The American dream, so ingrained in heritage and national identity, is based upon entrepreneurship. With the recession and ever-changing business trends, the White House feels that America has lost some of its focus on small business and the path to entrepreneurship.

unnamedPenny Pritzker, Secretary of Commerce, emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurship. “President Obama and I both know that one of America’s greatest strengths is our entrepreneurial spirit. Our creativity, willingness to take risks, and ability to learn from failure has helped us build a strong, innovative, and competitive economy.”

The Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship

[PAGE] addresses these feelings.  The program seeks to encourage entrepreneurship throughout the country.  The Ambassadors will work to educate and inspire both aspiring entrepreneurs and those that may not have considered entrepreneurship as a career path.

The Ambassadors are:

Steve Case, chairman and chief executive of Revolution; co-founder of America Online

Helen Greiner, chief executive of CyPhy Works; co-founder of iRobot Corporation

Reid Hoffman, co-founder and executive chairman, LinkedIn

Rich Barton, co-founder and executive chairman of Zillow

Tory Burch, chief executive officer, Tory Burch

Quincy Jones, chief executive of Quincy Jones Productions

Salman Khan, founder and executive Director of Khan Academy

Daphne Koller, co-founder and president of Coursera

Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and chief executive of Chobani

Nina Vaca, chief executive of Pinnacle Technical Resources

Alexa von Tobel, founder and chief executive of LearnVest

The list includes five female entrepreneurs, which is exciting for all female business owners.  Pritker highlights this great representation of women. “As President Obama said in his State of the Union address, ‘When women succeed, America succeeds. At the Department of Commerce, we are committed to strengthening the role of women in business, and encouraging successful women to serve as role models for the next generation. I hope the women of PAGE will inspire girls all over the country and the world to dream big and to turn their dreams into successful careers and companies.”

Not only are the five excellent examples of entrepreneurship, but also their ability to inspire young girls to consider business ownership as a career is essential.  Young women are told that they can do whatever they want in life, but to see other female role models achieve such success and influence does much more to inspire.

“As a business leader and entrepreneur for 27 years, I was often in boardrooms with very few women,” said Pritzker. “Now as chair of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship, I am thrilled that so many of the bright and talented minds around the table are female.”

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unnamedElizabeth McCumber, marketing maven and freelance writer, focuses on providing quality creative content for entrepreneurs.  She also specializes in email marketing and social media planning.  Connect with Elizabeth on LinkedIn.