamura

As an aspiring lawyer, there are many women I look to for inspiration in being successful in handling business. No matter what profession you are in, businesswomen can teach you how to be determined, confident, and authoritative in the way you handle your profession and life. These are just 8 women, in addition to many more, that are inspirational for women everwhere for the lessons they teach us.

1. Oprah Winfrey Oprah Winfrey is a highly powerful woman in today's society. She has taught women everywhere how to overcome barriers like sexual abuse and racial stereotypes in order to achieve immense success. Her story is a story of resilience, strength, and fun confidence. Winfrey was born into poverty with a single mother, but used her hardships as a way to become an intuitive and effective communicator with women everywhere. In 1988, Oprah Winfrey assumed ownership and production responsibilities for her show, "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Winfrey created her magazine, O, in 2000 and now owns Harpo Productions.

2. Hilary Clinton In 2008, Hilary Clinton served as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. She attended Wellesley College and later went on to attend law school at Yale. She is a great example of a woman who takes on huge challenges and yields results. Even though she did not win the presidential election, Clinton now serves as the Secretary of State for President Barack Obama.

3. Carleton Fiorina Carleton Fiorina served as President and Chief Executive Officer for Hewlett-Packard, the information technology corporation based in Palo Alto, California. Her achievements are remarkable, because she is emblematic of diversity in a technological field that can be lacking driven women. In 2005, Fiorina stepped down from her role at Hewlett-Packard. However, her story shows how someone who once was a secretary can work to achieve the ranks of one of the most respected and powerful women worldwide.

4. Abigail Johnson Johnson runs Fidelity Investments along with her father Edward Johnson. Abigail Johnson is a powerful example of a woman able to break into the financial industry and manage over $1.1 trillion dollars.

5. Indra Nooyi Indra Nooyi is CEO and Chairman of PepsiCo and delivered strong profits for sales of $43 billion in 2009. Nooyi sticks to her guns and helped PepsiCo develop a company mission centering on sustainability and healthiness.

6. Bonnie Hammer At 61, Bonnie Hammer serves as President for NBCU Cable Entertainment and Universal Cable Productions. She shows that age knows no limits and that women can achieve success beyond age limitations.

7. Andrea Jung Jung is phenomenal for her work in helping women to support themselves as CEO of Avon, which enables women to go door to door and sell makeup products.

8. Irene Rosenfeld As CEO of Kraft Foods, Rosenfeld has broken barriers in industries where men typically fill CEO roles. Her leadership helped Kraft Foods to outperform the S&P in the last couple years. These women are powerful examples of influential businesswomen with guts, determination, and an ability to get results. They are confidant and unwilling to allow anyone else to take the business roles they deserve.

Written by Melissa Tamura, who writes about online schools for Zen College Life.