Gwynne Shotwell, 1963

Shotwell in 2018. Photo credit - Wikipedia

Businesswoman and engineer, the President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, and grew up in Libertyville, Illinois. From an early age, Shotwell was interested in machines and vehicles, fixing things around the house and repairing her bike. Space was never her passion, but when she was thinking about what she will be as a grown-up, her mother took her to a Society of Women Engineer’s event, which inspired her to study mechanical engineering. After high school, she attended Northwestern University, from which she received a bachelor’s degree with honors and continued studying for a master’s degree in applied mathematics.

Shotwell wanted to pursue a career in the automotive industry and worked for a while at Chrysler Corporation. A few years later, she decided to focus on spacecraft engineering and started working at the Aerospace Corporation research center. For ten years, she worked on thermal analysis, space shuttle integration, spacecraft design, and infrared signature target modeling. At 35, she joined Microcosm Inc, where she was the director of the space systems division. Four years later, a former colleague introduced her to Elon Mask and his new startup – SpaceX, aiming to sell reusable rockets to commercial satellite companies at the lowest possible cost. She became the vice president of business development at SpaceX, and within six years, she promoted to be the President and Chief Operating Officer. In this position, she is responsible for the company’s operations and managing customer and strategic relations, turning Musk’s visions into a viable business. Under her leadership, the company signed on a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA, and its net worth grew over $7 billion.

In addition to her work at SpaceX, Shotwell is devoted to promoting STEM education programs. She also serves at the Advisory Committee of the United States Export-Import Bank as well as at the Federal Aviation Administration. She is an advisory council for Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and a fellow member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. She gives speeches at various business forums and authored dozens of papers on space-related subjects.
 

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“To me, work-life balance means stable, not necessarily 50-50.”

“To me, work-life balance means stable, not necessarily 50-50.”

Fun Facts

  • She was one of three women in a class of 36 students at Northwestern University.
  • After college, she was recruited by an HVAC company but got rejected when they realized she is a woman.
  • She was the seventh employee to join SpaceX.
  • She has two children from her first marriage, a son and a daughter.
  • She met her second husband while volunteering at the University of Southern California; they both helped students with their satellite projects.
  • She watched the launch of Falcon 1 (the first successful launch of Space X rocket) on her laptop in a hotel bathroom, she did not want the noise to disturb her sleeping husband.

Awards

  • The World Technology Award for Individual Achievement in Space (2011)
  • Inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame (2012)
  • Satellite Executive of the Year (2017)
  • Forbes' America's Top 50 Women in Tech (2018)
  • Via Satellite Executive of the Year Award (2018)
  • One of Forbes’ 55th most powerful woman in the world (2020)

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Category: Business & Entrepreneurship and Science & Technology
Tags: Businesswoman and Engineer

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Adena Friedman WWP
Economics & Finance

Adena Friedman, 1969

A businesswoman, the president and CEO of Nasdaq, the first woman in this position and to lead a global exchange.

Born Adena Robinson Testa in Baltimore, Maryland. She earned her BA in political science from Williams College in Massachusetts and an MBA from Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. In 1993, at the age of 24, she married Michael Cameron Friedman. In that same year, she joined Nasdaq as an intern and soon began moving up. In her first 18 years at Nasdaq, Friedman served in various positions, such as marketing manager, head of data products, head of corporate strategy, and Chief Financial Officer. In 2011, at 42, Friedman left Nasdaq to join Carlyle Group, a private investment firm in Washington DC. There, she served as Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director. After three years, she returned to Nasdaq as president and Chief Operating Officer. In 2017, in addition to her role as president, 48 years old Freidman was appointed CEO of the Nasdaq. The first woman in this position and the first woman to lead a global exchange. She oversees the company’s business segments, focusing on efficiency, product development, expansion, and growth. Under her leadership, Nasdaq transformed into a leading global exchange and technology solutions company, operating across six continents. In addition to her work in Nasdaq, Freidman is also a member of several boards. Among them are – the board of directors at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the board of FCLTGlobal – a non-profit organization that works on ways to encourage long-term investing, and the board of Greater Washington, DC. A Chapter of Junior Achievement – a non-profit organization that supports teens in their way to financial independence. Freidman often speaks about women in leadership positions, advocating for mentoring and creating career opportunities for women in the financial industry. This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Anna-Wintour-WWP
Fashion & Beauty

Anna Wintour, 1949

The legendary editor in chief of Vogue magazine; one of the most powerful fashion industry figures.

Anna Wintour was born in London, England, the eldest of five children. Her interest in fashion started at a young age, watching music television broadcasts and reading Seventeen magazine. She attended North London Collegiate School, where she was known for being a rebel for shortening the hemlines of her skirts. At age 15, she began to work at a fashion boutique, and at 16, she dropped out of school to participate in a training program at Harrods while taking fashion classes. Not long after, she began to work at OZ magazine. At the age of 21, Harper’s & Queen magazine hired her as an editorial assistant, and a few years later, she moved to NYC to work as a junior fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar, from which she got fired because she “did not understand the American market.” Afterward, she found an editor position at an erotic magazine for women, and when it shut down, she took a hiatus from work for a couple of years. In 1980, she returned to NYC and worked as a fashion editor in several magazines until she landed a position as Vogue’s first creative director. At the time, she began dating her future husband, David Shaffer and got married in 1984. The following year, she moved back to London to take over the UK Vogue. After two years, she relocated to NYC to edit House & Garden magazine but shortly after, she was appointed editor-in-chief of US Vogue. In her new position, she made radical changes in the magazine, renewing its focus on fashion and changing the style of the cover pictures. She began to present unfamiliar models and famous women on the covers and mixed high fashion with inexpensive clothes. Under her editorship, the magazine became at the forefront of the fashion world, setting new trends and launching the careers of many models, photographers, and designers. She became and still is the fashion world queen and a fashion icon. This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Annie Turnbo Malone WWP
Business & Entrepreneurship

Annie Turnbo Malone, 1869-1957

An inventor and entrepreneur who established one of the first black-oriented cosmetic empires and the first African-American woman self-made millionaire.

Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone was born in Metropolis, Illinois, the tenth of eleven children of formerly enslaved parents. Her parents died when she was young, and she moved to nearby Peoria to live with her sister. There, she attended high school and developed an interest in chemistry. She was also fascinated with hair, often styling her sister’s hair and becoming aware of the differences between hair textures. These days, women used soap, heavy oils, goose fat, and bacon grease to straighten curly hair, which irritated the scalp and damaged the hair. Combining her love of hair and chemistry, she began experimenting on herself, developing a hair product that straightened black hair with no side effects. In 1900, at the age of 31, Turnbo moved to Lovejoy (today Brooklyn, Illinois) and began manufacturing a line of hair straightener products, including a hair-stimulant for African-American women, “Wonderful Hair Grower.” Her target customers were black women who could not access traditional distribution places, so Turnbo promoted her products by going door-to-door and offering free demonstrations. After achieving success in the local market, she wanted to expand her clientele and moved to St. Louis, MO, where she hired three employees who continued her door-to-door method. Soon after, she opened her first shop. Turnbo held news conferences and went on tours throughout the South to promote her products, giving demonstrations and recruiting women as local sales agents. By 1910, she broadened her line to include cosmetics, and under the label Poro, she manufactured lipstick, shades, cold cream, face powder, and her famous hair grower. In 1914, at the age of 45, Turnbo married her second husband, Aaron Eugene Malone, and appointed him as the company’s chief manager and president. In 1918, she founded a cosmetology school called Poro College. The college curriculum included classes on nurturing and styling black hair as well as personal coaching on how to walk, talk, and dress as a “Poro agent.” The college building had a retail store, manufacturing plant, auditorium, offices, chapel, gymnasium, and dormitory. It served as a community center and a meeting place for organizations such as the National Negro Business League. The center became a source of employment for many African Americans, especially women. Through the school and the Poro franchise, Turnbo’s business employed almost 75,000 women in the US, South America, Africa, and the Philippines. By the 1920s, Turnbo became one of the wealthiest African American women, with an estimated worth of $14 million. Despite her wealth, she lived modestly, donating thousands of dollars to various establishments, such as the local black YMCA, the Tuskegee Institute, and the Howard University College of Medicine, in addition to supporting two students in every black land-grant college in the US. In 1927, at the age of 58, Turnbo divorced her husband. He forced her into a court battle in which he demanded half of its value as the company’s president. She reached a settlement that affirmed her as the business’s sole owner but harmed the business’s financial worth. Three years later, she relocated her business to Chicago to a city block she bought. During the 40s-50s, she spent much of her time fighting lawsuits in court, first from a former employee who claimed credit for her success and then from the government for unpaid taxes. Eventually, she had to sell most of her properties to pay her debts. Afterward, the business continued to operate but on a significantly smaller scale. Turnbo continued to run her business until she died of a stroke at the age of 87. This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Betty-Reid-Soskin-WWP
Academy & Education

Betty Reid Soskin, 1921

A singer, businesswoman, and social activist. The oldest National Park Ranger in the US.

Betty Charbonnet was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a Cajun and Creole African-American family. Until the age of 6, she grew up in New Orleans, but when the Mississippi River flooded the area in 1927, the family joined the Great Migration and moved to Oakland, California. During World War II, Soskin got a job as a file clerk for the segregated International Boilermakers Union in Richmond, where the Rosie the Riveter historical site is located today. After the war, Soskin and her first husband, Mel Reid, lived in Berkeley, California, where they established a record store specializing in Gospel music. A few years later, they relocated to Walnut Creek, California, the only black family in the suburb. There, they often encountered racism and even death threats. Soskin joined the Black Caucus of the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Mount Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church. Soon, she became involved with the Civil Rights Movement, serving as a “bag lady” for the Black Panthers and writing songs for and about the cause. At the age of 51, she divorced, and not long after, she married William Soskin, a psychology professor. At the time, she became an active member of the Democratic Party, serving as a national convention delegate during the 1972 presidential campaign of George McGovern. In 1978, Soskin took over managing of the store record in Berkeley due to her first husband’s health issues. There, she became a community activist, promoting the interests of the residents and business owners. When the National Park Service began building Rosie the Riveter historical site, Soskin, among other “Rosies,” was invited to a presentation. Been the only person of color in the room and the only one who could identify the site as a place of segregation and racism, Soskin was invited to help design the reconstructions and add her perspective as a woman of color to the historical narrative of the war effort. In 2012, at the age of 85, she was appointed as a national park ranger at the site. In this position, she conducts tours and lectures about her experiences as a young black woman working during the war at the segregated union hall. As of 2021, 100 years old Soskin is the oldest National Park Ranger in the US. On March 31st, 2022, she retired at the age of 100. This post is also available in: Español Read more...
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