Female Founders 200

They make success look easy, though we know it's anything but. Now they're sharing the strategies that have put them ahead.

Women are creating companies that will transform the future of everything, from electricity infrastructure to fashion. So, this year, we're recognizing our largest class of female founders. The 200 entrepreneurs in these pages lead businesses that collectively brought in revenue of more than $5.8 billion in 2021 and raised over $5 billion and they are just getting started. Read ahead for their stories and for the advice they've picked up along the way.

NO.1 SETTING A NEW SCENE IN HOLLYWOOD

BY TENESHIA CARR

Lena Waithe, Hillman Grad (Entertainment)

Lena Waithe is a natural-born storyteller. She's known as much since she was a child, when she passed the time like most kids: in front of the TV. For her, that meant hour upon hour watching reruns of A Different World, which followed student life at Hillman College, a fictional historically Black university. "The show meant a lot to me because it featured dynamic characters who showed up in the world in their own way," says Waithe. "They were smart, proud, funny, and flawed."

If you've ever seen The Chi on Showtime or Netflix's Master of None-for which Waithe became the first Black woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing-you'll know the storytelling thing stuck. Today, the 38-year-old is the founder of Hillman Grad, a full-service Los Angeles-based media and production company. Waithe named her business as an homage to the show that inspired her career, but she started it so she could produce her own material-and further her mission, as both an artist and an LGBTQ+ activist, to highlight diverse voices and perspectives.