Women's History Month is an occasion for us to introduce you to 16 female entrepreneurs behind French Wink. You'll discover CEOs, biologists, artists, craftswomen, fashion designer, bakers, jewelry makers, illustrators, writers, from all ages and backgrounds, who are helping us to share French savoir-faire and joie de vivre with you everyday.
There are more than 15 women behind French Wink brands but those 16 ladies took the time in their busy schedule to answer two of our questions: what are the advantages and difficulties of being a female entrepreneur? A word for the next generation?
Being a female entrepreneur: ''It can be difficult being a woman business owner because we are intuitively nurturing and are typically the last ones to take care of ourselves. Learning to balance decision making for every aspect yet remember to love yourself. One of the most rewarding parts is that YOU are in charge, and NO one can take that from you!''
Being a female entrepreneur: ''We need to prove our ability to succeed more than men.''
To the next generation: ''Be free and do just do what you want to do!''
Being a female entrepreneur: ''Believe in your potential and never give up''
To the next generation: ''Dare!''
Being a female entrepreneur: '''The Real advantage? Control your own freedom! The most difficult: find your own place and enforce yourself.''
Being a female entrepreneur: ''Advantages = women's instinct / Difficulties = work/family''
Being a female entrepreneur: The biggest advantage : to be taken seriously. Most difficult : some barriers are difficult to over come in a world mainly managed by men.''
Being a female entrepreneur: ''The biggest advantages for me is to overcome myself, to never spend a day similar to an other one and most importantly Freedom! Difficulties; I would say that you always need to adapt yourself, nothing is certain.''
To the next generation: ''One word: DARE''
''As a female entrepreneur it is exciting to be able to concert leadership, to execute our vision and to move our creativity forward. It's a huge pride to find and create solutions that answer women's expectations. However entrepreneurship is a true commitment and it can be difficult to find a good everyday balance ( family, friends, personal time etc.).''
Being a female entrepreneur: ''I have been enjoying the powerful solidarity between women. We relate as girl bosses and the dedicated communities are a great source of inspiration and support! As for the challenges, I am grateful not to have had yet to reflect on the incidence of my gender in business. Is it because I am evolving in a female-dominated industry? The given is probably different in aeronautics than fashion! Still, I believe that with determination and temper, anyone can succeed! Who runs the world? …😊''
Being a female entrepreneur: ''The artistic world is still very masculine and artists are not part of the entrepreneurship sphere. I have to manage both of these two conditions in the same time. It's very challenging and fascinating.''
To the next generation: ''The message that I want to share is that to change the course of things, to succeed in living a second professional life, to overcome the obstacles that force us to achieve ourselves only through a marked and pre-established course, in other words “reinvent ourselves” is possible!''
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Being a female entrepreneur: ''Some of the inconveniences are to managed our private life (mother, grand-mother and wife) with all the responsibilities as a women entrepreneur, finding a balance. Although, it allows us women to make our own schedule, work on ourselves, and thrive!''
Being a female entrepreneur: ''The biggest advantage of female entrepreneurship is our fearsome instinctive spirit that helps us to take strategic choices in difficult and tensed moments.''
To the next generation: Being a Woman is generating life in many ways, protecting it and fighting for family values. Us women have that gift to be able to change the energy around us, in a good or a bad way. It’s important to be aware of that.
''There is no difference between man and woman when you start a business. Being an entrepreneur is a state of mind and not a gender matter. But being a woman gave me the opportunity to meet a kindly and helpful community of women.''
To the next generation: ''YOLO* ! Do what you love !''
*You live only once
Being a female entrepreneur: ''The work-life balance is a real challenge. The benefice is that we get to do what we love in our own terms..''
Being a female entrepreneur: ''Women and especially mom are multi tasking, we can handle everything. Difficulties, we have to prove our competences and determination''
To the next generation: ''be perseverant, keep trying and keep believe in you.''
Being a female entrepreneur: ''Bold, pioneer, organized, optimist are a few adjectives to describe female entrepreneurs. More and more of them are emphasizing the importance of collaboration as a factor of success. The emotional intelligence in leadership is a competitive advantage and is driven by empathy, self-consciousness and listening skills. Multitasking is another women' strength and is very important in entrepreneurship. We are experts at it in our personal and professional life.''
To the next generation: ''The main objective of entrepreneurship is Freedom. Following our dreams and passion is extremely motivating and rewarding. Never give up, stay honest with yourself and the adventure will be full of surprises.''
We are very glad and proud to have those amazing women’s strengths around us and to say that the wide majority of our vendors are women.
To the next generation, we would like to say: ''Work hard and have fun at the same time ! Appreciate life and don’t forget to pause on your accomplishments to savor them. Surround yourself with people who elevate you, challenge you. Open yourself, collaborate, learn from your mistake and get back up, help, guide, lead!''
Love & Winks,
