When Karla Diringer retired from a career spent in the California Governor’s Office it certainly wasn’t her intention to start a second career. Rather, what started as a leisurely exploration of her interests led Karla from recreating her grandmother’s homemade cleaning products to experimenting with skin care. A growing awareness of the chemicals within traditional…
Leading Ladies
Ugochi Nicole Ugbomeh
For as long as she can remember, Ugochi Nicole Ugbomeh has had a strong interest in coding and computers. A software enthusiast, she always found herself building and repairing programs, but a hesitation caused her to study geology rather than pursue work in IT. But even as an undergrad, her friends knew her as the…
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Leading Ladies
Erica Hession
After studying entrepreneurship in both her undergraduate and graduate classes, Erica Hession decided to put what she learned in the classroom to test with Reincarnation Outfitters, a costume and clothing boutique specializing in nature-inspired women’s wear. It quickly became her main focus as Erica found herself selling her product through booths at outdoor fairs, art…
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Leading Ladies
Sara Jacobson
Sara’s online experience began early. At age 12, she started playing with the simple Web design elements AOL offered, and it wasn’t long before she was teaching herself code, designing killer presentations and even adding her creative touch to her friends’ MySpace backgrounds. Evolving from hobby to passion, Web design was the obvious answer when…
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Leading Ladies
Autumn Whitefield-Madrano
Try this on for an assignment: Write down how many times you look in the mirror each day. Whether you’re brushing your teeth, touching up your makeup or catching a glance in a window as you walk by, jot it down. It could change your life. It did for Autumn Whitefield-Madrano. A journalist who previously…
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Leading Ladies
Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola
Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola was an IBM software engineer, developing social networking software that was used by thousands, primarily at Fortune 500 companies. But, she had this nagging feeling that it was time to do something that would directly impact her native country, Nigeria. Determined to fix the urban waste management system in Nigeria, she received a…
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Leading Ladies
Gigi Griffis
What do you get when you combine a love of travel, a passion for writing and an entrepreneurial spirit? Content strategist Gigi Griffis. Wanting to be a writer since she was little, Gigi's dream came to life after working as a copywriter at an ad agency and realizing that a great piece of content needed…
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Leading Ladies
Kou Moore
Founding Peppersoup Media, a company all about brand management and marketing socially responsible companies, started as a simple volunteer job for Kou Moore. A geneticist by day, Kou lent her skills as a blogger to help friend and Project Runway runner up, Korto Momolu, expand her social reach as she grew her empire from reality…
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Leading Ladies
LC Johnson
As a women’s studies major, LC Johnson studied the prejudices and inequalities many women — especially women of color — face in the workplace. Still, for most of her undergraduate studies, LC couldn't bring herself to claim the title of feminist. Today, there's no doubt LC is an advocate for women and a force of…
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Leading Ladies
Laurel Mintz
While some women dream of the job they'd like to have, Laurel Mintz unexpectedly happened upon hers. When her father fell ill, someone needed to handle the family business. So, Laurel stepped up and by age 26, was running a team of 60 in two different retail locations. Even after her father reassumed his role,…