Women & Minority Entrepreneurs

For Elizabeth Lisboa-Farrow, becoming an entrepreneur meant having to overcome a number of obstacles-not the least of which were the expectations of her Puerto Rican family.

"In the Hispanic culture, you're pushed by your family to get married young and have children," explains the Washington, DC, entrepreneur. "I wasn't exactly working out the way my family had envisioned. I remember turning 30 and getting a call from my brother saying, 'Don't you think you should be married?' I replied, 'I don't think so. What I'd really like to do is start my own business.' "

That was 18 years ago. Today, Lisboa-Farrow sits proudly at the helm of Lisboa Associates Inc., a $2 million communications firm. And more and more women are choosing the same path: Nearly 8 million women in the United States own businesses.

Despite the progress, "obstacles do exist," Lisboa-Farrow admits. "I remember going to the Pentagon with two of my male staff members. The project director responded immediately to the guys-and thought I was a secretary! It's a constant education process we as women and as minorities have to work at."

This article was originally published in the January 1996 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Women & Minority Entrepreneurs.