Inc. Female Founders 500 honorees, left to right, top row first: Amber Capone, Amber Venz Box, Donna Letier, Susan Sarich, Suzanne Miller, and Tera Davis.
Inc. has announced its Female Founders 500 list for 2025, selecting six North Texans among the women who have spurred an “entrepreneurial explosion.”
The Female Founders 500 list “comprises women at the top of their games—those who are leading public and private companies and (for the first time ever) nonprofits,” Inc. writes in its introduction. “Through three rounds of judging, looking specifically at an entrepreneur’s bona fides in the past year, judges considered quantifiable metrics such as revenue, sales, revenue growth, funding, and audience size, as well as qualitative metrics such as social media momentum and stories of impact.”
To arrive at the list, Inc. said it considered only female-run, U.S.-based entities.
“The pandemic drove women out of the workforce,” Inc. noted, “and then spurred an entrepreneurial explosion. And despite persistent disparities and funding challenges, these founders aren’t backing down.”
In North Texas for 2025, those Female Founders include:
Amber Capone, CEO of Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS)
Capone and her husband, former Navy SEAL Marcus Capone, founded Southlake-based VETS in 2019 after their own experience with psychedelic therapy provided the healing relief their family needed. According to its website, VETS “helps veterans access safe, clinically-guided psychedelic therapies. These innovative treatments are capable of addressing deep psychological and physiological scars, and therefore hold unprecedented healing potential for our nation’s heroes. We ask all Americans to join us on our mission to END veteran suicide.”
Amber Venz Box, Co-Founder and President of LTK
LTK has launched a new “video-first” app that lets consumers watch all content from nearby creators and in major cities across the globe. [Photo: Business Wire]
Dallas-based LTK, a marketing tech platform connecting creators, brands, and shoppers, has seen its reach expand significantly since raising a $300 million Series B from SoftBank in 2021. The company now expects to drive nearly $5 billion in annual retail sales through its platform, doubling its 2020 figures. With more than 300,000 creators on board and over 40 million monthly shoppers, LTK has established itself as a major player in the influencer marketing world.
“We’ve rebuilt the LTK app from the ground up to deliver on what consumers want and what creators need—connection, discovery, and a seamless way to engage with content,” Venz Box said two weeks ago during the launch of LTK’s new “watch creators near you” app. As she told Axios last September, “I’ve been up against the largest tech giants in the world and won.”
Donna Letier, Co-Founder and CEO of Gardenuity
[Photo: Gardenuity]
Founded in Dallas in 2017 by Donna Letier and Julie Eggers, Gardenuity brings tech-enabled gardening into the health category. Creating bespoke container gardens and gardening experiences, the company has recently gained increased visibility through new partnerships and recognitions. In October 2023, Gardenuity raised $5.5 million in new seed funding as it continued to cultivate expansion plans. Earlier that year, Letier led a gardening session on self-care with the Dallas Police Department Wellness Unit. In a social post, the CEO said, “it was an honor to talk about selfcare, well-being, why getting dirty is good … at Gardenuity, we say “it feels good to grow.”
Susan Sarich, Founder and CEO of SusieCakes
Photo: SusieCakes
Sarich founded SusieCakes in Los Angeles in 2006, gaining celebrity fans including Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Garner. She moved to Dallas a few years ago and now leads the company from North Texas. Today, SusieCakes is an “all-American bakery” chain with 31 locations across the country, including two in Dallas and one in Fort Worth. It specializes in a variety of dessert favorites, including cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and pies, with a focus on fresh, simple ingredients, and a “celebration-focused” atmosphere.
Suzanne Miller, Founder and President of SPM Communications
SPM is a public relations, crisis communications, and social media and influencer content firm in Dallas. Specializing in “better-for-you” brands in packaged goods, restaurant, and retail, it’s been ranked among the top 20 food and beverage PR firms in the U.S. by O’Dwyer’s. SPM was named to Forbes’ “America’s Best PR Agencies 2021” list as well as PR News’ Beat Places to Work and Agency Elite 100. “Our no-jerk policy, which was featured in the Wall Street Journal, is the core of SPM’s culture,” SPM notes on its LinkedIn page. “It means we hire great people to work on great brands we trust and respect in an atmosphere of mutual respect among company leaders, clients and team members.”
Tera Davis, Founder and CEO of CyberOne Security
Plano-based CyberOne is a cybersecurity advisory company focused on measurably improving its clients’ security posture by analyzing their risk tolerance and available resources. “We focus on the delivery of world-class services, pairing them with best-of-breed technologies to provide a complete solution,” the company says on its website. “With 24×7 global SOC coverage, industry-recognized accreditations from NCSC and CREST, and guaranteed SLAs, we combine Microsoft Security with world-class Consulting and Managed Services to safeguard your business from cyber threats, ensure regulatory compliance and empower you to thrive.”
To read Inc.’s full 2025 Female Founders 500 list, go here.
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