It's interesting how life and business works. As a writer, I often find myself working on a wide variety of projects -- from a biography on the woman who in 1873 planted the two navel orange trees that became a multi-billion-dollar industry in Southern California, to a book on the history of Network Solutions -- the company that during the '90s midwifed the dot-com revolution -- to a book on two-time America's Cup winner Peter Isler's sailing secrets. Lately, however, the universe's mysterious synchronicities have put me squarely in the middle of the topic of women in business.

For that reason I found the following infographic on the rise of the female entrepreneur particularly timely. It's hard for me to believe that 40 years ago -- in 1972 -- only 1 in every 25 businesses were owned by women. Today that number is about 1 in every 3.

Women are the present and future of business in America, and our nation's future prosperity depends on their increased participation -- as owners, board members, C-level executives, managers, supervisors, and workers. Given the current state of the economy, we need all the help we can get.