Breaking barriers: National magazine names two New Mexicans as top female entrepreneurs

Inc. magazine’s annual Female Founders 500 honored two New Mexicans this month.

Kim Sanchez Rael, president and CEO of Albuquerque-based cannabis company Azuca, and Fran Maier, the founder and CEO of baby gear rental marketplace BabyQuip, were named to the list meant to highlight women entrepreneurs in the U.S.

“Anytime you get some recognition, especially as a woman, it’s really helpful, and it’s obviously validating to the work of the team,” Maier told the Journal.

“To me, it’s just a nice moment to pause and celebrate the journey that I’ve been able to be on,” Sanchez Rael added. “And honestly, our success is not about me. I have an amazing team, and it’s all about what we have been able to accomplish.”

This is the eighth year of Inc.’s Female Founders list, which boasts an extensive vetting process. Inc. editors review thousands of entries, examining revenue, sales, growth, funding and audience size, as well as qualitative metrics like what Inc. calls “social media momentum” and “stories of impact.”

The list is meant to honor women in business and inspire them to take a chance on entrepreneurial endeavors.

A report written by Wells Fargo, published in January, found that women own more than 14 million businesses — representing 39.1% of all companies — employ nearly 12.2 million people and generate $2.7 trillion in revenue across the U.S.

The same report noted that many women start businesses out of necessity. That comes with risk, but Sanchez Rael argued that risk is something that future businesswomen should get familiar with.

“I’ve done startups for a long time, and they always come with a lot of business risk. But you know, you learn from the successes, and you learn from the ones that don’t go the way you planned,” Sanchez Rael said. “And you just take what you learned and move on to the next one.”

In fact, there was a lot of risk in Sanchez Rael’s venture to start Azuca.

“I didn’t know anything about the industry. I had to go on a whole journey of due diligence and discernment about whether I even wanted to do this,” Sanchez Rael said. “I was way out of my comfort zone.”

Maier, whose company is based in Santa Fe, is also no stranger to risk. In 1995, she co-founded and served as the first general manager of Match.com. Maier sold Match.com for $8 million, she said.

However, the company was sold for $70 million a short time later.

“That could have been my win, and it didn’t happen. And I realized that I didn’t even have the confidence at the time, and I didn’t have the support network,” Maier said.

Developing confidence in yourself is a skill learned over time, Maier said. But it’s a critical one.

“You know your market, you know your business, you know the problem that you’re solving or trying to solve, and confidence just makes all the difference,” Maier said. “Women especially need to hear that message.”