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EDITORS: Luisa Kroll and Kerry A. Dolan
REPORTERS: Angel Au-Yeung, Madeline Berg, Deniz Çam, Biz Carson, Kathleen Chaykowski,
Hayley Cuccinello, Zack Greenburg, Natalie Robehmed, Ariel Shapiro, Chloe Sorvino, Kristin Stoller,
Jennifer Wang, Carter Coudriet, Lauren Debter, Amy Feldman, Noah Kirsch, Andrea Murphy,
Michela Tindera, Alexandra Wilson and Will Yakowicz. RESEARCH: Susan Radlauer
- SERENA
WILLIAMS
$225 million
AGE: 37 RESIDENCE:
San Francisco Bay Area
SELF-MADE SCORE: 9
The tennis ace who has earned
$340 million from prize
money during her 24-year pro
career is now breaking into
venture capital. (See page 54.) - REESE
WITHERSPOON
$240 million
AGE: 43 RESIDENCE:
Los Angeles
SELF-MADE SCORE: 8
Frustrated with the roles she
was getting, the Legally
Blonde actress started a
production company, Pacific
Standard, in 2012. Hits fol-
lowed with Gone Girl and
Wild. In 2016, she partnered
with Otter Media, a division
of AT&T’s WarnerMedia, to
launch Hello Sunshine, which
focuses on female-driven sto-
ries. It operates a book club,
audio programming with Au-
dible, three podcasts, a vid-
eo-on-demand channel with
DirecTV and is working with
Apple on two TV series. Lau-
rene Powell Jobs invested in
Hello Sunshine in February. - ANGELA
AHRENDTS
$230 million
AGE: 59 RESIDENCE:
Cupertino, California
SELF-MADE SCORE: 6
The former Burberry CEO
served as Apple’s retail chief
from 2014 until 2019. She
left in April amid slumping
iPhone sales. Ahrendts, who
was once president of Donna
Karan, is a board member at
Airbnb (appointed in May)
and Ralph Lauren. - SUZY BATIZ
$240 million
AGE: 54 RESIDENCE: Dallas
SELF-MADE SCORE: 10
After two business
bankruptcies, Batiz found
her fortune in an unexpected
place: the bathroom. Long
a fan of essential oils, she
spent nine months starting
in 2006 concocting the
perfect formula to fight
toilet smells. In a savvy
marketing move, she named
her bathroom spray Poo-
Pourri and began producing
hilarious viral videos. The
potty talk has paid off,
helping the $63 million
(revenue) company get
distribution in retailers like
Bed, Bath & Beyond, CVS and
Target. It is going nationwide
at Costco stores in 2019. Its
other products include Shoe-
Pourri to reduce shoe odor
and, coming soon, one that
will seek to minimize stinky
pet smells.
NEWNEWNEWNEWMethodology
To compile net worths, we valued
individual assets including
stakes in public companies using
stock prices from May 3. We
valued private companies by con-
sulting with outside experts and
conservatively comparing them
with public companies. To be
eligible for the list, women have
to have substantially made their
own fortunes in the U.S. and/
or be U.S. citizens or permanent
residents. While none inher-
ited their wealth, some climbed
farther and overcame more
obstacles to get into the ranks.
To measure just how far some
have come, women are given a
self-made score of 6 (hired hand)
to 10 (rags to riches entrepre-
neur). Those listed as returnees
are women who appeared on an
earlier list, then missed the cut,
and now once again qualify. We
attempted to vet numbers with
all list entrants. Some cooperated,
others didn’t. Ages are as of the
magazine’s issue date. For more
information including details on
the self-made scores, go to
forbes.com/self-made-women.
Acknowledgments
Greg Aguirre, Capital Rivers Commer-
cial; FactSet Research Systems; Daniel
Lesser, LW Hospitality Advisors; Pitch-
Book Data; Jack Plunkett, Plunkett
Research, Ltd; Simeon Siegel, Nomura
Instinet; S&P Capital IQ; Staffing
Industry Analysts; Technomic, Inc.