Christina Smedley, VP Global Brand and Communications Officer, PayPal

Please see this post on our new PayPal Stories site.

This week, I participated in the Forbes Women’s Summit, which was focused on bringing awareness to the challenges and lessons for women attempting to gain traction in the entrepreneurial world. The theme of the conference was “Power redefined” – and the women I met with are truly doing this. Over the past day and a half, the Summit gathered influencers to focus on “Transforming the Rules of Engagement,” emphasizing that we have the ability to redefine power.

Women are starting an estimated 1,288 companies each day in the United States, up from 602 in 2011-12. They are starting businesses twice as fast as men. These female entrepreneurs are some of the most creative people in society. As a result, they are also the growth engines for society. At the event, dozens of incredible women shared their words of advice for new entrepreneurs. They shared their perspective on what it takes to be successful, stating "tenacity” and “ willingness to fail” as critical attributes. These women are challenging the status quo and taking risks to pursue their creative endeavors.

There was such a wide range of women who had made changes in their lives along their entrepreneurial path. From the lovely ladies at Sword and Plough who create bags out of military gear in a salute to their family’s military heritage, to people serving communities in Afganistan such as Roya Mahoob, the CEO of Digital Citizen’s Fund. There are so many examples of how women are spending their time to help make the world a better place.

I was lucky to be able to introduce a panel of entrepreneurs including Sarah Blakely founder of Spanx, Ivanka Trump and Jennifer Hyman the founder of Rent The Runway. These women have challenged us to relook at ourselves not only in what we consume, but the business models it takes to reach consumers.

Technology has proved that we can help these entrepreneurs succeed and do things differently. At PayPal, we are committed everyday to helping entrepreneurs to innovate, start and grow their businesses through technology. We work every day to see them succeed. We believe we can help them succeed via data and technology.