Smart secrets from women CEOs

Here's advice from Barbara Carcaran, Bobbi Brown, Muriel Siebert and
other high-profile female entrepreneurs.

by SmartMoney

Alexandra Lebenthal's role model was a Wall Street pioneer. As a young girl growing up in the 1960s, she often visited her grandmother, Sayra Fischer Lebenthal, at the family's municipal-bond firm in Lower Manhattan.

"The office was in the financial district, overlooking New York Harbor," recalls Lebenthal, who became president of the family's Lebenthal & Co. at 31 and now, at 42, is starting up a new retail-brokerage venture at Israel Discount Bank of New York. "I remember my grandmother sitting at this desk, with the Statue of Liberty behind her. That's pretty strong imagery for a 4-year-old girl to have."

And an unusual one. Many female business owners credit their hard-working fathers as sources of inspiration, but few can say they were exposed to successful female business leaders in their early years. Even today, many women properietors lack female role models.

Though women start businesses at twice the rate of men, many find it difficult to grow their companies and tap into venture-capital networks. Less than 3% of women-owned businesses report $1 million or more in annual revenues, according to data from the Center for Women's Business Research. Some female entrepreneurs say they're also still dogged by a stereotype that they lack financial know-how, resulting in banks or investors hesitant to work with them.

Lebenthal says she didn't absorb her grandmother's trailblazing efforts while growing up. But now, "when I think back on the experience, I think of the incredible significance that she had on me," she says. And she makes sure to have a physical reminderin her office: her grandmother's gigantic, semicircle desk made of cherry wood.

Lebenthal recently had the desk moved to her new offices, IBD's Alexandra & James unit. "When I was able to call storage and say, "Get me the desk!" it was a great moment," she says.

What to do if your grandmother wasn't a business pioneer? Here's advice from some of America's most successful female entrepreneurs.