Written in Partnership with Fame MediaEvery successful entrepreneur started somewhere. There’s no “magic pill” that effortlessly launches you out of your cubicle confinement and into the free world of entrepreneurship.
For some, the dream to be your own boss grows for a long time, even years, before it finally comes to fruition. The truth is, great success in business grows from just one, tiny seed.
We asked some of our favorite female entrepreneurs to share how they got their start in business. Their answers revealed the deep motivators and personal qualities that drove them to make their big idea a reality. By reading about how they grew their businesses over the years, our goal is that you’ll identify a similar entrepreneurial seed, within yourself. Here’s what these women had to share about getting their start as entrepreneurs.
Gianna Apostolski
Gianna Apostolski is the Founder & CEO of Split Vip Agency – A top class event management & VIP Hospitality company based in Croatia. The successful entrepreneur has years of experience in the field of VIP hospitality, Public Relations and Event Management. Gianna prides herself on maintaining stellar relationships with her clients, approaching each client individually and creating a unique range of services for them that meets their requirements and expectations. Unwavering enthusiasm, relentless positivity and down to earth nature are the hallmarks of Gianna’s success. She goes on to say “Honesty and sincerity are the basis of everything, both life and work. The client will not be satisfied and happy if you are not satisfied with yourself and happy with the work you have done for them.” To learn more about Gianna Apostolski and Split Vip Agency, click here.
Elisa Canali
Elisa Canali is a highly educated entrepreneur, who’s achieved a Masters degree in Philosophy, Human Resources, International Coaching, Counseling & even Organizational Constellations. Not only is she highly knowledgeable, but holds extensive experience in various sectors such as Fashion, Coaching, & Trauma Therapy. In 2018, Elisa founded The House of Opulence and Healing™ in which she set out to help women become millionaires by ridding themselves of society’s patriarchal conditioning and blossoming from within. Additionally, she runs a mastery coaching certification program for coaches and healers. Her unique approach blends her world renowned masculine & feminine energetics/human design and gene keys and strategies, with Elisa’s psychic abilities to channel through each of her clients inner genius and virtue, taking them to 7 Figures while working less than ever. Her brand is now a multi-million dollar company raising the bar for women across the globe and hopes to make an impact on an even greater scale aiming to help change the lives of millions of other women within 5 years. To learn more about Elisa Canali, click here.
Regan Anne Hillyer
Regan Anne Hillyer is a Serial Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, International Speaker, Energetic Coach and the CEO and founder of Regan Hillyer International, a global 8-figure business. Originally, she graduated as an Architect (BArch) then was attracted to the personal development and business success niche, qualifying as an Certificated Master of NLP, Master of Hypnosis, Time Dynamics Specialist and a Success Strategist, amongst other certifications and training. Regan is the creator of the world’s Number One Manifestation Method – the “Energetic Architecture Method™” a unique manifestation modality that uses the quantum field to allow people to manifest the life they desire. Results include but are not limited to, people building multiple six and seven-figure businesses location-free, using powerful mindset changing tools and cutting-edge business development strategies.
Regan is a true thought leader in her industry and is a best selling author of multiple books as well as featuring in a variety of media outlets including Forbes, The Huffington Post and Cosmopolitan Magazine amongst many others. Born and raised in New Zealand, Regan is now principally based in Costa Rica, however, she has an internationally renowned presence and reach with clients in over 140 countries. To learn more about Regan Hillyer and her methodologies, click here.
Keri White
Keri White is an award-winning real estate agent and founder of The Keri White Team. Since 2005, she has been diligent and trustworthy, with over 15 years of experience assisting others in achieving real estate success in her native city of Los Angeles, California. Growing up with a father in the industry exposed her to many aspects of real estate and encouraged Keri to bring a fresh perspective to the market. After overcoming many hindrances and progressing throughout her career, Keri now works with many long-term past clients and future referrals. Due to unwavering passion and commitment to the industry, The Keri White Team has developed specific expertise for supporting clients through the real estate process, which involves ethics, mutual respect and the heartfelt desire to improve LA real estate. As a result, Keri has received numerous recognitions, including being listed in the top 1 percent of agents on the Wall Street Journal for five consecutive years. To learn more about Keri White & The Keri White Team, click here.
Megan Weks
Megan Weks is a certified dating and relationship coach with over a decade of experience in the most challenging dating markets. The Manfunnel® is a method she established to help high-achieving successful women find lasting love. The combination of Megan’s data, energy, and neuroscience principles has enabled her to have an award-winning blog. In 2021, Yahoo Finance recognized her as one of the top ten dating and relationship coaches to watch. In addition, several media outlets have featured her for her top-notch success with clients, including Forbes, The New York Times, Psychology Today, FOX, ABC, & CBS. For Megan, success would be a combination of her passion for what she does and making sure her clients are satisfied with the quality of her work. She advises future prospects to focus on systems and processes to succeed in the industry. “Less is more—addition by subtraction”.To learn more about Megan Weks, click here.
Jaclyn Bohall
Jaclyn Bohall is an entrepreneur based in Las Vegas. She started off as a sales associate for Mercedes Benz, but after a few years realized that her current occupation wasn’t able to satisfy her entrepreneurial spirit. Which led to her branching off into flipping luxury real estate. This transition was easy for her because she had already been flipping residential real estate since 2014. Her business serves as a luxury real estate investing company that creates high end homes in Las Vegas and the Henderson Real Estate Market. They have hopes of expanding their outreach to LA and San Diego in the coming years. Jaclyn is an advocate for consistent work, relationships and networking as she believes those are the key to achieving your goals as fast as possible. Part of her plans for the future include speaking at public events and working directly with students to help elevate their real estate business to the next level. To learn more Jaclyn Bohall, click here.
Nadine Dumas
Nadine Dumas is a serial entrepreneur and one of the leading businesswomen in the health & wellness sector. This successful entrepreneur started her journey after leaving the corporate world as a professional accountant and diving head-first into the fitness industry, which she eventually expanded to focus on transformational coaching. Through this bespoke approach that caters to the exact needs of each individual through 1-on-1 coaching, Nadine has helped thousands of high-achieving professionals reach their health & wellness goals. Nadine has further driven her brand’s success through the endorsement of an expanded line of experiences including luxury health and wellness retreats, educational and experiential pop-up events, transformation challenges and recently she has even entered the beauty industry with the launch of her own line of naturally-derived sunless tanning products, LuxeBody. Nadine has appeared on the cover of many fitness magazines across the globe and continues to increase her own knowledge and expertise, most recently by earning qualifications from the Functional Medicine Coaching academy as well as the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. To learn more about Nadine click here.
Diamandia Lingos
Diamandia Lingos is a global entrepreneur, real estate developer, investor, mentor, former UFC VP and the founder of her brand, DIAMANDIA. She has over 20 years of experience as a creative branding leader who has increased productivity and reduced operating costs for multinational corporations. Recently, Diamandia made her TedX debut, where she emphasizes how you may choose to transform generational shame and any other guilt into your greatest superpower, as well as explaining how to achieve your goals for success while preventing burnout. Diamandia has transformed trauma into greatness through her decision to take charge of her destiny. Her company, DIAMANDIA, specializes in wellness, luxury, innovation, and balance, launching 2023. Her brand intends to work with numerous brands in the future to develop the ideal female lifestyle for ambitious women. Everything Diamandia does has a purpose consistent with her and her brand, which distinguishes her from others. She has also built a footprint in the real estate sector, specializing in design, development, and investment. To learn more about Diamandia Lingos, click here.
Aïta Magassa
Aïta Magassa is the founder of the Nawali group. Throughout her life she had witnessed the struggle of many people to realize their dream of constructing a family home and even her father. Although he did however achieve his dream, Aïta could not bear the numerous hardships that her father and many like him had to overcome. She decided to make it her fight and this truly fuled her ambition to have a monumental impact in the emergence of the African continent. Her company, Nawali Group, is devoted to making an impact in African ecology, to enhance African resources as well as their accessibility. Which is why Aïta’s greatest success was when Nawali set up construction projects accessible to low-income to fulfil their dreams of homeownership. She and Nawali group will continue their truly admirable journey until they’ve successfully expanded well across the continent to allow millions of people to have access to property. To learn more about Aïta Magassa click here.
Chiara Mazzucco
Chiara Mazzucco is a motivational speaker, free-spirited content creator, and high-level mentor to multi-figure enterprises. She is the founder and CEO of Bold Self, a lifestyle and empowerment brand for female entrepreneurs’ home to wealthy, sovereign, and self-expressed prospects. Chiara firmly believes in completely expressing authenticity; arranging empowerment conferences for thousands of women has been one of her most outstanding professional achievements. In addition, many individuals regard Chiara as a fearless and audacious woman that takes a more unconventional and rebellious approach to mentor. Her current “Out of mould” approach enables the development and scalability of service-based personal brands. Soon, Chiara plans for more innovative methods to offer services, encourage change and have more fun branding and positioning. `Never lose the spark for your work; it’ll be the thing that will carry you to your wildest dreams.” is her best advice for potential growth. To make an impact on an even greater scale she is hosting a self empowerment conference for female entrepreneurs on the 24th and 25th of September. To learn more about Chiara Mazzucco & her conference click here.
Alice Chen
Alice Chen is a lawyer turned serial entrepreneur from Vancouver, who’s disrupted multiple industries in the past decade.
Two years ago, Alice and her co-founder gave up the search for a tequila-based, low-sugar, gluten-free, and sparkling ready-to-drink beverage option that provided an experience along with excitement. This brought out her entrepreneurial spirit once more as she decided to bring a sensational beverage to the market that would disrupt and innovate the existing hard seltzer landscape – known as “MEXI Craft Tequila Seltzer”.
In a short time, MEXI became the leading “top-shelf” tequila seltzer maker featuring only craft tequila sourced from NOM distilleries in Jalisco, Mexico. Her brand’s authenticity and adventure spirit garnered the attention of the bold and fearless across the globe as brand ambassadors. The list includes competitive snowboarders, other athletes, avid travelers, and even the likes of Roman Alexander who is currently on tour with Sam Hunt.
Currently, the company is preparing for an exciting drop of 5 new flavors including a Spicy Mango that will complete its first “Spirit of Mexico” Collection. To learn more about MEXI and Alice, click here.
Jenna Philips Ballard
Jenna Philips Ballard was given a second chance at life after waking up from a head trauma induced coma with brain damage in the year 2000. The odds were stacked against her, and doctors feared she’d never be the same, but she continued to fight and defy expectations. She made a full recovery and this motivated her to be an inspiration for countless people. Jenna began her career in Los Angeles as a personal trainer & mindset coach including a list of celebrity clientele like Ben Stiller, Katy Perry, Jeremy Piven, the founders of Guess, and even Saudi Arabian Royalty. After over a decade in the fitness sector, she developed an even greater passion for coaching successful leaders in emotional intelligence and personal & professional development. As a result, Jenna co-founded Ascension Leadership Academy (ALA) with her husband to show people how to close gaps, collapse timelines, and exponentially grow beyond what they thought was possible. To this date, their academy has coached thousands across the globe and has become America’s leading emotional intelligence center. To learn more about Jenna Philips Ballard, click here.
Erica Carrico
Erica Carrico is an Award-Winning Money & Marketing Strategist for women who are ready to transform their lives by creating 6 & 7 Figure Soul-Aligned Businesses, while expressing their own soul purpose. She is a highly educated individual with a BS in Psychology, a Masters in Business Management, several coaching and marketing certifications, plus almost 2 decades of experience to go along with it. Working for a prestigious global recruitment company definitely had its perks but was making her miserable. So she decided to follow her heart and passion –helping women succeed and transforming their lives. In 2016, she founded Carrico Ventures and within 4 years, she was named International Coach of the year (2020) and had even been featured in over 50 media publications (including Forbes, New York Times, Entrepreneur, and Yahoo Finance). Carrico is now invited to speak internationally on numerous occasions, because she truly transformed the lives of thousands of people by guiding them to find their life purpose, and helped them generate millions of dollars in sales through turning their purpose into profits. To learn more about Erica Carrico, click here.
Dalma Llinás
Dalma Llinás is a renowned actress, singer, and digital creator native to Colombia. Her versatility along with her resilience serves as two of her biggest assets and she is no stranger to challenging societal norms. On the digital content side she prioritizes quality over quantity while creating meaningful and engaging posts for her following, mainly consisting of self development and self growth material. While on the music side she actively looks for opportunities to challenge the status quo, break molds, and cultivate a new culture for her audience to enjoy. She first started as an acoustic rock singer in Barranquilla, and not too long after released a hit single in 2019 that generated over a million views on YouTube. Dalma is currently filming two movies and is in the process of rolling out her e-products – which include an array of handbooks and courses that help educate people on a diverse set of topics, in hopes of cultivating more entrepreneurial multipotentialites like herself.
Gabrielle Judge
Gabrielle Judge is a 25-year-old TikTok creator who creates content centred on her career in the technology sector. From a young age, she was always fascinated by the technical side of things. Through persistence, she beat the odds and became a first-generation college student, where her passion for the sector grew even more. In the past year, she moved from corporate humour to educational content, breaking down barriers while sharing her journey with mental health to help other women understand how crucial it is to honour oneself. As a result of her success on TikTok, she started a career coaching business which has since evolved into a community –Gabrielle’s Go Getters, aiming to empower young women through career obstacles. Soon, she plans to launch a DAO in the web3 sector, a female-led venture capital fund for aspiring young business owners and investors. To learn more about Gabrielle Judge, click here.
Monica Kline
Monica Kline is a self-made entrepreneur, brand strategist, course creator, best-selling author, and podcast producer. With over 28 years of practical experience in the industry, she has a strong background in branding, marketing, sales, and public relations. Through developing numerous revenue streams and using an Omni channel approach to brand building, Monica guides entrepreneurs to achieve financial freedom on their terms. Her most recent podcast, BEHIND THE GRIT, discusses all her difficulties and provides solutions she has used to overcome all of the adversity she has faced since becoming an entrepreneur. She is known for not waiting for success, despite all odds, she goes out and finds a way. She is dedicated, disciplined and has a whatever it takes attitude, which is something she takes pride in when growing her business. Her internal growth has been her most significant professional achievement to date. Her perspective on what is realistically possible has drastically changed, and she continues to live by the motto. “The sky is the limit!”. To learn more about Monica Kline, click here.
Angie Manson
Angie Manson, CEO of Elevate Addiction Services, who has found a passion for aggressive fitness regimens that challenge her mind and body. She has evolved as a woman, mother and entrepreneur as she consistently strives to push herself outside of her comfort zone every single day. Her true passion is found in helping to heal those plagued with drug & alcohol addiction; and she plays a critical role in their healing. There’s a light at the end of each tunnel, which is why Angie encourages everyone, no matter the situation, to go the extra mile and live the life they desire. Angie practices what she preaches and currently runs one of the nation’s most successful rehab facilities. To learn more about Angie Manson, click here.
Kayla Barnes
Kayla Barnes is the CEO of LYV: The Wellness Space and certified brain health and human optimization practitioner. In addition to offering precision medicine and human upgrading services through her business, she is the host of the Brain Biohacking podcast and co-founder of the Health Optimization Fund. Barnes is joined by her business partner, Bobby George in these ventures. For over a decade, Kayla has been obsessed with finding the most preventive and regenerative services and technology to optimize human health. To further her commitment to assisting in extending the health and lifespan of humans, Kayla and Bobby established the Health Optimization Fund, which invests in HealthTeach, biohacking, and human performance companies. To improve the health and performance of communities across the world, she intends to grow LYV into new markets and continue to invest in health optimization enterprises. Kayla has also been named a top longevity leader globally. To learn more about Kayla Barnes, click here.
Lisa Yu
Lisa Yu is the Queen of Crypto. She is a Serial Entrepreneur, Investor, Startup Coach, Go-To-Market Strategist, Community Builder, Speaker, DJ and Podcast Host of The DAO Factor. She is actively advising and investing in blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, DAOs, dApps, the metaverse, and all things Web3.
She is a partner at 99VC and Go-To-Market strategist for Web3 startups, NFT launches, and new token sales. She is also the creator of Queens of Crypto (QXO), teaching women all about crypto and NFTs. Lisa has been featured on Forbes, Yahoo! Finance, shipped award-winning tech featured on Wall Street Journal and CNN, and is an advisor for NUSIC, powering music NFTs and music in the metaverse, Infinity Edu, a tech education platform powered by brands, ShopX, the bridge between e-commerce and the blockchain, Kura Tech, CES innovation award winner for augmented reality, building the future metaverse glasses, and many more.
She has spoken at TechCrunch, SXSW, StartupGrind, FEMTech, Draper University, NFTCON, Miami NFT Week, NFT-VIP, Chainlink’s Women Disrupting Web3 Panel, International Women’s Day, Unit Venture’s Global Unconference, IVY: The Social University, Digital Lifestyle Conference, and HERStories, a conversation with Women in Tech and Entertainment. Lisa is an advocate for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Rashta Ali
Rashta Ali is a professional course creation coach devoted to human empowerment. With over five years of expertise, Rashta is on a mission to change as many lives as possible with her Course Creation Roadmap method. This step-by-step guide offers a practical approach to creating an online course. According to Rashta and her team, the future of online businesses lies in embracing technology, which is why her and her team have developed a software Course Hosting platform called Lernify. Through the Lernify platform, you can upload your course and sell it online within minutes, embracing learning through Technology and effectively creating an Online Business. Rashta believes that if you can turn your students into fans by developing engaging, effective learning methods, they will be loyal and continue to purchase from you other products that will help build their course creation Business.. In the not so distant future, Rashta plans to give a TEDTalk on how online courses can transform your life through learning a skill another has to teach and has a dream to construct an eco-block school in a third-world country, providing knowledge to many regions of the world where education is limited or even unaccessible. To learn more about Rashta Ali, click here.
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