Sometimes it requires great effort to stay motivated in your career. Experiencing frustration or discouragement is a common occurrence in the lives of most professional women. The path to success is fraught with obstacles like unconscious bias, sexism, racism, and ageism. It’s no wonder we feel deflated or defeated from time to time. It’s at those moments that we need to hear powerful quotes from pioneering businesswomen like:
1. Barbara Walters – Journalist, author, and the first female co-anchor of a network evening news show, ABC Evening News
“I was the kind nobody thought could make it. I had a funny Boston accent. I couldn’t pronounce my R’s. I wasn’t a beauty.”
2. Madame Curie – Physicist, chemist, and the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
“I have frequently been questioned, especially by women, of how I could reconcile family life with a scientific career. Well, it has not been easy.”
3. Joan Rivers – Comedienne and the first woman to host a late-night television network talk show, The Late Show with Joan Rivers
“I succeeded by saying what everyone else was thinking.”
4. Annie Oakley – Sharpshooter and renowned international star
“Keep on aiming and keep on shooting for only practice will make you perfect. Finally, you’ll hit the bulls-eye of success.”
5. Ursula Burns – First black-American woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Xerox
“I’m an advocate for change and eager to break a little glass when needed.”
6. Agatha Christie – Author and Guinness World Records holder as the best-selling novelist of all time
“As life goes on, it becomes tiring to keep up the character you invented for yourself, and so you relapse into individuality and become more like yourself every day.”
7. Jennifer Lopez – Actress, singer, and the first woman to have the number one film and album in the same week
“Things don’t always turn out exactly the way you want them to be, and you feel disappointed. You are not always going to be the winner. That’s when you have to stop and figure out why things happened the way they did and what you can do to change them.”
8. Lucille Ball – Comedic actress and the first woman to run a major television studio, Desilu Productions
“I’m not funny. What I am is brave.”
9. Indra Nooyi – CEO of PepsiCo and consistently ranked as one of the most powerful women in the world.
“At the end of the day, don’t forget you’re a person, don’t forget you’re a mother, don’t forget you’re a wife, don’t forget you’re a daughter.”
10. Julia Child – Award-winning chef, author, and television personality
“I think you have to decide who your audience is. If you don’t pick your audience, you’re lost because you’re not really talking to anybody.”
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11. Vera Wang – Fashion designer and business mogul
“Don’t be afraid to take time to learn. It’s good to work for other people. I worked for others for twenty years. They paid for me to learn.”
12. Nellie Bly – Trailblazing investigative journalist
“Accept praise for its worth – politeness. Be brutally frank with yourself. It’s safer.”
13. Aretha Franklin – singer, songwriter, the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
“We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white.”
14. Mary Kay Ash – Founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics and award-winning businesswoman
“Every achievement, big or small, begins in your mind.”
15. Sara Blakely – Founder of Spanx and billionaire businesswoman
“I think my story says that when women are given a chance and the opportunity, that we can achieve a lot. We deliver.”
16. Amelia Earhart – Aviation pioneer, author, and first female to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity.”
17. Estee Lauder – Co-founder of Estee Lauder Companies and the only woman on Time magazine’s 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century
“When I thought I couldn’t go on, I forced myself to keep going. My success is based on persistence, not luck.”
So, did you think those were powerful quotes? Do you feel empowered? If not, tell me what words of wisdom or iconic women inspire you and keep you moving forward in your career.
