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While the number of women running Global 500 businesses has soared, we鈥檙e constantly reminded of just how far we still are from gender equality in business. The 鈥� list of the featured just three women.

In a world of business where women are still having to tackle bigger barriers than their male counterparts, I鈥檝e realized that an essential part of being a businesswoman is trusting the knowledge you have and believing in your ability to create your own success.

If at first, you don鈥檛 succeed … try differently

I learned this the hard way.

When I became a co-founder for the first time in 1999, I knew there was a market for our vision, but I didn鈥檛 know exactly how to make it happen.

So I sourced a team of experienced businesspeople to help. The problem was, many of these (often male) 鈥渆xperts鈥� turned out not to share the passion nor instincts I had for the industry I was launching in.

Eventually, after burning through a huge injection of cash early on, we realized we didn鈥檛 really have a plan for how to take the business forward and had to admit defeat.

Although the feeling of failure was difficult, the whole experience taught me my most valuable business lesson: Your gut is always your most trusted adviser.

Your gut leads, your head follows

As a female founder, it can be especially hard to trust that what you have is enough when the number of female-founded businesses to aspire to is so disproportionately low鈥攇lobally,

But recognizing your knowledge of the market you鈥檙e entering, and your passion for the product you鈥檙e creating, already puts you a step ahead.

In 2017, when I founded , an inclusive DTC beauty brand, I picked apart everything I did in 1999. This time, I started small and focused on what I had rather than what I felt I lacked.

For me, this was my deep understanding of women, having spoken to more than 5,000 women during my career in TV. I realized there was nobody I could hire who would have the same knowledge as me, so I had no one to trust but myself.

Raising money as a female entrepreneur

According to 附近上门 data, only about 2.2 percent of venture capital in the U.S. goes to female entrepreneurs. So even if you鈥檙e confident you have a great idea and know how to achieve your goals, it can feel like the entire system is rigged against you.

When pitching Trinny London, I initially received skepticism from male investors who believed a digital-first beauty brand wouldn鈥檛 work for our initial target market of women over the age of 35, as they鈥檝e traditionally preferred being able to test cosmetics at a beauty counter before purchasing.

But instead of being swayed by their concerns, I chose to fight for my concept. I was confident that the problem wasn鈥檛 my idea鈥擨鈥檇 already received positive feedback from women who had seen me use product prototypes鈥攊t was that no one else in the room full of men truly understood the reason for it.

Trusting my gut paid off; in 2017 we raised 拢2.4 million ($3.2 million) and used the capital to invest in tech innovation that would enable us to develop a highly personalized, digital-first solution to beauty.聽Three years later, revenue reached over $63 million.

So trust your gut, it knows what your head hasn鈥檛 figured out yet.

is CEO and founder of , the digital-first beauty brand with a very clear mission: To give every individual the confidence to be the person they truly want to be. Since founding the business in 2017, she has successfully scaled Trinny London into a global brand selling a wide range of products online to customers in over 170 countries.

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