7 Successful Women to Inspire You in Your Career ...

1. Sheryl Sandberg

As the COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg is one of the most successful women in the world. Not only has she put Facebook on the mobile gaming map, she also wrote the inspiring book Lean In. Sandberg previously worked for Google, is happily married and has two children. As a working mom, she admits to feel guilty frequently; however, she says she leaves the office at 5:30pm sharp every single day to have dinner with her family.

2. Shonda Rhimes

Executive producer and screenwriter Shonda Rhimes has made it in the world of hit dramas. She is responsible for Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, and also worked on The Princess Diaries 2. For years, she worked as a film-development assistant, until the 9/11 attack. It made her reassess her goals for the future. Today, she is a proud mom of three adopted children and a co-winner of the 2014 Directors Guild of America Diversity Award.

3. Victoria Beckham

It’s as if people either love her or hate her, but there’s no doubt about it that Victoria Beckham has become the most successful Spice Girl. After exploring a career in music, she pursued a career in fashion, something she has always felt passionate about. Today her successful fashion empire has caught the attention celebrities as well as fashion magazines like Vogue.

4. Leila Janah

The poverty in this world disgusted Leila Janah, and so this humanitarian wanted to contribute to making a change. She founded Samasource in 2008, a non-profit organization with a mission to connect unemployed women and youth in impoverished countries to digital work. Since its start, Samasource has positively impacted roughly 15,000 female workers around the globe.

5. Lisa Stone

In 2005, Lisa Stone noticed that many women started to blog; however, rarely did she find other websites linking to women’s posts. As a result she founded BlogHer, a publishing platform turning blogging into a business for countless women. Today, BlogHer reaches an audience of about 92 million.

6. Leora Kadisha

As a college senior, Leora Kadisha founded the fashion social networking website StyledOn. It started out as a small photo-sharing platform, but grew into a huge success thanks to Kadisha’s efforts and commitment. It’s now a thriving community where bloggers and fashionistas can interact and shop for the latest fashion items.

7. Katina Mountanos

Manicube, the mobile manicure service that Katina Mountanos launched only recently, is currently unfunded; however, so far it has proven to be a success in Manhattan. To expand her business, Mountanos plans to launch Manicube to other cities and countries soon. For each manicure, Manicube contributes $1 to microloans abroad.

As you can see, successful women come in all shapes and sizes. Sheryl Sandberg has years of experience and might have many dollars to spend by now, but we can all agree that women like Katina Mountanos and Leora Kadisha are equally as inspiring, especially because these women might as well be one of us. Who is an inspiration to your career?