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Idea Makers: 15 Fearless Female Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship can change your life—and even the world
Idea Makers shares the incredible stories of 15 women who changed the world through their entrepreneurship. Author Lowey Bundy Sichol presents five industries that women are leading in recent food, fashion and clothing, health and beauty, science and technology, and education.
Jenn Hyman brought couture fashion to everyday women with her idea to Rent the Runway. Morgan DeBaun supports Black journalists through Blavity. And Sandra Oh Lin is inspiring kids everywhere with KiwiCo activity boxes.
Readers learn about how the women featured risked their early careers, gave up their salaries, and sometimes even went against the approval of their families to follow their passions and start their own businesses. Today, these women are modern leaders worth billions of dollars and employing tens of thousands of individuals.
Young women today are embracing innovation and idea making, and the women profiled in Idea Makers will show them how that can change the world.
Idea Makers shares the incredible stories of 15 women who changed the world through their entrepreneurship. Author Lowey Bundy Sichol presents five industries that women are leading in recent food, fashion and clothing, health and beauty, science and technology, and education.
Jenn Hyman brought couture fashion to everyday women with her idea to Rent the Runway. Morgan DeBaun supports Black journalists through Blavity. And Sandra Oh Lin is inspiring kids everywhere with KiwiCo activity boxes.
Readers learn about how the women featured risked their early careers, gave up their salaries, and sometimes even went against the approval of their families to follow their passions and start their own businesses. Today, these women are modern leaders worth billions of dollars and employing tens of thousands of individuals.
Young women today are embracing innovation and idea making, and the women profiled in Idea Makers will show them how that can change the world.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published March 1, 2022
7 people are currently reading
1641 people want to read
About the author
Lowey Bundy Sichol
9 books17 followersLowey Bundy Sichol (her last name rhymes with pickle) is an author, speaker, MBA, and leading expert in teaching business and entrepreneurship to kids. Her nonfiction series, FROM AN IDEA TO..., takes young readers (age 8-12) into the world of entrepreneurship through the true stories of how our favorite companies came to be. (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019)
Lowey is also the creator and host of IDEA Tank for Kids, a “Shark Tank” inspired competition for kids that received national media attention in 2019 and will expand to new markets in 2020. www.IdeaTankForKids.com)
Lowey received an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a BA from Hamilton College where she played varsity softball and women’s rugby. An avid athlete, Lowey’s spends her free time playing sports, coaching youth basketball and softball, and along the shores of Lake Michigan with husband, three children, and two big dogs.
Lowey is also the creator and host of IDEA Tank for Kids, a “Shark Tank” inspired competition for kids that received national media attention in 2019 and will expand to new markets in 2020. www.IdeaTankForKids.com)
Lowey received an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a BA from Hamilton College where she played varsity softball and women’s rugby. An avid athlete, Lowey’s spends her free time playing sports, coaching youth basketball and softball, and along the shores of Lake Michigan with husband, three children, and two big dogs.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 16, 2022
Some of my favorite companies and brands have been started by women. Using their own interests, talents, and ideas they have formed multi-million dollar companies and products that many of us use daily. I was in awe at some of their stories of persevering through the roadblocks, the nay-sayers, the lack of funds, as well lack of family support sometimes.
Through five industries Food, Fashion, Beauty/Health, Science/Technology, and Education we are introduced to women who have created companies, organizations, and products we are all familiar with. Aside from those women, there are fact boxes inside their stories that feature other women that have also contributed by inventing or creating something in the same area.
The biographies share the entrepreneur’s childhood, college, work experience, family dynamics, and struggles to achieve their ultimate goal. Even though this is written for middle-grade readers, I found this book so fascinating, especially learning the history of some of my favorite products.
Some of my favorite biographies included:
Kathleen King – Tate’s Cookies (the lemon ones are my favorite)
Stacy Madison – Stacy’s Pita Chips (a favorite treat)
Alli Webb – Dry Bar (I wish there was one here)
Anne Wojcicki – 23andMe (I still want to take this test)
Sandra Oh Lin – KiwiCo (We’ve gotten these craft kits and they are amazing)
This would make such a great mother/daughter read or a classroom read-aloud. Each of these women is a role model for young girls who dream of doing something big or making a difference in their community. Did you know a woman invented the refrigerator, frozen pizza, the game Monopoly, the ironing board, and disposable diapers? Their stories and several others are also briefly shared throughout the book.
I also appreciated that many of these women came from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Girls will be able to find an interest and someone they can identify with in these biographies. Tips for getting started, on your idea, no matter your age, are also shared. Each company’s website, contact info, and social media handles are also shared so if your own young entrepreneur feels like reaching out or maybe researching for their own ideas, the information is at their fingertips.
The author shares that the ideas shared in this book were sparked because of a problem that needed solving, a need or desire to help others, and often from the woman’s own interests and passions. If your child has an idea brewing in their head right now, be sure to enter the Idea Tank Competition explained at the end of the book.
Through five industries Food, Fashion, Beauty/Health, Science/Technology, and Education we are introduced to women who have created companies, organizations, and products we are all familiar with. Aside from those women, there are fact boxes inside their stories that feature other women that have also contributed by inventing or creating something in the same area.
The biographies share the entrepreneur’s childhood, college, work experience, family dynamics, and struggles to achieve their ultimate goal. Even though this is written for middle-grade readers, I found this book so fascinating, especially learning the history of some of my favorite products.
Some of my favorite biographies included:
Kathleen King – Tate’s Cookies (the lemon ones are my favorite)
Stacy Madison – Stacy’s Pita Chips (a favorite treat)
Alli Webb – Dry Bar (I wish there was one here)
Anne Wojcicki – 23andMe (I still want to take this test)
Sandra Oh Lin – KiwiCo (We’ve gotten these craft kits and they are amazing)
This would make such a great mother/daughter read or a classroom read-aloud. Each of these women is a role model for young girls who dream of doing something big or making a difference in their community. Did you know a woman invented the refrigerator, frozen pizza, the game Monopoly, the ironing board, and disposable diapers? Their stories and several others are also briefly shared throughout the book.
I also appreciated that many of these women came from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Girls will be able to find an interest and someone they can identify with in these biographies. Tips for getting started, on your idea, no matter your age, are also shared. Each company’s website, contact info, and social media handles are also shared so if your own young entrepreneur feels like reaching out or maybe researching for their own ideas, the information is at their fingertips.
The author shares that the ideas shared in this book were sparked because of a problem that needed solving, a need or desire to help others, and often from the woman’s own interests and passions. If your child has an idea brewing in their head right now, be sure to enter the Idea Tank Competition explained at the end of the book.
November 22, 2021
15 stories of bold and imaginative female entrepreneurs. Along with a few snippets of female entrepreneurs from throughout history, this book presents the stories of 15 modern women and the ideas they made into reality.
Each and every woman included in this story is inspiring. It was amazing to experience their journeys from the initial idea to making it a reality. Each chapter explores the background story, the entrepreneur’s first jobs, the idea, how the idea was grown and where the business or entrepreneur is today. Each chapter also includes links to the business and entrepreneur’s websites and social media accounts.
While the book is text heavy, with no pictures (at least, not in my advanced copy) it’s written in an easy-to-access style, so while the target audience is ages 12 and up, I’d happily give it to a confident younger reader.
The book features female entrepreneurs in 5 categories: food, health and beauty, science and technology, education, and clothing and fashion.
I was a little disappointed that the book didn’t branch into fields of maths, engineering, art, social media, environment protection, design, construction or so many others outside the 5 included. There are so many amazing female entrepreneurs, I thought this list was a little restrictive and they could have at least spread the selection across more sectors. However, the exclusions do not make those who did make it into the book any less amazing and inspiring. There truly are some incredible females featured in the book. The chosen list is also exclusively American, which is fair enough given the US publishers but I’ll need to keep looking for titles that include a wider spread from countries outside the US. There is, however, a good spread of racial diversity within the selection.
If you’ve ever wondered about the women behind household names and businesses, then Idea Makers takes you behind the scenes in how these female entrepreneurs brought their ideas to life.
The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.
Find more reviews, reading age guides, content advisory, and recommendations on my blog Madison's Library
Each and every woman included in this story is inspiring. It was amazing to experience their journeys from the initial idea to making it a reality. Each chapter explores the background story, the entrepreneur’s first jobs, the idea, how the idea was grown and where the business or entrepreneur is today. Each chapter also includes links to the business and entrepreneur’s websites and social media accounts.
While the book is text heavy, with no pictures (at least, not in my advanced copy) it’s written in an easy-to-access style, so while the target audience is ages 12 and up, I’d happily give it to a confident younger reader.
The book features female entrepreneurs in 5 categories: food, health and beauty, science and technology, education, and clothing and fashion.
I was a little disappointed that the book didn’t branch into fields of maths, engineering, art, social media, environment protection, design, construction or so many others outside the 5 included. There are so many amazing female entrepreneurs, I thought this list was a little restrictive and they could have at least spread the selection across more sectors. However, the exclusions do not make those who did make it into the book any less amazing and inspiring. There truly are some incredible females featured in the book. The chosen list is also exclusively American, which is fair enough given the US publishers but I’ll need to keep looking for titles that include a wider spread from countries outside the US. There is, however, a good spread of racial diversity within the selection.
If you’ve ever wondered about the women behind household names and businesses, then Idea Makers takes you behind the scenes in how these female entrepreneurs brought their ideas to life.
The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.
Find more reviews, reading age guides, content advisory, and recommendations on my blog Madison's Library
April 30, 2022
Are you wondering how you could change the world? Do you have an idea or a passion for something and you don’t want to sit on it any longer? If you said yes, this book of Idea Makers is perfect to help get you inspired.
Did you know that forty percent of women entrepreneurs are right here in the United States? These women owned businesses generate $1.9 trillion in sales each year. In 2019 fifty percent of women owned businesses were founded by women of color and the numbers are growing.
When Kathleen King was eleven years old, she made and sold cookies for extra sales at her family’s farm stand. She worked hard and tested her recipes; she even ate the cookies of her competitors. It wasn’t long before she had the best-selling cookies around. By the time she was eighteen she knew she had a big idea that needed to be taken to the next level. Have you ever bit into a Tate’s Cookie?
Lisa Price had a keen sense of smell. She was an exceptional student in school and considered becoming a singer, but the fragrances girls were wearing at that time always kept her attention especially the scented oils. After buying scented oils from a street market, she realized mixing the scents was a gift. Over time she mastered a body butter that her mother loved, and she sold out of it at the flea market. Have you ever worn any Carol’s Daughter beauty products?
Readers will find these stories and ideas inspiring and learn how these amazing women worked hard and how it paid off, literally. From food to science, fashion, clothing, education and more readers will see fun facts, advice for kid entrepreneurs, notes in the back pages and inspiration from the fifteen entrepreneurs in this book. Parents and teachers can use this tool to inspire youth to take their big idea all the way to the top!
Did you know that forty percent of women entrepreneurs are right here in the United States? These women owned businesses generate $1.9 trillion in sales each year. In 2019 fifty percent of women owned businesses were founded by women of color and the numbers are growing.
When Kathleen King was eleven years old, she made and sold cookies for extra sales at her family’s farm stand. She worked hard and tested her recipes; she even ate the cookies of her competitors. It wasn’t long before she had the best-selling cookies around. By the time she was eighteen she knew she had a big idea that needed to be taken to the next level. Have you ever bit into a Tate’s Cookie?
Lisa Price had a keen sense of smell. She was an exceptional student in school and considered becoming a singer, but the fragrances girls were wearing at that time always kept her attention especially the scented oils. After buying scented oils from a street market, she realized mixing the scents was a gift. Over time she mastered a body butter that her mother loved, and she sold out of it at the flea market. Have you ever worn any Carol’s Daughter beauty products?
Readers will find these stories and ideas inspiring and learn how these amazing women worked hard and how it paid off, literally. From food to science, fashion, clothing, education and more readers will see fun facts, advice for kid entrepreneurs, notes in the back pages and inspiration from the fifteen entrepreneurs in this book. Parents and teachers can use this tool to inspire youth to take their big idea all the way to the top!
September 7, 2022
The power of this series is that readers get to know an an inclusive group of strong women, women from all walks of life, women who are currently active in their work. They all have Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts readers can access (using the links at the end of each chapter) to learn more.
Sichol tells fascinating stories about successful women like -
*Payal Kadakia who created ClassPass, a website and app that helps people find local fitness classes,
*Morgan DeBaun who created Blavity, a network and platform that connects Black millenials to news, fashion, etc.,
*Jasmine Crowe who established Goodr, a business that connects restaurants (etc) with leftover food to communities that need that food.
The books in this series are text heavy - there are no flashy graphics but the writing is strong. BOOK TALK in GRADES 5-8 (and encourage readers to learn more via social media). You might offer a teaser like, Have you ever tasted a homemade cookie you think is better than anyone else's? Is there a dance you really like to do that you'd want to share with others? Are you ever worried about how wasteful it is when we throw food away and there are hungry people who might need it? Lowey Bundy Sichol, the author of this book Idea Makers: 15 Fearless Female Entrepreneurs introduces you to women who have started businesses that answer these questions! OR BETTER YET highlight a few of the women's social media pages.
One hesitation - I really like the books in this series (so far) but while the authors have chosen an inclusive group of women to highlight in each book, the editors at Chicago Press do not seem to have recruited an inclusive group of authors. Just a thought.
Sichol tells fascinating stories about successful women like -
*Payal Kadakia who created ClassPass, a website and app that helps people find local fitness classes,
*Morgan DeBaun who created Blavity, a network and platform that connects Black millenials to news, fashion, etc.,
*Jasmine Crowe who established Goodr, a business that connects restaurants (etc) with leftover food to communities that need that food.
The books in this series are text heavy - there are no flashy graphics but the writing is strong. BOOK TALK in GRADES 5-8 (and encourage readers to learn more via social media). You might offer a teaser like, Have you ever tasted a homemade cookie you think is better than anyone else's? Is there a dance you really like to do that you'd want to share with others? Are you ever worried about how wasteful it is when we throw food away and there are hungry people who might need it? Lowey Bundy Sichol, the author of this book Idea Makers: 15 Fearless Female Entrepreneurs introduces you to women who have started businesses that answer these questions! OR BETTER YET highlight a few of the women's social media pages.
One hesitation - I really like the books in this series (so far) but while the authors have chosen an inclusive group of women to highlight in each book, the editors at Chicago Press do not seem to have recruited an inclusive group of authors. Just a thought.
June 8, 2024
Books about women in entrepreneurship are such a rare find, so I was absolutely thrilled to find this one, even if it was written for an adolescent audience.
I devoured the book over 2-ish days because I was so excited to unpack each story. The stories were interesting and thought-provoking; and some were particularly well-researched. Overall, it was inspiring to read stories of women that did a phenomenal job of translating their visions into tangible realities.
Having said that, as a female entrepreneur, I felt it barely skimmed the surface of what it really means (in terms of challenges) to be a woman in entrepreneurship. I was also surprised to see that it only covered entrepreneurs from the States. I would have enjoyed this book so much more if it covered 5 entrepreneurs, from different parts of the world and across different periods of time, in detail, instead of 15 contemporary entrepreneurs from the States, with a few snippets of other entrepreneurs from different eras (also from the States) sprinkled in between. This book would have really benefited from thorough editing as well, as there were a few typos that were quite distracting.
Overall, this book was thought provoking, and I’m grateful for that. We really lack representation in this space, so it would be wonderful to read a book featuring female entrepreneurs from across the world. The challenges we face are comparable across industries, so it would be more meaningful to group/theme their stories by the types of challenges instead. It would be even more insightful and inspiring to read about how women have worked through those challenges across time, with courage, dignity and grace.
I devoured the book over 2-ish days because I was so excited to unpack each story. The stories were interesting and thought-provoking; and some were particularly well-researched. Overall, it was inspiring to read stories of women that did a phenomenal job of translating their visions into tangible realities.
Having said that, as a female entrepreneur, I felt it barely skimmed the surface of what it really means (in terms of challenges) to be a woman in entrepreneurship. I was also surprised to see that it only covered entrepreneurs from the States. I would have enjoyed this book so much more if it covered 5 entrepreneurs, from different parts of the world and across different periods of time, in detail, instead of 15 contemporary entrepreneurs from the States, with a few snippets of other entrepreneurs from different eras (also from the States) sprinkled in between. This book would have really benefited from thorough editing as well, as there were a few typos that were quite distracting.
Overall, this book was thought provoking, and I’m grateful for that. We really lack representation in this space, so it would be wonderful to read a book featuring female entrepreneurs from across the world. The challenges we face are comparable across industries, so it would be more meaningful to group/theme their stories by the types of challenges instead. It would be even more insightful and inspiring to read about how women have worked through those challenges across time, with courage, dignity and grace.
April 25, 2022
Idea Makers by Lowey Bundy Sichol shares the journeys of 15 Fearless Female Entrepreneurs - including the creators of Spanx, DryBar, Rent the Runway, Stacy’s Pita Chips, 23 and Me, ClassPass, Girls Who Code, Tate’s Cookies, and more! I loved reading these stories that all have themes of courage, resilience, & tenacity. If they left *me* inspired, I can only imagine the motivation they’ll give the kids at school!💡
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October 19, 2025Work read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews