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THELISTFORBES.COM JUNE 30, 20 19MARTINSCHOELLER- BELINDA JOHNSON
$330 million
AGE: 52 RESIDENCE: Redwood City, California
SELF-MADE SCORE: 8
Johnson joined Airbnb in 2011 as its first executive hire and
general counsel. Now its chief operating officer, she has been
on the front lines of the growing travel startup’s legal fights,
including the choice to sue cities like San Francisco and New
York City. Prior to Airbnb she was general counsel at Mark
Cuban’s Broadcast.com; after it was bought by Yahoo in 1999,
she stayed on as Yahoo’s deputy counsel for 12 years. Johnson
sits on PayPal’s board. - PLEASANT
ROWLAND
$310 million
AGE: 78
RESIDENCE: Madison, Wisconsin
SELF-MADE SCORE: 8
The founder of American
Girl, Rowland built the line
of historical dolls into a $300
million (revenue) business
and sold it to Mattel in 1998
for $700 million. More than
32 million of the dolls have
been sold. Since 2001, she
has restored more than ten
historic properties in Aurora,
New York, home to her
alma mater, Wells College. A
former educator and author
of literacy programs, she set
up the Rowland Reading
Foundation, which provides
curriculum materials and
helps train teachers.- JESSICA ICLISOY
$310 million
AGE: 53 RESIDENCE: Los Angeles
SELF-MADE SCORE: 8
Natural-ingredients pioneer Iclisoy founded California Baby
while pregnant in 1990, concocting formulas for nontoxic
shampoo in her Los Angeles kitchen. She has never taken on
investors or debt and today owns 100% of the $115 million
(revenue) organic baby products company. Iclisoy, who
manufactures all products at a facility she owns in downtown
Los Angeles, wants total control of her supply chain. For the
past decade, she has been transforming a 100-acre farm in
Santa Barbara into a raw-ingredient grower and processor.
Soon, a blockchain-enabled app will allow customers to trace
each container of California Baby’s calming calendula cream,
from the field where the flowers were picked to the barn
where they were pressed.
69. PATRICIA MILLER
$300 million
AGE: 80
RESIDENCE: Fort Wayne, Indiana
SELF-MADE SCORE: 8
Miller and her then-neighbor
Barbara Bradley Baekgaard,
after whose mother their
company is named, founded
colorful women’s accessories
brand Vera Bradley in 1982.
The two women started with
$500 and a Ping-Pong table
as a workspace. Miller retired
as co-president in 2010, the
same year as the IPO, and has
since served on the company’s
board; she owns 16% of its
shares with her husband.- SONIA GARDNER
$310 million
AGE: 57 RESIDENCE: New York City
SELF-MADE SCORE: 8
Born in Morocco and raised in Connecticut, Gardner got her
start as an attorney at investment bank Cowen & Co. She
cofounded debt brokerage firm Amroc Investments with her
brother Marc Lasry in 1989, then started investment firm
Avenue Capital with him six years later. Avenue now manages
$10 billion in assets and specializes in private equity and
distressed debt.
65. MARTINE ROTHBLATT
$320 million
AGE: 64 RESIDENCE: Satellite Beach, Florida
SELF-MADE SCORE: 8
The CEO of biotech United Therapeutics is working to fix the
worldwide organ shortage; the company has a pig “pharm”
in Blacksburg, Virginia, that is the world’s largest cloner of
pigs. Last fall, United Therapeutics licensed 3-D bioprinting
technology from an Israeli firm for the development of
3-D-printed lung transplants. It has recently been sued for
allegedly engaging in anticompetitive behavior to block a
generic rival; the company denies the accusations. Rothblatt,
who is transgender, cofounded satellite radio firm Sirius XM
in 1990. She moved into biotech after her daughter Jenesis,
then 9, was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension and
given just years to live; she is now 35 years old.
NEWCHANGE IN WEALTH KEY: UP DOWN UNCHANGED RETURNEE SELF-MADE SCORE: 0 = INHERITED, 10 = SELF-MADE