The scene at the AMEX Phillip Lim event during New York Fashion Week is chic and stylish as guests arrive and rub elbows with media, bloggers and others in attendance. Minds behind some of the top fashion sites on the web mingle and mix in. Backstage, jewelry designer, blogger and Power Girl Wendy Brandes is introduced to the designer himself, who shares a passion for connecting with customers at the event and the store, as well as a few tips for aspiring entrepreneurs.
"Be realistic, be realistic," Lim says as models hurry by and other guests wait in the wings to meet him. "You're coming into an industry with pros and master and people who do their due diligence. Come in with the same vigor and due diligence. Research first."
They are traits that can be seen in every women founder on our 20 women founders to watch list, and in part what makes them an inspiration.
They're women who are redefining women in business. Part substance, part style, and a hundred percent ambition, they're a new breed of business women and the evolution of hundreds of thousands of women before them. They're deal makers, market movers, category breakers, influencers and innovators, and more -- all on the merits of their work. They're also trend setters and fashionistas, moms, wives, daughters, sisters and friends. They're not afraid to take a company multi-platform, meet investors head-on, or act on big ideas in the market.
When we set out to identify women founders to regularly cover on the New Power Girls.com daily blog, this was what inspired it. Last week we unveiled the first ten of twenty. Here are the rest:
1. B Smith, www.bsmith.com
2. Oprah Winfrey, www.oprah.com
3. Tyra Banks, www.tyrabanks.com
4. Kate Somerville, www.katesomerville.com
5. Closet Couture, www.closetcouture.com
6. Rachael Ray, www.rachaelray.com
7. Suzanne Sommers, www.suzannesommers.com
8. Sal Morgan, www.salmorgan.com
9. Heidi Klum, www.heidiklum.com
10. Kim Kardashian, www.kimkardashian.celebuzz.com
See what Meghan and Patricia have to say about the list here. Be sure to check out profiles on all companies in the coming two weeks on TheNewPowerGirls.com