Finding Inspiration: The Women Who Came Before

Margaret Rudkin started Pepperidge Farm in 1937

Today I just wanted to share this great online exhibit from the National Women's History Museum. The online exhibit has some great information on different women who helped shape the US economy and made names for themselves as entrepreneurs in the business world.

Why should you explore this exhibit?

To find inspiration! If you're anything like me, then sometimes you find yourself doubting your abilities. You see all the barriers between you and your dreams, but you can't see a way over/around/under/through them. It's not a great feeling. So I've found that one of the best ways to get the motivation to work toward my dreams is to learn about the strong, determined, lovely and talented women who came before me. They really opened a lot of doors; they proved time and again that they were capable of being educated, making good financial decisions, benefiting their communities and building business empires! They utilized their strengths to forge ahead in often male-dominated industries, and somehow still managed to be pictures of grace and hospitality while doing it. So let's all take a moment to remember the incredible women who came before us; who didn't let the social and political barriers of their day stop them from changing the world. In them we can find the inspiration to forge ahead in our own pursuits . . . and who knows, maybe even end up changing the world ourselves!

"Operating both within the larger world of commerce yet without the insider status that men’s businesses have typically enjoyed, women entrepreneurs throughout history often had to go it alone, create parallel networks to traditionally male organizations, or forge alliances to gain access to vital means of producing, distributing and growing their businesses."

  

 "Women have always owned businesses; what changed over the last century is their increasing acceptance, prominence and movement into a vast assortment of enterprises and the role of technology in making entrepreneurship more accessible and affordable. This exhibit explores the forces in the last century that led to this moment." 

Bette Nesmith Graham invented Liquid Paper in 1957

The exhibit takes you decade by decade through a history of women in business, the trends of the time and the effects of things like WWII and advances in technology that shifted women's roles and opportunities in the entrepreneurial field. They also have many mini-biographies of influential women who started their own businesses and made names for themselves along the way. Read their stories and be inspired.

If you enjoy the exhibit, consider sharing it with your friends. We could all use a little more inspiration in our lives.

-Maranda

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