Today is International Women’s Day across the globe.
While we should celebrate the achievements of women every day, March 8 is a note-worthy day where we can shine a spotlight on the trailblazing women in both our personal lives and the public domain. It’s also a time to acknowledge the women who haven’t had the opportunity to chase their dreams and make note of how far we still have to go.
There are a number of female founders who are shaking things up with their unique ideas and fresh perspectives, navigating the business world while still staying true to themselves. These women continue to inspire me every day, proving that business isn’t a domain that should be reserved for men.
Today, let's amplify the voices and businesses of the women around us. On that note, here are three female founders doing inspiring things.
Maeva Heim
Founder: BREAD Beauty Supply
When Maeva Heim couldn’t find a brand that celebrated textured hair, she decided to create one herself.
After growing up in Perth, Australia, Maeva went to the US in 2019, where she was part of the prestigious Sephora Accelerate brand incubation program, that helps get up-and-coming businesses off the ground. She then went on to launch BREAD on a global scale: a haircare brand made with curly, textured hair in mind. Despite launching a few short years ago, BREAD is now stocked in Sephora, Ulta Beauty and SpaceNK, amongst others.
“I’d really love for Australian hair culture to move towards not just greater ‘acceptance’, but a greater celebration of different hair cultures and styles,” Maeva told Refinery29. “BREAD is a tiny part of that puzzle.”
Naomi Watts
Founder: Stripes
In late 2022, actress and businesswoman Naomi Watts founded Stripes: a wellness brand for women experiencing perimenopause and menopause. "Stripes came about because it was very much reflecting my own story of feeling a bit frustrated and alone during this period of time, which was around my early 40s just after I had kids," Watts told Harper’s BAZAAR.
Naomi founded Stripes to both spark conversations around menopause and support women through these years. “Women spend half their life in menopause, yet the industry ignores our needs and women suffer in silence,” Naomi says.
Ronni Kahn
Founder: OzHarvest
In 2004, Ronni Kahn founded Australian food rescue charity OzHarvest. After running a successful events company, she became all too aware of the huge volumes of leftover food thrown away each day by hospitality businesses—so she decided to do something about it. For the past 19 years, OzHarvest has been hand-delivering untouched food to homeless shelters around Australia. At last count, that equals about 225 million meals… and the number is only rising.