Where Are They Now?

Checking back in with six founders whose stories are still unfolding.

Dear Fabulous Female Founders,

Today, we’re doing something I’ve wanted to do for a while: checking back in with some of the incredible women I’ve featured over the past couple of years. So grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and let's see what six fabulous female founders have been up to since we last caught up with them.

Heidi Beierle

In April 2024, writer, bicycle tourism consultant, and author Heidi Beierle asked how she could leverage her Heidi Across America book tour into a sustainable business (read the original article here.)

Two years later, she's done what the best entrepreneurs do: evolve. Heidi has expanded her vision of "slow travel" into a growing platform, launched a website complete with a quiz to help travelers discover their slow travel style, and begun work on both a philosophy and toolkit book. She’s continuing to speak and build community across the country, while stretching creatively in new directions—from applying for an artist residency in Antarctica to writing a children's book.

"My confidence as an author, artist, and slow traveler is growing." ~ Heidi

Ira Kaganovsky

A year ago, things were rough for Ira Kaganovsky, founder of Freedom Brands, a company dedicated to cleaner, safer personal care products. (Read more here.) Cash flow pressures, distribution hurdles, taxes, and tariffs were piling up, all while recovering from an intense breast cancer journey. Rather than push harder, she discovered that sustainable success starts with personal wellness.

Today, Ira has transformed those hard-earned lessons into a keynote that shows leaders and sales teams how protecting their energy fuels better performance, stronger relationships, and increased sales. She’s expanded Freedom Brands into new hotel and spa partnerships, launched innovative travel products, and become a sought-after wellness speaker who proves that when people feel better, they perform better. Her message is simple: wellness isn’t a perk. It’s a competitive advantage that drives resilience, trust, productivity, and revenue, rRight in sync with one of my core messages: YOU are your company’s greatest asset and you must protect your energy like a Mama bear protects her cub.

As a single mother, I thought I was raising three daughters.
I didn’t realize I was also raising a fourth child… my company.

Building a business is deeply personal.
You feed it before you feed yourself.
You stay awake worrying about it.
You protect it.
You fight for it.
You believe in it when nobody else can yet see the vision. ~ Ira

Tiya Gordon

I am proud to be an early advisor to Brooklyn-based it’s electric, a curbside EV-charging company led by Tiya Gordon and co-founder Nathan King. As I wrote in January 2025 (full article here), I agreed to be an advisor because of their combination of brilliant vision and grounded reality. They pulled in significant seed capital through a combination of angels, venture, awards, contracts, and grants, including federal funding. Then the landscape shifted: the federal funds got yanked. Such a bummer!!

Since then, they’ve won contracts with nearly a dozen cities including LA, Boston, D.C., and Philadelphia. They continue to rack up awards like the 2026 Boston Bright Future Award and Inc. FemaleFounders500, while expanding their team and forging new partnerships. Again: grit, paired with world-changing vision.

Jessica Murrey

I introduced you to Jessica Murrey a few months ago when she was on the verge of launching her visionary peace-building game (read the full article here.) Drumroll please…. World Reborn is now available for download on all platforms.

“When you shift the goal to preventing harm and solving the problem, suddenly you have a million options instead of two.” ~ Jessica

Lori Gibson

When I introduced you to Lori Gibson 18 months ago (read the article here), she was contemplating growth options for her on-call, in-home pet euthanasia company. Should she add more locations? Services? Products? Why? Compassionate Care was profitable, manageable, and providing an exceptional, high-touch service during emotional moments.

Rather than settle on a growth strategy, she decided to take a six-month sabbatical, giving her time to regroup. That, in turn, allowed her to elevate her COO to President and create the company’s first advisory board. In other words, the business is stronger because of the pause, not despite it.

"Those six months were revelatory. They changed my perspective, and I'm making decisions now—for myself and for the business—with a renewed clarity beyond what I expected." ~ Lori

Caroline Lewis

A year ago, Rogue Women’s Fund founder/Managing Partner Caroline Lewis guest-wrote FFF, sharing her vision for investing in women, building wealth, and changing the world. (Read her beautiful piece here.) Since then, Caroline has deployed the bulk of available capital; between Rogue Women’s Fund I & II, she’s invested in more than 40 companies!

Caroline is now building a third fund: Nura Ventures. (Nura = Numinous (inner knowing) + aura (external energy.)

Similar to Rogue, Nura will be an early stage investor in women-led tech companies in sectors critical to US economic and national resilience: women's health, care economy, workforce efficiency, community centric tech, advanced AI, and harm-reducing dual-use tech. Caroline’s thesis derives from extensive research into global trends showing that the next 15 years will see massive investments in areas that are the biggest threats to—and opportunities for—U.S. and global security.

I’m proud to be an investor in all three of Caroline’s funds, and invite you to reach out for more information.

“Investing in women is critical to national and global stability.” ~ Caroline

Clockwise from upper left: Heidi, Ira, Tiya, Jessica, Lori, Caroline.

One small update from me.

This week I’m turning on paid subscriptions for Fabulous Female Founders. I’m doing this because Substack recommends publications with paid subscriptions more broadly, and I’d love to introduce more people to these stories.

If my writing has helped you think differently, laugh, make a better decision, or simply feel less alone on your founder journey, I’d be honored if you became a paid subscriber.

The weekly newsletter will remain free. I’ll add a few extras along the way—office hours, special events, sneak peeks from Minnow in a Shark Tank, and whatever else this community dreams up together. I’ll also be reinvesting subscription revenue into this community—through founder programming, amplifying women's stories, and supporting organizations that help women entrepreneurs thrive.

~ Mia