Sonal Gadre-Shintre

I come from a family of bankers. Somehow a 9-to-5 job never excited me as a kid. After completing my design degree, I had decided to gather five years of work experience and then start my own company. After five years of working in India, I moved to the USA. Then it was important to gather work experience in a foreign land again to understand the work culture & the cultural nuances which could influence my work as a designer. During the pandemic, I lost my job. That's when I decided to pursue my long-awaited dream of running my own design studio. In a way, the pandemic pushed me to pursue my long-cherished dream and turned into a blessing in disguise.

Art, Design, Graphic Design, Brand Management, Web DesignGirlTable AdminDecember 9, 2021United States

Thobile Ntuli

My inspiration came from Dr. Esther Mahlangu when she painted that BMW, and the particular thing that pushed me to start was unemployment, and to combine the two, I figured, since we are no longer sitting around a fire for the elders to pass on the richness of our culture, why not do it in a modern, fashionable way?

Design, Fashion, Handmade Products, Personalized ProductsGirlTable AdminApril 23, 2021South Africa

Salma El Hayani

L’Artchi, as its name explains, is a combination of architecture and art. It is a brand that specializes in architectural design but also designs its own interior decoration along with paintings and artisanal deco (like pottery for example). The idea is to bring more art to architecture and more architecture to art. L’Artchi is here to offer a complete architectural experience starting from an empty field to a beautiful project, delivered with its handmade interior details.

Architecture, Art, Design, Interior DesignGirlTable AdminMarch 23, 2021Morocco

Sumreen Mahmood

The most resistance I faced was from my own workshop workers who would randomly nudge my father [and say] "Get her married. Why do you bring her here?" Distant family members would come to my mother and tell her how humiliating it is that she's making her daughter a mere carpenter. Men in our society look down on a woman who works outside of home, especially like in my field where I have to visit homes, communicate with labourers, masons, and store keepers etc. But when you prove people wrong by actually accomplishing your goal then they look at you differently. When projects started coming and getting completed, people started getting close to me, respecting me far more than they used to when I started my work.

Design, Interior Design, FurnitureGirlTable AdminMarch 19, 2021Pakistan

Iguehi Aimienwauu

I have always planned events for my friends and family - surprising people is one of my favorite things. After I graduated, I also worked for a year at an oil company. During that period, my friends told me to start my event planning company but I wasn’t confident about it at first. It was a hobby and I didn’t think I could make it a way of living. To my greatest surprise, I started getting booked by people I didn’t even know and that’s how we’ve been growing day-by-day.

Events Management, Design, Personalized ProductsGirlTable AdminMarch 12, 2021Nigeria

Gennevieve Awino

I have been making stuff for myself from my childhood. My passion for design was driven my my creative ability but was largely influenced by lack of access. The "good things" and the "beautiful things" were out of my reach financially so I found a way to create my own replicas and its a craft I carried through to my adulthood and birthed this business.

Fashion, DesignGirlTable AdminFebruary 23, 2021Kenya

Christy Maingot

Upon graduating with my Masters and returning home, I worked for another design firm for a few years but there was no room for me to grow. I felt like I was not challenged and I decided to take the leap and venture out on my own. It was a difficult decision because I had no idea if I would rise or fall but I knew I had to at least try, regardless of the outcome.

Design, Interior Design, Home DecorGirlTable AdminNovember 16, 2020Trinidad and Tobago

Samara Salas

I always worked at technology companies even when I was not an engineer and I realized that to build great technology you need a good team, common sense, and product vision - that is why I started Common Sense. Also, we opened a new market instead of competing with development or software agencies. We add value and have a difference when we offer product concept design and software development. We create our own methodologies to deliver value and what our customers need.

Lauren Summers

I was driven by the fact that I could see international companies were coming to Zambia trying to implement international marketing strategies without any kind of knowledge or understanding of Zambia (and there are honestly no books that cover such a diverse existence). So I went back to studying online with the University of Liverpool where I graduated with my MSc in Global Marketing. With the knowledge I then had, I decided to open up my own marketing & advertising consultancy and to help international companies adapt their strategies to suit the Zambian market.

Marketing, Advertising, DesignGirlTable AdminOctober 12, 2020Zambia

Arwa Ramadan

One day, when I was still in university, I was tanning on the beaches of Dubai when I turned to my friend and said, " I want to have a design studio, and I want to call it The Basement". From then on, I worked hard to learn more about this industry, and to hone my skills as a designer and a creative person, and when the time was right for all of us (the siblings), we did it!

Design, Information Technology, Marketing, Brand ManagementGirlTable AdminApril 16, 2020Turkey

CELEBRATING women entrepreneurs ACROSS THE GLOBE

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The GT Story Project