Hats Off to All Mompreneurs!

Necessity is the mother of invention, and a mother in need can be a pretty awesome inventor. "Mompreneurs," as they're often called, start business for all kinds of reasons: they're sick to death of punching someone else's clock; they want to spend more time with their families; they've identified an unmet need for themselves or for their children. And so they get to work building prototypes, sussing out the market, scraping together startup capital. Sometimes they juggle their full time jobs with their entrepreneurial aspirations and, of course, motherhood. They are master multi-taskers and expert organizers; they are sometimes frustrated, frequently fulfilled, and very often utterly exhausted. Hats off to them, one and all.

I put out the word that I wanted to meet some inspiring mompreneurs for a special Mothers Day post. What was I thinking? Can you say "Outlook crash?" I received more great responses than I could possibly publish here. So I chose ten that I thought were particularly inventive and inspiring. Meet them in this gallery of mompreneurs. Enjoy and Happy Mothers Day!

Photo courtesy of mompreneur Alexandra Mysoor, CEO of Generation Orange