Women with children have historically been innovative entrepreneurs. From her kitchen table, Lillian Vernon launched a unique personalized giftware line and Estée Lauder built one of the world’s biggest cosmetics empires, bringing her husband in to work for her. With that earlier generation in mind, we look at the spirit of entrepreneurship that helps drive America and takes women beyond their comfort zones while raising their families.

We chose workingmother.com’s Most Powerful Moms: Entrepreneurs with specific criteria. First, the woman must be both an entrepreneurial innovator and someone who is building a major business—we took both the company’s mission and the amount of net revenue into account. Each woman must have at least one child in her household who is 18 years old or younger.  The list illustrates how working moms are leading the charge and proving once again that necessity and innovation go hand in hand with mothers of invention.

Most Powerful Moms: Entrepreneurs in pictures

We have tried to represent a diversity of women entrepreneurs (there were so many to choose from) in a variety of industries. Despite the range of women on this list—some key trends stand out. Several of the working moms we have highlighted  are online pioneers and web entrepreneurs. All of the companies represented are relatively new–having been founded in the last 10 years. This makes their explosive growth all the more inspiring.  

One powerful mom on our list is thriving by conquering a domain traditionally considered male. Jamie Arundell Latsaw, an army veteran, founded Lexicon Consulting with her husband to offer training to troops about to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan. The company, which was founded in 2005, now brings in $14.4 million dollars a year (and they expect to have $35 million in revenue in 2011). Leah Brown, a mom to teenage sons, started A10 Clinical Solutions, which runs clinical trials for major pharmaceutical companies like Merck & Co.

Not surprisingly, several of the stars on our list are conquering the fashion world. Mom to three Tory Burch founded her namesake clothing and accessories line in 2004 and it has been a hit ever since. The company had over $300 million in revenue in 2010; and New York fashion consulting firm Tobe Report, estimates Burch's revenue could climb to $1 billion in the next five to ten years. Alexis Maybank and Alexandra Wilkis Wilson met in Harvard Business School and founded Gilt Groupe in 2007, wanting to bring the sample sale experience online. The company had over $500 million in revenue in 2010, and it’s growth appears to be far from over.  

Three others on workingmother.com’s list have started companies that directly address the demands and needs of moms. Sheila Lirio Marcelo founded Care.com to help connect moms with quality caregivers online. They define caregivers as helpers for any age, not just children. Shazi Visram founded Happy Baby Food in 2006, which produces gourmet and organic baby food for tots. The line that includes organic baby cereal and frozen squash has been a runaway success and is sold in supermarkets like Whole Foods.  

Quite a few of the women on our list are rethinking traditional businesses to explosive results. Robin Chase founded Zipcar in 1999, altering the notion that every family needs to own a car. Zipcar allows its customers to rent a car easily for as short as an hour or by the day. Chase left Zipcar in 2003, and is now trying to make carpooling cool with her new start-up GoLoco.org. Then there is Crumbs Bake Shop co-founder Mia Bauer. She started a mom-and-pop cupcake bakery on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with her husband in 2003. They sold it in 2010 for $82.1 million (she’s staying on with the company). Sarah Beatty who we’ve named a Most Powerful Mom in the Green Leaders category once again lands on our list. She took the idea of a home improvement store and put a green spin on it, launching Green Depot in 2005.  

How do these mom entrepreneurs make it work? Our celebrity mom entrepreneur Bethenny Frankel (who has her hands in everything from bestselling books to a line of Margaritas) told us, “My secret to balancing it all is that I have let go of trying to balance it all. I try to sleep when I can and that’s the best I can do.”