Have you ever been told you are not creative? Or has your creativity gone unrecognized? Take encouragement from these stories of people who persevered in the face of criticism and apathy:

Margaret Knight is remembered as “the female Edison.” She received 26 patents for a diversity of items such as a window frame and sash, machinery for cutting shoe soles, and even improvements to internal combustion engines! Her most significant patent was for machinery that would automatically fold and glue paper bags to create square bottoms, the results of which we still enjoy to this day. It is said that the workmen who were installing the equipment she invented refused her advice in the process because, “after all, what does a woman know about machines?”

In 1886 Josephine Cochran declared, “If nobody else is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I’ll do it myself!” She proceeded to do so, inventing the world’s first practical dish-cleaning dishwasher. She unveiled her invention at the 1893 World’s Fair, expecting the public to embrace it.  Unfortunately only the hotels and large restaurants were buying her ideas, and it was not until the 1950s that dishwashers became popular with the general public. Josephine Cochran’s machine was a hand-operated mechanical dishwasher, and she eventually founded a company to manufacture these washers. The company eventually became KitchenAid.

Marion Donovan was a young mother in the post-war baby boom era. She came from a family of inventors and had inherited their creativity. Unhappy with leaky, cloth diapers that had to be washed, she first invented the ‘Boater’, a plastic covering for cloth diapers she had made from a shower curtain.

A year later she carried her idea further, using disposable absorbent material and combining it with her Boater design. Marion Donovan had created the first disposable diaper.

Manufacturers were not interested in her design, saying her product would be too expensive to produce.  Unable to sell or license her diaper patent, Marion Donovan went into business for herself. A few years later, she was able to sell her company for $1 million.