As part of our celebration of Women’s History Month, Fortune talked to a range of female founders whose companies all have something in common: a mission to help women.
Molly Hayward is the founder and chief brand officer of Cora, which makes organic tampons and pads. Hayward was inspired to start the company after learning about how periods stopped girls from attending school in some parts of the world. For every order it sells, Cora now provides menstrual products to girls in need. “Every ‘no’ was just the motivation to keep going,” Hayward says of building the company.
Amy Nelson is the founder and CEO of The Riveter, a co-working company. She founded the brand after a 10-year career as a corporate lawyer, compelled to change her career path when she became pregnant with her first child. “I started looking around me and looking above to see where moms showed up in corporate America. And what I saw was that there weren’t many,” Nelson says.
The Riveter now makes a point to bring men into the conversation about gender equity in American workplaces because “we don’t think you can change corporate America or the startup landscape for women unless you include men in the effort.”
Ankiti Bose is the co-founder and CEO of Zilingo, a technology and commerce platform for the fashion industry. Bose points out that the fashion industry, outside of design and retail workers, is largely male-dominated. Despite those obstacles, women in the fashion industry—serving a largely female customer base—can break through. “The first thing that’s super important is to be undeniably good at your work,” Bose says of how to succeed.
In the nonprofit world, Anne Moses is another founder whose organization serves women. A decade ago, Moses launched Ignite, which trains young women to be political leaders and run for office. “It feels like there’s the potential for a generational shift in leadership,” Moses says.
Watch more Fortune Trailblazer interviews here.
