Girls just wanna have fun, or businesses

On Sunday, fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer died at the age of 81. Her bright patterns and dresses made her an icon and earned her celebrity clients, such as Jacqueline Kennedy.

In 1952, Lilly Pulitzer married Herbert Pulitzer Jr., the grandson of publisher Joseph Pulitzer. They lived in Palm Beach at the Pulitzer estate in the citrus groves. As the story goes, Lilly Pulitzer opened a juice stand and designed her unique dresses to disguise the orange and grapefruit stains that would get on her clothing.

During its popularity in the '60s and '70s her brand had sales of more than $15 million. The label was revived 20 years ago by a licensing company and has annual net sales of more than $100 million, according to the New York Times.

But, speaking of strong Florida businesswomen, in the 2013 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report commissioned by American Express Florida ranks fourth in number of women-owned businesses in the U.S. for 2013.

There are an estimated 8.6 million women owned businesses and 572,900 of those firms are in Florida.

Florida has some of the fastest growth in women-owned firms from 1997 to 2013 (70%.)

Tampa/St. Petersburg made the list for a high growth in the number of women owned firms (37.7%)

Florida, growing strong women, could be the new business slogan. It's a little funny when you remember the controversy over the controversial Enterprise Florida logo.