15 Best Books for Female Entrepreneurs Who Want to Build a Business That Feels Like Themselves
Let’s just name it: being a small business owner, especially a female small business owner, is a deeply vulnerable process.
It’s not just about picking a niche or learning how to write sales pages. It’s standing in front of your work, every day, and saying: “I believe in this. I believe in me.” Sometimes whispering it. Sometimes crying while you say it. Sometimes losing your voice completely and finding it again a few days (or months) later.
And when you do find your voice again? That’s where the magic begins.
I didn’t become an entrepreneur because I wanted to go viral or figure out the algorithm (lol at that ongoing journey). I started because I wanted something more honest. More sustainable. More mine. And while most business books will give you a step-by-step for launching, scaling, or systemizing, what I needed—what I craved—were stories. Examples. Proof that you could live with integrity, do the scary thing, stay true to your gut, and still be okay.
The books by female entrepreneurs and thought leaders below have been part of that scaffolding for me. Some of them don’t even mention business. But they’ve taught me more about entrepreneurship than any funnel ever has.
And almost all of them are by women; women who’ve faced judgment, fear, burnout, identity shifts, and still kept showing up. On their own terms.
If you're a woman building something in 2025, I hope this list finds you at just the right time.
15 Books for Female Entrepreneurs
1. Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
This is the book that made me realize entrepreneurship is vulnerability in motion. Daring Greatly teaches that showing up without guarantees is not weakness. It’s leadership. This book helped me understand that courage isn’t being fearless. It’s acting from purpose despite the fear.
For any woman building a business while also trying to be fully human, this book is a reminder that you don’t have to armor up to lead. In fact, the more yourself you are, the more magnetic your work becomes. This is one of the best books for female entrepreneurs who are tired of pretending they have it all together.
2. Untamed by Glennon Doyle
If you’ve ever found yourself shrinking or shape-shifting to be more palatable in business—or in life—this book will unhook you from that, fast. Untamed is a raw, brave invitation to listen to your gut, rewrite the rules, and build your world around what’s true for you.
Glennon’s story is especially powerful for entrepreneurs because so much of the online space teaches women to water themselves down. This book teaches you to do the opposite. It’s not a business book, but it might change the way you run your business more than any strategy ever could.
3. Playing Big by Tara Mohr
This one’s a must-read for any woman who's been sitting on a business idea, waiting to feel "ready.” Tara Mohr writes specifically for women who are high-capacity, thoughtful, and talented, but keep shrinking their voice.
Playing Big gives you the tools to move from self-doubt to grounded leadership, even in a noisy space. It’s one of the best books for female entrepreneurs who want to build a bold, beautiful business without burning out or betraying themselves in the process.
4. The Stories We Tell by Joanna Gaines
This book isn’t about entrepreneurship, but it is about identity. And for women running small businesses, those two things are almost always intertwined.
Joanna writes with quiet honesty about the stories we inherit, the ones we tell ourselves, and the ones we get to rewrite. If you’ve ever struggled with how much of yourself to share online, or how to show up without feeling exposed, this book will give you peace and perspective. A beautiful pick for intentional entrepreneurs who value depth and alignment.
5. Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
This is not a “how to be a CEO” book. It’s a guide to leading with courage, empathy, and clarity. Whether you’re managing a team, collaborating with clients, or just leading yourself, this book offers real-world tools for navigating hard conversations, setting boundaries, and staying human in the process.
It’s especially powerful for entrepreneurs in their first few years, when every decision feels personal and the temptation to overwork is real. Truly one of the best books by female entrepreneurs and researchers who understand how vulnerable leadership really is.
6. Educated by Tara Westover
This memoir is about breaking away from systems that taught you to stay small. And while it’s not explicitly about business, Educated speaks to anyone who’s had to unlearn old programming in order to build something new.
If you’ve ever felt torn between what you were raised to believe and what you know in your bones to be true about your calling, this book will resonate. It’s a raw, real account of reclaiming your mind, your voice, and your future. An unexpected, but powerful addition to the best books for women in business who are choosing their own path.
7. Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
Sometimes you need a laugh. Sometimes you need to be reminded that ambition can look messy and awkward and deeply human. And sometimes you need someone to say, “Why not you?”
This book is part memoir, part pep talk, and all heart. It’s especially great for female entrepreneurs who feel like they don’t “look” the part or weren’t born into the right network. Mindy’s perspective reminds us that we don’t need to be perfect to show up, we just need to start.
8. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
This one is for the overthinkers. The perfectionists. The ones who keep tweaking their website copy or delaying a launch until “everything is just right.”
The Gifts of Imperfection is a powerful invitation to stop hustling for worth and start living from a place of grounded enough-ness. One of the best books for female entrepreneurs who need permission to do the thing before they feel fully qualified.
9. The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
This memoir was such a refreshing surprise. Kelly Bishop tells the story of a woman navigating male-dominated industries with grace, grit, and zero apologies. Her perspective on aging, ambition, and creative work is quietly radical.
If you’re a female founder looking to build a long-term career that grows with you, this is a brilliant read. Especially recommended if you’re in your “I don’t need to be loud, I just need to be true” era.
10. Burnout by Emily Nagoski & Amelia Nagoski
Every woman I know who runs a business needs this book. Because burnout isn’t just about being tired. It’s about getting stuck in stress cycles your body doesn’t know how to complete.
This book explains how emotional labor, cultural expectations, and overachievement all collide in women’s bodies and how to get out of that loop. It’s one of the best books for women in business who want to succeed without losing themselves in the process.
11. I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Wasn’t) by Brené Brown
Shame. Comparison. Not-enoughness. These things don’t magically go away when you become your own boss. In fact, sometimes they get louder.
This book is like a deep, reassuring breath. It names the feelings so many of us carry and reminds us that we’re not alone in them. If you’ve ever wondered if you're “too sensitive” for entrepreneurship, please read this. It might just reframe your entire journey.
12. In the Company of Women by Grace Bonney
This book is a gorgeous, visual celebration of women building creative businesses on their own terms. Part coffee table book, part inspiration journal, it features interviews with over 100 female entrepreneurs and artists—from all backgrounds and industries.
It’s one of the best books by female entrepreneurs if you're looking for range. It provides proof that there is no one “right” way to succeed. Every page reminds you that you’re not alone in carving your own path.
13. Professional Troublemaker by Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Fear shows up in every corner of entrepreneurship: pricing, visibility, public speaking, saying no. Luvvie doesn’t just talk about fear, she confronts it, disarms it, and dares you to move through it.
This book is empowering, funny, and radically real. Perfect for any woman in business who knows she’s meant to speak louder, stand firmer, and build something bigger, but needs that final push.
14. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
This book is full of honesty, wit, and moments that make you feel seen. It’s one I go back to often for wisdom, comfort, and some lighthearted laughs. Nora’s essays on aging, womanhood, and the absurdity of modern expectations are deeply relatable and sneakily comforting.
For female entrepreneurs juggling ambition, self-image, and real life? This one will make you laugh, cry, and feel a little less alone in it all. A surprising but essential addition to this list.
15. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
This book is like creative soul fuel. It’s not about building a brand or monetizing your art. It’s about your relationship to ideas. The ones that whisper to you when you're in the shower. The ones that feel too weird to post. The ones that won’t leave you alone.
Elizabeth Gilbert invites you to treat creativity with reverence and play. If you’ve ever delayed launching something until it was “perfect,” this book will soften that edge. One of the best books for female entrepreneurs who are building a business that honors not just strategy, but spirit.
A Few More Books for Female Entrepreneurs That Deserve a Spot on Your Shelf (or Bedside Table)
If you're still in the mood to add to your TBR (lol, when are we not?), here are a few more books that echo the same spirit:
16. Wintering by Katherine May
This book changed how I think about the “slow seasons”. Those stretches where everything feels quiet, uncertain, or like you’re falling behind. Katherine May reframes them not as failures, but as necessary periods of rest and renewal. As female entrepreneurs, we’re told to always be growing, always be producing, but Wintering reminds us that pausing is part of the process. It gave me language (and permission) to honor the ebbs in my energy and trust that spring always follows.
17. More Than Enough by Elaine Welteroth
This is the kind of memoir that makes you sit up straighter and remember who you are. Elaine shares her rise through media and fashion, not as some glossy overnight success story, but as a layered, messy, deeply human journey of figuring it out as she went. It’s about navigating ambition, identity, and being “the first” in rooms that weren’t built for you.
It’s especially powerful for female entrepreneurs who are building something that pushes against industry norms or challenges cultural expectations. A beautiful reminder that you don’t have to be more to be enough. You already are.
18. The Lightmaker’s Manifesto by Karen Walrond
This book is a balm for the woman who wants to do meaningful work without sacrificing herself in the process. Karen Walrond writes with such clarity and compassion about how to build a life of activism, entrepreneurship, or leadership that’s rooted in joy, not burnout.
It’s part personal reflection, part soulful strategy session. Ideal for female business owners who want to make an impact but also deeply value rest, boundaries, and living in integrity. This one’s less “how-to” and more “you already know”, and that’s what makes it magic.
Final Thoughts: This Work Is Brave Work
If you’re still here, I just want to say this: building a business that’s rooted in you: your values, your intuition, your actual energy, is radical. Especially right now.
You don’t have to be the loudest. Or the trendiest. Or on TikTok (I’m not, and I’m thriving just fine, thanks Instagram 😌).
But you do need to stay close to your own truth. Because one day, you won’t be able to go back and choose otherwise.
And the books on this list? They’ve helped me stay close to mine. I hope they help you stay close to yours, too.
Keep going. I’m rooting for you.
AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER:
Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you choose to purchase a book through them, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you. I only ever recommend books I’ve personally read, loved, and believe will truly support fellow female entrepreneurs on their journey. Your support helps me continue sharing free content like this, so thank you for being here.
