The Future is Female.

"Nobody says, 'Picasso, the male artist.'" — Patti Smith

Years ago, I kicked off a Founder Friday series on IG to celebrate the visionaries disrupting categories and breaking through (glass) ceilings. As I had been interviewing several women for The Quality Edit’s “Quality Makers” column — including Locker’s Kristine Locker Plueger, the HigherDose biohacking duo Lauren Berlingeri and Katie Kaps, Menopause advocate Tamsen Fadel and Jewelry darling Mignonne Gavigan— I felt compelled to expand reporting to inspire us all.

I focused on female founders, who despite launching the first business 286 years ago and currently outperforming their male entrepreneurial counterparts, still does not account for more than 2% of funding. The plan was to continue heralding female founders this year. And then I saw this brilliant article on Oprah Daily (entire piece below) by Anabel Maldonado, the shrewd and inventive founder of PSYKHE AI, a psychographic personalization platform that is genius in helping retailers recommend products based on shoppers’ psych profile (among other impressive applications).

While the poignant piece does not change my desire — or the importance — of spotlighting female founders, Maldonado makes an incredible point about word choice. I’ve previously written here about how much words matter — I’ve spoken of emotionally charged language around fashion, beauty and aging. Just look at the power — and controversy that ensued — when iconic beauty writer

Valerie Monroe

used the phrase “old lady energy” last month in Allure; the name calling in the comments section alone led to her fantastic rebuttal op-ed just days later. At 74, she does not consider the word “old” to be derogatory (nor do I at 55; call me a bad Crossfitter and we will have words however…) It’s society’s definition that is tethered to the word that makes it feel offensive to so many. In this same vein, you may feel “female” is perfectly acceptable when attached to founder — especially when the organization is bent on breaking through barriers for women, à la The Female Founder Collective.

Ultimately, it comes down to intent. Are we using language that advances — or limits — us. As we strip away labels that undermine our freedom to reach our fullest potential, we show the world success isn’t predicated on our gender or age, but on talent.

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Please Don’t Call Me a Female Founder

Why shedding the "woman" label is the greatest act of empowerment.

By Anabel Maldonado

It’s the moment I always dread in a call with VCs: the part where someone leans back and says, “We’re big supporters of female founders.” The air in the room shifts. We’ve just gone from talking about the vision I’ve spent years building at PSYKHE AI, a psychographic personalization platform, to a surface-level label that doesn’t mean absolutely anything to me. I deaden.

The unwanted label of “female founder” sounds a bit like “Hey, look, a circus monkey”—a badge of otherness. Being reduced to this badge when you’re building foundational AI models that have nothing to do with being female makes me seethe. I don’t want to be on your “women in tech” list. I strive to be up there with Bezos and Benioff—on a list based purely on merit.

Similarly, being branded as a “woman” has meant many things over the years, and to me, apart from being a mother, none of them have felt very positive. For our entire generation, the word woman has been mired in victimhood and, even worse, fallen prey to shallow attempts at empowerment: “real women” this, “strong women” that. The intent is either glorification, sainthood, or victimization. But if “strong” and “real” women are a prized anomaly, are weak, fake women the norm? As for the saintliness narrative, it’s dehumanizing. Women can be bad people, too. Because they’re...people. Why perpetuate a monolithic view of 4 billion humans?

Clearly, I’m not blind to bias, but I believe that any individual can achieve more when they choose to focus on what they can control. Deciding not to think about being a woman at all can feel like a glorious unshackling that enables you to just get on with it. I often tell founders who don’t feel taken seriously by investors: Build a great business, master your subject, and learn to deliver your message powerfully. Too often, the ones complaining about systemic issues aren’t doing these things. They’re consumed by problems they’re not actively fighting to solve.

The start-up world offers a clear example of how this plays out. One stat that’s constantly repeated with outrage is that only 2 percent of funding goes to women-founded start-ups. But tell me this number instead: How many women are actually building venture-scale start-ups and pitching? I’m often in the vast minority at tech events. Yes, systemic barriers exist, but a victim narrative exacerbates the problem: It deters women from trying, working on big ideas, or seeing this space as accessible.

I’ve taken a lot of heat for this opinion. “But you have to care,” people tell me. “How can you not identify with it?” My favorite accusation: “Internalized misogyny!” To which I reply, “Is anyone forcing men to talk about what being a man means to them?”

Here’s the truth: The reward for not making being a woman your entire personality is actually finding one. Dropping identity politics lets you carve your own path, free from the mental weight of labels. You shed the checklist of societal expectations, stop nursing wounds, and focus on what actually defines you: your personality, values, preferences, and unique perspective. The fun part? Should you wish to, you’ll naturally embrace “traditionally male” traits—speaking assertively, eating more steak, and making money just for the sake of it.

Start by questioning where your beliefs even come from. Most of the time, it’s useless societal conditioning. I still struggle with it. When I feel guilty about leaving my daughter for a business trip, I ask myself: Is my guilt based on a real concern (is she negatively affected), or is it just the idea that “good mothers don’t do this”? For years, I subscribed to the notion that my nails had to be manicured to look acceptable at meetings—and then I realized that I don’t owe the world manicured fingernails. More important: I shouldn’t feel forced to pick a binary path, like “I’m the type of woman who doesn’t get her nails done.” Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. It doesn’t matter.

To be truly free and achieve more than you thought you could, reject labels that don’t mean anything to you. Question whether your conditioning serves a modern purpose. Embrace neutral thinking—you don’t have to be this woman or that woman.

And above all, live and let live. Empowerment isn’t about proving anything. It’s about moving through the world untethered.