As August quickly approaches, I’ve been thinking a lot about where I was this time last year and reflecting on the female business influencers that have made such an impact on my life.
So, I thought I would share with you my top 5 list in hopes that you may find some business inspiration from these amazing females yourself!
My Top 5 Authentic Female Business Influencers
01.
Marie Forleo
Who is Marie?
A life and business coach. The founder of Marie TV and B-School. She hangs out with Oprah and Richard Branson for good reason. She’s very uplifting and inspiring and tops my list of female business influencers.
What I love about her:
She’s real and down to earth. She’s not afraid to speak her truth and tell you what you need to hear to drive you to succeed. Her content has a high-quality production value and contains a wealth of knowledge.
Business Lessons Learned:
- Yes, I may be choosing a career path that a million other people have also chosen but my unique life experiences mean I have something to offer that those million others don’t.
- In harnessing my uniqueness and being myself, I will succeed at what I set my mind too.
- It doesn’t matter how great I am at what I do. If I don’t tell others about it no one will know! If I want to succeed at sharing my gifts with the world, I need to find the courage to market myself authentically.
02.
Amy Porterfield
Who is Amy?
Online marketing expert and host of the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast
What I love about her:
She’s a perfectionist like me. Because of her nature, I know every piece of advice she gives has been tested and perfected and is 100% reliable. Her advice is easy to adopt as she’s a huge proponent of lists and systems.
She’s built a successful business but still shares her struggles and is completely relatable.
Business Lessons Learned:
- I need to get uncomfortable with putting out less than perfect work. Work done is better than work still in progress but never completed.
- The importance of building my email list, how to use Facebook advertising to generate leads for my business and how to build & launch an online course (for future when I finally build up the nerve to launch an online course!).
03.
Shay Cochrane
Who is Shay?
A photographer for female creatives and owner of the SC Stockshop & Social Squares. Her work is featured all over this website and on my Instagram.
What I love about her:
She’s so incredibly generous with her business advice and with her gift of photography. She speaks candidly about her business, money and entrepreneurship in general. On top of that, she gives away gorgeous, high-quality imagery to up your brand.
I also love seeing her work behind the scenes and find it so creatively inspiring.
Business Lessons Learned:
- The importance of high-quality brand imagery for your business!
- How to manage my money as an entrepreneur. Budgeting, saving and how much to pay myself for starters!
- How to grow a loyal tribe of followers on social media. I hope one day to have the nerves to be as open and present on social media as she manages to be. Her Insta stories are so engaging and I would love to mimic her social media presence.
04.
Debbie Millman
Who is Debbie?
She’s a brand strategist, educator and host of the podcast Design Matters.
What I love about her:
She’s so articulate and has such a wealth of knowledge around all things branding. Her resume is intimidating and her brutal honesty makes me want to work harder and strive to be better. She’s a believer in a strong work ethic which is how I was raised.
Business Lessons Learned:
- How to define my unique beliefs and benefits. Her Creative Live course, A Brand Called You, is a top recommendation for anyone interested in learning about the subject from an industry giant. If you’ve tried, you know that writing a mission statement is hard and Debbie has some great insights on the topic.
- To showcase my portfolio of work in a way that tells a story. Position the client as the hero and describe how your work got them from point A to point B. Describe how they overcame an obstacle and how your design helped them achieve the end result.
05.
Promise Tangeman
Who is Promise?
Promise is a graphic and web designer. She’s the female business influencer behind the web design firm Go Live HQ and co-founder of Designer Vaca.
What I love about her:
Her amazing sense of style and her design aesthetic! I can scroll through her work and be amazed for hours on end. Even my own website was inspired by some of her projects.
Business Lessons Learned:
- Promise gave me my very first taste of what it’s like to be a brand strategist & web designer, through the course Blog (Design) Love 2.0. It’s where I first fell in love with web design. I still implement some of her strategies today with my client projects.
- In studying her work, I’ve learned how to build clean, simple websites that are still eye-catching and edgy.
So, that’s a wrap on my Top 5 authentic female business influencers list!
I’ve mentioned a few resources in this article that are also listed on my Resources Page. If you’re looking for more of what you’ve read here, I encourage you to have a look!
Finally, I’d love to hear:
What female business influencers have inspired you?
Drop their names in the comments below.
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Behind the blog
I’m Vanessa. The Founder & Creative Director of Vanessa Bucceri Creative.
We work with ambitious service professionals who are ready to uplevel their brand identity so they can flourish in their businesses. We show style-minded business owners just like you how to connect with your audience through artful branding & web design - all while truly listening to your vision and intuitively bringing it to life.
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