March 8, 2021, 7:18 PM PST / Updated March 11, 2025, 12:41 PM PDT
By Mili Godio and Zoe Malin
Learn more about the women behind our favorite beauty products, apparel and more.![]()
Sometimes, a 40-hour work week isn’t viable for women balancing a career and a family. Since 80% of Saalt’s workforce is made up of women, part of the brand’s office space is a free, in-office preschool for employees’ children, and the company offers paid personal and sick leave. “Children are just a regular part of our office environment,” says Hoeger, who often brings her own toddler son to the office. This type of culture has attracted female talent to Saalt that may not otherwise be in the workplace.
Research shows that working mothers typically face a so-called “Maternal Wall” that views them as less competent and less committed to their jobs, in addition to other sexist stereotypes, as well as lack of funding and childcare. Instead of waiting for these and tangential circumstances to change, women business owners are taking matters into their own hands.
“We have such power as female founders and leaders to break barriers and empower the women we lead,” says Hoeger. “If not us, then who?”
There are more than 14 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., making up nearly 40% of all U.S. firms and raking up an impressive $3.3 trillion in annual revenue, according to a 2025 Wells Fargo & Company report. But despite their immense contributions to the economy, women entrepreneurs, and especially women of color, still face major obstacles, including limited access to funding, gender bias and discrimination and difficulty scaling their businesses.
To understand the realities women face in running their businesses, we spoke to more than a dozen business owners about the challenges and successes they’ve experienced, and rounded up more than 300 women-owned businesses we think you should know about across categories like apparel, skin care, home goods and more. Each of the following businesses are at least 51% women-owned, which is in line with the Small Business Administration’s (as well as the Census Bureau) requirement when brands apply to its Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracting Program.