Top Female CEOs and Founders to Watch in 2021

Kicking off Small Business Week with 6 empowering female CEOs and founders inspiring us with their amazing creations, business drive and entrepreneurial mindsets! Not to mention, many are local PNWers. Supporting women-owned, small and local? We’re all for it.  Check out the top female CEOs below:

  1. Erika Dayla Massaquoi 

Founder and CEO Erika Dalya Massaquoi is a real jack-of-all-trades but has landed rapid success for her vintage-inspired clothing brand, The Oula Company. OULA dresses and tops are designed and produced with sustainability in mind and come in various stunning patterns perfect for transitioning year-round. Designed with comfort in mind, OULA has you covered whether you’re stuck in Zoom meetings all day or running around town.

Image from @theoulacompany Instagram

2) Priscilla Tsai

Clean skincare and beauty have been all the rage lately. Priscilla Tsai, founder of Cocokind has recently seen a huge increase in sales and expansion. At this point, it’s nearly impossible for us to scroll through Instagram without seeing someone in the famous chlorophyll mask! Furthermore, we love Cocokind’s mission to remain fully transparent including formulation facts and sustainability statistics on each product's packaging. Did we mention the company also boasts the Cocokind Impact Foundation which provides financial grants to “female-identifying entrepreneurs in the health, wellness, and sustainability industries, who are focused on creating social impact through business.” We couldn't love them more if we tried.

Image from @cocokind Instagram

3) Mimi Lettunich

As founder, president and executive creative director of Twenty Four 7, Mimi encourages her team to constantly challenge themselves to grow and be more creative. While the term “entrepreneur” is often given a rigid definition as someone who creates a new business, she sees an entrepreneur as anyone who embodies the entrepreneurial mindset, playing an active role in a businesses’ success, regardless of their title. Mimi has embraced this sense of entrepreneurialism her whole life and recently partnered with an organic chemist to launch the personalized skincare brand Untamed Humans. Her innovation and creative thinking shines through the brand in their reusable packaging and products made special for each customer.

Image from @untamedhumansskincare Instagram

4) Christy Goldsby

PNW local Christy Goldsby has completely transformed what the criteria for a chocolate bar is. As the founder and CEO of Honey Mama’s, Goldsby has seen almost an overnight and national success! The cacao-nectar bars are made from simple and whole ingredients like organic unrefined coconut oil, coconut meat, Dutch-processed cocoa and raw honey. Our favorite flavor has to be the tahini tangerine. If you haven’t tried them yet, what are you waiting for?

Image from @honeymamas Instagram

5) Joy Rubey

Meal delivery kits are nothing new, however, if you’ve ever ordered one you know they can be rather unsustainable with everything wrapped in plastic needing to be disposed of. Acme Farms and Kitchen founder Joy set out with the intention of providing the most local and fresh meal delivery kit by fixing the broken food system at the forefront of her mission. The meal kit delivery service only uses local and seasonal ingredients with the most minimal packaging possible and get this-- they personally deliver the boxes right to your doorstep! If you live in Washington, Oregon or Greater Las Vegas Area, check them out! 

Image from @acmefarmsandkitchen Instagram

6) Antoinette Rosenberg

Maybe meal kit delivery services aren’t your thing and you’d rather just chef up something with your own ingredients, Gather’d Market is your answer! The idea came to Antoinette as she dreamt of a modern grocery store that was highly personalized, sustainable, easy to shop through smart technology. Gather’d Market is a grocery delivery service app where you can shop directly through recipes you want to make at only the highest quality supermarkets like Seattle Made, PCC Community Markets and Whole Foods. Seattle and Washington locals you must give Gather’d a try! Spend time the way you want to and never have to worry about grocery shopping again.

Image from @gatherd.market on Instagram

Eager for more small business content? Check out more Seattle small businesses to support or six ideas your small business can implement during COVID-19. Don’t forget to keep up with us through our Instagram and Twitter!