Tenacious, Creative Entrepreneurs

Later this month the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) will recognize four outstanding female entrepreneurs at the Women’s Business Conference 2011: Janice Bryant Howroyd, Koni Kim, Maria de Lourdes Sobrino, and Lynda Weinman. Here's a little more about these inspiring women.

Janice (left) is the founder and CEO of Act One Personnel Services—a company that provides staffing solutions for corporations across the country. Founded in 1978 with an initial investment of $1,500, her company is now the largest certified woman minority-owned staffing company in the U.S. — it's worth over $500 million.

With 30 years in hospitality soft goods, Koni (right) founded Koni Corporation in 1987 to create custom textiles and soft sculptures for the design community as well as retail stores. Among her many innovations, she developed the Westin Heavenly Bed, which changed the hospitality industry.

Maria (left) is founder and CEO of Lulu’s Dessert Corporation. Established in 1982, Lulu’s Dessert is ranked among the top 500 Hispanic Businesses in the United States. Maria revolutionized the food industry by creating the first-ever ready-to-eat gelatin category, based on her own mother’s recipe.

Lynda (right) co-founded lynda.com, a leading online instructional video service that teaches technology and design skills through individual memberships or site licenses to businesses and universities. The company was listed as the twelfth fastest growing education company in America in Inc. magazine’s 5,000 list, and is growing 40-60 percent per year.