BY KAREN BOSSICK

Did you know that just 6.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women? That American women started between 30 percent and 40 percent of all businesses but those account for just 4 percent of the income earned? That just 20 percent of venture capital dollars went to companies with a female founder in 2018?

That a quarter of fifth-grade girls think they’re not smart enough to pursue their dream career and that number doubles by high school?

Diana Kapp will introduce readers to women who have broken through the glass ceiling to start successful innovative businesses in a variety of fields, including biotech, construction, food and online fashion, during a presentation at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, at Ketchum’s Community Library.

Kapp is the author of “Girls Who Run the World: 31 CEOs Who Mean Business.”

The book is described as part biography and part business how-to with its look at how to write a business plan, file a patent and brainstorm a killer idea. It’s also been labeled a “blueprint for badassery and bravery”…a guide and source of inspiration for future entrepreneurs.

The book tells the story of 31 leading ladies of companies, such as Soul Cycle, PopSugar, Spanx, Rent the Runway and Embrace, which saves premature babies.

Joining Kapp for the conversation is Gretchen Wagner, an architect and principal of scape design studio in Ketchum. The conversation will feature stories geared for all ages, as you’re never too young to dream big.

Kapp ‘s work has a journalist has taken her inside San Quentin prison to cover an entrepreneur training program and to Afghanistan to profile a female school builder. She has written about education, culture and technology for such publications as the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, O the Oprah Magazine and Marie Claire.

Iconoclast Books will have copies of her book at the presentation.

JOLABOKAFLOD COMING ON CHRISTMAS EVE

The Community Library’s Children’s Library is inviting children and their parents to stop by the new Library Treehouse from noon to 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve for a sweet holiday treat and a good read to take home on Christmas Eve.

This is being done in the spirit of Iceland’s Jolabokaflod, which means “the Christmas book flood.” It was founded during World War II when paper was one of the few commodities not rationed as an impetus to read during the holiday season.