Hope you are enjoying your weekend. We begin with Forbes' 5th annual ranking of America's most successful ceiling crashers: America's Richest Self-Made Women. More women are creating new businesses and amassing fortunes than ever before. As a result, we've expanded this year's list to feature 80 entrepreneurs, one third more than a year ago.

We also reviewed the nation's Best Employers By State. Silicon Valley startups and established Wall Street stalwarts come to mind as the places where most of us want to work. But if more than 100 consecutive months of job gains proves anything, it’s that a wide variety of employers from coast to coast have what it takes to attract and retain top talent.

ICYMI: Small Giants. Our annual list spotlights 25 companies, all privately owned and closely held, that share a commitment to being the best, providing stellar service to customers, offering employees rewarding work, and the chance to be vital members of their communities.

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Justin Conklin
Resident List-Meister

P.S. Can't get enough of our lists? Check out this directory for over 125 lists, rankings, indexes and scorecards.

America's Richest Self-Made Women

Cover Story: Serena Williams is the first athlete ever to make Forbes’ annual list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women, with an estimated fortune of $225 million, the vast majority earned by brains and branding rather than her backhand. Read: Inside Serena Williams’ Plan To Ace Venture Investing

Conversation Starter: What does the term "self-made" mean? Forbes came up with a scoring system in 2014 that ranks the richest on a scale of 1 to 10. Based on that scale, someone who inherited everything scores a 1, while someone who not only grew up poor but also experienced substantial hardships—like Oprah Winfrey—scores a 10. Read: Here's What Forbes Means By Self-Made: From Bootstrappers To Silver Spooners

Behind The Scenes Video: An exclusive look behind the list with assistant managing editor Luisa Kroll, who discusses surprising additions to this year's list, what it takes to make the cut and more. Watch: Inside The list: America's Richest Self-Made Women 2019

DNA Decoder: Since its launch, around 10 million people have spit into a 23andMe plastic tube to get their ancestry or health-risk results. Nearly 5 million customers did so last year alone, generating an estimated $475 million in revenue for the company and making Anne Wojcicki worth an estimated $690 million. Read: Live Long And Prosper: How Anne Wojcicki’s 23andMe Will Mine Its Giant DNA Database For Health And Wealth

Flying High: In 2001, Kathleen Hildreth cofounded aviation maintenance company M1 Support Services, which pulled in $680 million revenue in 2018. Forbes estimates Hildreth’s fortune at $370 million, thanks to her majority stake, enough for the veteran to make her debut this year. Read: This U.S. Veteran Is One Of The Most Successful Women In America

Growing An Empire: Famous first as a singer, Rihanna has evolved into a style icon and makeup entrepreneur—and soon she’ll be the first black woman in charge of a major luxury fashion house. All those efforts add up to a $600 million fortune, making her the wealthiest female musician in the world. Read: How Rihanna Created A $600 Million Fortune—And Became The World’s Richest Female Musician

The Countdown: No 5. Thai Lee ($3 billion), No. 4 Judy Faulkner ($3.6 billion), No.3 Marian Ilitch ($3.7 billion), No.2 Meg Whitman ($3.8 billion) and No.1 ...

Editor's Insight: "It's interesting to look at these companies on a state-by-state level as compared to their ranking on our national list of America's Best Employers. Some of the results show just how different work experiences can be from state to state," says associate editor Vicky Valet.

Big Winners: Costco Wholesale, Google and Boeing earned the most No. 1 spots this year. Costco Wholesale took the top spot in nine states while Google and Boeing both reigned supreme in three. The US Department of Defense, while not claiming the most No. 1 spots, holds a place on the list in a total of 38 states plus the District of Columbia.

Special Delivery: FedEx, which ranks in 25 states, emphasizes the importance of career growth. By prioritizing the consideration of internal talent for open positions, FedEx is not only able to retain many of its workers but also to develop them throughout their careers. Read: From Alabama To Wyoming, Meet America’s Best Employers By State 2019

Methodology: To determine the list, Statista surveyed 50,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 500 employees. The respondents (all anonymous) were asked to rate, on a scale of zero to 10, how likely they’d be to recommend their employer to others.

Family Ties: "There is a fair amount of family involvement with the companies on this list. Paul Wurzer started FBS Data Systems and passed it down to his son Michael. Arkadium is owned by husband-and-wife team Jessica and Kenny Rosenblatt. Filtrine Manufacturing has been run by the same family since 1918, and LiveData began focusing on healthcare after the death of CEO Jeff Robbins' son," says deputy editor Anne Glusker.

How-To Know How: WikiHow’s CEO is an engineer named Elizabeth Douglas, and 55% of the staff is female. The shared goal of building the world’s best and largest how-to website—it now has 180,000 articles—has guided every major decision at the company, from turning down VC investments to walking away from tempting acquisition offers.

Fast Fact: Over 200 applications were submitted. Only 25 made the cut for this very exclusive list.

Editor's Insights: "These companies are reviewed very closely. Being a Small Giant is about putting the employees, customers, community and world above profits and shareholder returns. These are companies who choose to be great instead of big," says editor Fred Allen.

The Messenger Is Key: Marketing firm Rescue Agency has come up with a unique way to deliver public health messages by partnering with figures who can best speak to specific community values and priorities. Drag queens deliver antismoking pitches to the LGBTQ community and rappers star in videos aimed at teens. Rescue’s customers include the FDA and state and local health agencies. “The people who see our ads see themselves in them,” says founder Jeffrey Jordan.

Everybody's A Winner: Last year at Great Lakes Brewing Company’s annual off-site ­summit, its two founders told all the employees, "Everyone’s a winner. So get in line to pick up your prize." The prize: a new employee stock ownership program. "What a moment it was," then-CEO Bill Boor said. "There were hugs and tears and high fives." Great Lakes was the first craft brewer in Ohio and is known for its environmental initiatives, recycling more than 70% of its waste. 

Methodology: To be considered a Small Giant, the company must be at least ten years old, profitable and privately owned, and with majority control in the hands of inside shareholders. There is no minimum size or revenue requirement. "What they share is a refusal to grow at any cost. They won’t sacrifice their values to get bigger, and they don’t measure their success by their size or rate of growth," writes list creator Bo Burlington.

Thanks for reading. See you next Sunday...

Looking Ahead

Next week, Forbes will launch our annual ranking of The World's Highest-Paid Athletes. Last year, Floyd Mayweather topped the list thanks to a $275 million payday for his boxing match against UFC star Conor McGregor.

Now that summer travel is in full swing, we'll take a look at airlines that get you to where you're going the fastest with our new list, The Best Airlines For Fast Arrivals.

We'll finish out the week with The Forbes Five: Hip-Hop's Wealthiest Artists.  With Jay-Z now a billionaire, where will the others on the list land? 

Now Hear This: In his newest podcast, Forbes Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes speaks with Nathan Lewis, economic expert and writer, who shares economic success stories for the countries that have employed what he calls “the magic formula”: low taxes and stable money. Subscribe for free to "What's Ahead" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.