5 Badass Women That’ll Make You Stop Wishing and Start Doing

To celebrate the many achievements made by women as part of International Women’s Day , we decided to profile 5 badass females who have made their mark on the world, coming from all walks of life.

Now these women would certainly NOT fall into Rhonda Roussey’s rendition of “Do-Nothing-Bitches“, but instead are a bunch of gals that’ll make you want to stop the insta scrolling and get the goals rolling… ASAP.

1) Gretta Van Riel

Industry: Entrepreneurship – Retail

Source: Influencive

SkinnyMe Tea, The Fifth Watches, Drop Bottle… all sound familiar? Believe it or not, all of these companies were founded by one female boss: Australian entrepreneur, Gretta Van Riel.

Most people struggle successfully launching one business alone, but this start-up mogul has managed to launch over 3 multi-million dollar businesses in just 5 years.

How? Using the power of social media.

At the age of 22, Gretta launched SkinnyMe Tea, bolstering over $600K in sales in just 6 months. Since then, she has managed to successfully launch several ventures, including her most recent start-up, HeyInfluencers, an end-to-end marketing and advertising platform for influencers.

All praise the #instagramqueen!

Guidance from Gretta: “…as a business owner [what you need to realize] is that you need to cut your losses really quickly. When you’ve made a mistake, cut your losses, grieve it in a day, then get over it and start again.” (Source: Influencive)

2) Bozoma Saint John

Industry: Marketing

Source: GLAMOUR

Best known for her role as Chief Brand Officer of Uber, this marketing exec has been killing it since day one.

Born in Ghana, Africa, Bozoma (aka Boz) fleed to the U.S. at a young age with her family to seek political asylum. Working her way up to the top, Boz has held leadership roles at Pepsi and Apple Music (following the acquisition of Beats).

Tasked with the challenge of upping the controversial Uber brand in the midst of several scandals, Boz, a grade-A brand strategist is now in the hot seat to turn things around.

In 2016 she was named one of Fortune’s Top 40 under 40, and always has some stellar advice when it comes to young working women.

“Boz”fidence Quotes:  “First of all, I know what the hell I’m doing.” (When asked why she would leave a senior leader position at a stable and successful company to take on a risk of revamping a brand going through social turmoil. Source: Globe and Mail).

3) Mindy Kaling

Industry: Entertainment

Source: The New York Times

You might know her best as Kelly from The Office, or her hilarious show The Mindy Project. The definition of a real triple threat – actress, writer, and comedian Mindy Kaling is no doubt the bomb-dot-com when it comes to being a boss.

A Dartmouth College grad, Mindy’s satire humour is highly addictive – in both books and the big screen (FYI, if you haven’t read her hysterical New York Times bestselling self-memoirs: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and Why Not Me? then you’ve got some serious catching up to do!).

Mindy was born in east-coast Massachusetts to Indian-African parents, and grew up immersed in writing, humour, and film. Working her way into a male-dominated industry with very few women, Mindy has put an underrepresented demographic on the Entertainment-Map.

Started as an intern on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, now she here!

Mindfulness with Mindy: “Teenage girls, please don’t worry about being super popular in high school, or being the best actress in high school, or the best athlete. Not only do people not care about any of that the second you graduate, but when you get older, if you reference your successes in high school too much, it actually makes you look kind of pitiful, like some babbling old Tennessee Williams character with nothing else going on in her current life. What I’ve noticed is that almost no one who was a big star in high school is also big star later in life. For us overlooked kids, it’s so wonderfully fair.” (Source: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?)

4) Whitney Wolfe Herd

Industry: Entrepreneurship – Technology

Source: Racked

Founder of Bumble and Co-Founder of Tinder, this serial entrepreneur is a millennial superstar, with a knack for disrupting the online dating industry.

Leaving Tinder amidst issues with the team, Whitney moved on to found Bumble, now reportedly valued at $1 billion, changing the dating scene for women around the world.

But Whitney’s successes start well before her days as founder of two of the largest dating apps in the world. In her college years, she started a business selling bamboo totes to support areas affected by the BP oil spill. What started as a campus business turned quickly into a national success with high-profile celebrities like Nicole Richie rocking the trendy totes.

At the young age of 29, Wolfe has been featured in Forbes’ Top 30 Under 30 in both 2017 and 2018, taking the tech world by storm.

Whitney’s Words of Wisdom: “Be creative, not perfect. I’d rather an entry-level employee suggest a disruptive idea … than try and be organized in a boring spreadsheet.”

5) Amal Clooney

Industry: Law

Source: Vanity Fair

Amal Clooney is a renowned international human rights lawyer, and you might also know her as… well, George Clooney’s wife.

Not your typical high-profile celeb, Amal Clooney has the brains, beauty, and boss factor, all encompassed in one. After graduating from Oxford University, the Lebanese-British scholar headed to the U.S. to study law at New York University.

She has a track record of taking on high-profile cases, and clients of hers include: Julian Assange (the founder of WikiLeaks), Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy, and even former Ukranian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko.

Amal’s intellect and capability are not to be reckoned with. And, no doubt has proved what it really takes to lock down an international Hollywood Playboy.

Amal’s Admirable Advice: “If you’re a woman lying on the beach in the Maldives, you might want to know that a kilometer away, another woman is being flogged [beaten]. And you might want to find your own way to protest that.”

And how could we leave out one of the best call-outs by Tina Fey at the Golden Globes regarding Amal? …We’re getting there. 🙂