Celebrity Biographies
Youngest and Richest Homemade Women by Forbes
The richest list compiled annually by Forbes has once again introduced us to some of the brightest lights of the various sectors. The list includes those immense personalities who, with their ability, ambition, willpower and determination, have done an outstanding job of becoming a giant themselves.
In this article, we take a look at the youngest and richest homemade women selected from the main list. I believe this list is particularly inspirational as it shows that if you truly have the drive to succeed in your life, age and gender are nothing. It also shows how many opportunities there are in the world right now. Read this list and get inspired and create the world of your dreams.
-
Elizabeth Holmes
Alter: 31
Net worth : $4.5 billion
Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and CEO of Theranos, a blood testing company, is the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. Incredibly, she founded the company at age 19 while she was a chemical engineer at Stanford University. Because of their invention and patents, the company initially only offered 30 tests. The company, which uses microfluidic or “lab-on-a-chip” technology – a much faster and less expensive method than traditional laboratory testing methods – grew exponentially. And within 13 years, by 2014, the company offered 200 tests, was licensed to operate in every US state, and was valued at nearly $10 billion. Theranos has partnered with drugstore chain Walgreens to build thousands of wellness centers (starting with California and Arizona). The wellness centers offer blood tests direct to consumers at a price that is typically a quarter to a tenth of what others charge.
Holmes was at the forefront of their company’s expansion. As of 2012, she had 18 US patents and 66 non-US patents in her name and is listed as a co-inventor on over one hundred patent applications.
-
Beyoncé Knowles
Alter: 33
Net worth : $250 million
Beyoncé is without a doubt the “Queen of Pop”. In her 18+ year professional singing career she has sold over 118 million records as a solo artist and another 60 million with the pop band Destiny’s Child. This makes her one of the best-selling female music artists of all time. She has won over 20 Grammy Awards for her impressive work and is the most nominated woman in awards history. And according to ForbesMagazine, she is the most powerful woman musician of 2015 too. In addition to earning from royalties and record sales, Beyoncé supplements her income with high-profile live shows. Her recent “The Mrs. Carter Show” world tour was the most successful of her career and one of the most successful tours of all time. The world tour began on April 15, 2013 in Belgrade, Serbia and included 132 dates ending in March 2014. The shows helped her earn around $115 million in 2013. In total, she has grossed around $500 million from Artists alone.
-
Marissa Mayer
Alter: 40
Net worth : $380 million
Marissa Mayer is the current President and CEO of Yahoo!, a position she has held since July 2012. In 2014, she was ranked the 16th most powerful businesswoman in the world by the prestigious Fortune magazine. The bulk of her income and presence on this list is largely due to the shares she has earned over 13 years at Google. She was the IT giant’s 20-year-old employee and the first female engineer to join the company. Initially, she wrote code and oversaw small teams of engineers to develop and design Google’s search offerings. Soon her work and attention to detail was noticed and promoted to product manager. She rose through the ranks over the years and at one point held the position of Vice President of Google Product Search. Since her appointment as President and CEO of Yahoo! she made some controversial decisions to overhaul the company’s work culture and direction. Some of them have been heavily criticized. And the jury is still out in their new role.
-
Adi Tatarko
Alter: 42
Net worth : $300 million
Adi Tatarko is co-founder and CEO of home design site Houzz, broadcast by CNN “the Lifestylepedia of interior and exterior design websites. “Also, Houzz is one of the few non-gaming apps for iOS to have a 5-star rating. The site was launched in February 2009 by co-founders Adi Tatarko and Alon Cohen as the result of their own remodeling project. They were tired of cutting out pages from magazines for their inspiration file. That’s why they created an online photo database where people who are building, remodeling and decorating can save inspirational images. The Houzz has made it possible for countless people to create an online inspiration file that is easy to compile, access and share. The site allows readers to ask questions about architecture, interior design, and landscape design to professionals.
-
Sara Blakely
Alter: 44
Net worth : $1 billion
Countless women should be grateful to Blakely for having an innovative spirit and enduring spirit. Otherwise you would have missed Spanx, which revolutionized women’s underwear when it was introduced. Blakely’s innovative product has eliminated irritating panty and bra lines and has helped countless women look slimmer, more shapely and athletic. The idea of Spanx came to Blakely’s mind while she was working for an office supply company, Danka. As part of her job responsibilities, she had to sell fax machines from door to door. Her sales role required her to wear tights in the hot Florida climate. She hated the look of the hemmed foot when she wore open-toed shoes. Sara liked the way the control top model eliminated panty creases and made her body look more toned. While I’m still working for DankaShe moved to Atlanta and spent two years and $5,000 from her life savings researching and developing her stocking idea. Her idea was opposed by every stocking mill owner she met until she received a call from a male mill operator in Asheboro, North Carolina who agreed to support Blakely’s concept after being strongly encouraged by his two daughters. And rest, as they say, is history.
-
Sheryl Sandberg
Alter: 46
Net Worth: $1.05 billion
Sheryl Sandberg showed her ability to succeed during her childhood. She was always at the top of her class while attending North Miami Beach High School . She also received the John H. Williams Award for top graduate in economics when she graduated from Harvard College in 1991 with a BA in economics. She also received her Master of Arts degree with honors from Harvard Business School in 1995 . Before joining Facebook as COO, she worked as vice president of global online sales and operations at Google.
She is credited with making Facebook profitable. For the social networking giant, Sandberg is responsible for the company’s operations, including sales, marketing, business development, human resources, public policy and communications. She is also the author of the bestseller Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead. She is currently asking men and women to “lean together” to promote gender equality at home and at work.
-
Susan Wojcicki
Alter: 47
Net worth : $300 million
The new CEO of Google-owned YouTube has been with the company since its earliest days. In fact, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin set up the office in Wojcicki’s Menlo Park garage. She became Google’s first marketing manager in 1999 and worked on the first viral marketing programs and the first Google doodles. She was also instrumental in developing successful contributors to Google such as Google Images and Google Books. Over time, she grew within the company and was promoted to Senior Vice President of Advertising & Commerce. She is also credited with developing AdSense, which became Google’s second largest revenue stream. She also proposed to Google’s board of directors to buy YouTube, which was a small start-up at the time. She handled Google’s $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube in 2006. She has been called “the most important person in advertising” for her work in digital marketing and advertising.
-
Tory Burch
Alter: 49
Net worth : $1 billion
Tory Burch is an American fashion designer, businesswoman and philanthropist. She is the President, CEO and Designer of Tory Burch LLC. Her fashion design career began when she worked at Zoran, a Yugoslav designer who was followed by Harper’s Bazaar magazine. She then spent some time in public relations and advertising at Vera Wang, Polo Ralph Lauren and Loewe before opening her own retail store. In February 2004, she opened a retail store in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood with her fashion label, TRB by Tory Burch, later known as Tory Burch. Most of the products in stock were sold within a day. And when a year later Oprah Winfrey supported her line on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” by calling Burch “
-
Liz Elting
Alter: 49
Net worth : $310 million
49-year-old Liz Elting is co-founder and co-CEO (with Phil Shawe) of TransPerfect, the world’s largest privately held language services and technology solutions company with revenues of over US$471 million. TransPerfect was founded as a two-person dorm at New York University. With currently more than 3,000 employees and offices in 90 cities worldwide, it is one of the largest private companies in the New York area.
However, Elting is currently embroiled in legal battles over the company’s future with business partner Phil Shawe. The two co-founders have filed numerous lawsuits against each other and exchanged explosive emails and threats laced with anger and resentment. A few years ago, the two entered negotiations to buy each other a few years ago, but no agreements were reached. The fact that this is a personal history further complicates matters. You see, when the company was formed, Elting and Shawe were engaged.