Winona LaDuke was born in Los Angeles, California, to a Jewish mother and an Ojibwe father from the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. From a young age, she was fascinated by her father’s powwows and tribal culture and traditions. At 5, her parents divorced, and LaDuke moved with her mother to Ashland, Oregon. After high school, she attended Harvard University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in economics in 1982. During school, she joined a group of Indigenous activists and assisted the civil rights activist Jimmie Durham in his research on the effects of uranium mining in Navajo reservations. After graduating, LaDuke moved to White Earth to work as the reservation high school’s principal. Soon, she became involved with the Anishinaabeg’s lawsuit to reclaim lands promised to them in a federal treaty in 1867. Initially, the reservation spanned 837,000 acres, but due to government policies allowing lumber companies and non-Native groups to seize the land, more than 90 percent were taken away by 1934. In 1985, at 26, LaDuke founded the Indigenous Women’s Network – a collective of 400 Native women activists and organizations committed to enhancing the representation of Native women, empowering them to participate in tribal politics and cultural endeavors actively. She also worked with Women of All Red Nations to raise awareness of the forced sterilization of Native American women. In 1989, LaDuke received her master’s in community economic development from Antioch University. That same year, LaDuke founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP), a non-profit organization that works on buying back reservation lands. By 2000, WELRP bought 1,200 acres, preserving them in a conservation trust for future transfer to the tribe’s possession. Focusing on sustainable development, WELRP has supported many initiatives, including indigenous farming, local food systems, local wild rice crop protection from patenting and genetic engineering, renewable energy, sanitation improvement, and a diaper service that reduces waste from disposable diapers while saving money. In the early 1990s, LaDuke joined forces with the musical due Indigo Girls to arrange a series of concerts to raise awareness of Native issues. In 1993, they founded together Honor the Earth, a non-profit organization promoting financial support for Indigenous environmental justice. In 1996 and 2000, LaDuke delved deeper into politics when serving as Ralph Nader’s running mate on the Green Party presidential ticket. She also was involved with the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests and led the protests against the Line 3 pipeline of 2020-2021. LaDuke is a strong advocate for the cultivation of marijuana and industrial hemp on Indigenous tribal lands to generate economic benefits and foster local economic self-reliance. Since 2017, she has devoted most of her time to farming and established Winona’s Hemp & Heritage Farm to create an economy led by Indigenous women that focuses on local food, energy, and fiber while prioritizing environmental sustainability. Read more...

Naomi Elaine Campbell was born in London, England. Until age two, she lived in Rome, where her mother worked as a dancer. Then, she returned to live with relatives in London while her mother toured with her dancing company. At the age of three, she began attending the Barbara Speake Stage School, and at 10, she enrolled in the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts to study ballet. In 1986, while window-shopping in Covent Garden, Campbell was scouted by the head of the Synchro Model Agency, making her first cover shoot for Elle magazine a month before her 16th birthday. From that on, her career took off, walking the runway for top designers, such as Gianni Versace and Isaac Mizrahi, and working with A-list photographers, including Bruce Weber and Peter Lindbergh. Within only a few years, alongside Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington, Campbell formed the Trinity trio, which marked the beginning of the supermodels’ era. As one of the most recognizable and sought-after models, Campbell often broke the color barrier and made history as the first black cover girl in several magazines, including British Vogue (1987), French Vogue (1988), American Vogue (1989), and Time (1991). In the mid-1990s, Campbell began to branch out of modeling. In 1994, she published her first book, a novel titled Swan, released an album called Baby Woman, had various roles in films and TV shows, and in 1999, at 29, she signed with Cosmopolitan Cosmetics and launched her first signature fragrance. Over the following decades, Campbell continued to model both on the runway and for magazines and advertising campaigns for brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Victoria’s Secret, and Louis Vuitton. She also developed her TV persona, serving as a coach and judge for the modeling competition The Face and as a recurring character in the drama Empire and American Horror Story: Hotel. Despite her supermodel status and being the most famous black model of her time, Campbell encountered bias in the fashion industry and didn’t receive as many campaigns as her white colleagues. Throughout her career, she was outspoken about the subject, and in 2013, together with fellow black models Bethann Hardison and Iman, she established the Diversity Coalition. In addition to fighting against racism and discrimination, Campbell has been using her fame to advocate for many causes. She is involved with various non-profit organizations, from the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund to the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer. In 2005, she founded the organization We Love Brazil to fight poverty in Brazil. That same year she established Fashion for Relief, which organizes fund-raising fashion shows for the victims of humanitarian crises such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Haiti earthquake in 2010, the earthquake in Japan in 2011, and the 2017 Syrian refugee crisis. She also serves as the honorary president of Athla Onlus, which works for the social integration of people with learning disabilities in Italy, and as a goodwill ambassador for the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood. Read more...

Ellen Browning Scripps was born in London, England, one of six children. In 1844, after her mother died and her father’s bookbinding shop failed, the family moved to the US, settling in Rushville, Illinois. There, her father re-married and had four more children. Scripps was an avid reader from an early age and received her education at local private schools and seminars. In 1855, at 19, she gained a teaching certificate and taught for a year before attending Knox College in Galesburg, IL, studying science and mathematics. After graduating with honors, Scripps returned to Rushville and taught in a one-room schoolhouse. In 1867, 31 years old Scripps joined her half-brother, James E. Scripps, in Detroit and invested her saving in his new newspaper, The Detroit Evening News. She worked there as a proofreader and began to write a daily column titled Matters and Things, expressing her progressive thinking and opinions about the news and daily events. During the 1870s and 1880s, more of her brothers joined the enterprise, forming various partnerships that created America’s largest chain of newspapers, which included the St. Louis Chronicle, The Cincinnati Post, and The Cleveland Press. As a shareholder, Scripps had a pivotal role in securing the company. Her financial devices often saved the company. She kept investing in her brothers’ growing chain of newspapers, which includes dozens of local newspapers, such as the Kansas City Star, The Los Angeles Record, The San Francisco News, The Seattle Star, The Portland News, and The Tacoma Times. These newspapers were all working-men oriented, pitching to the miners, cannery, and dock workers. As the business expanded, Scripps became a wealthy woman, and while leaving modestly, she put her fortune aside as “a trust for the benefit of humanity.” In 1890, she and her brother E.W. bought land in San Diego, where she established the Miramar Ranch. In 1897, at 61, Scripps moved to a cottage in La Jolla, became involved with various movements and progressive causes, and co-founded the La Jolla Woman’s Club. At the time, she began to reap the benefit of her investments and used her fortune for extensive philanthropy work. She donated to causes close to her heart, like research, science, and education, mainly for women. She also promoted wildlife preservation, donating to organizations such as Scripps College, the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, the San Diego Zoo, and the San Diego Natural History Museum. In the last three decades of her life, Scripps donated more than $2 million, which today is approximately $39,722,000. Although her generosity drew public attention, Scripps avoided publicizing her philanthropy work and stayed away from the spotlights. She died a few weeks before her 96th birthday. Read more...

Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel was born in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France. She grew up poor, and at 11, after her mother died, she and two of her sisters were sent to an orphanage. There, she learned to sew, a skill that would serve her later in life. At 18, she started working as a seamstress while trying to launch a career as a singer, performing in cabaret shows. During this time, she received the nickname, Coco. At 23, she began a relationship with Etienne Balsan, who introduced her to the “rich life” and high society circles. She began working as a milliner and hat designer at the time. Two years later, she left Balsan for one of his friends, Arthur “Boy” Capel, who encouraged her to cultivate her talent and passion, and financed her first millinery shop at 21 rue Cambon, Paris, which opened in 1910. Two years later, she opened a boutique in Deauville, where, in addition to hats, she sold simple sportswear made of jersey, a fabric that until then was used to make men’s underwear. Her revolutionary clothing drew the attention of several well-known actresses, who helped build her reputation. In 1915, at 32, Chanel opened her first Couture House in Biarritz and launched her first Haute Couture collection. The following year, she paid Capel back his original investment, made only three years before. In 1918, she purchased a building in 31 rue Cambon, Paris, and set up her Couture House as well as a boutique, workshop, and several salons. By then, Chanel was a popular figure in the Parisian art world and designed costumes for the Ballets Russes. Under the agenda that “luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury,” Chanel’s designs were always simple, comfortable, and yet luxurious, and by that, she revolutionized the fashion industry. In 1921, Chanel collaborated with the perfumer Ernst Beaux and launched her signature scent, Chanel No. 5 – the first designer perfume. She manufactured and distributed the fragrance with the help of Pierre Wertheimer of the Bourjois cosmetics company and Théophile Bader of the Galeries Lafayette department store in a controversial deal that left her with only 10% of the profits. She continued to expand the Chanel brand, adding a makeup collection in 1924 and introducing the Chanel collarless skirt suit and the iconic little black dress in the next couple of years. Her designs changed the face of fashion by removing the traditional corsets and confining garments and borrowing men’s wear elements. In the early 1930s, she was invited to Hollywood to design costumes for various films and soon became the private designer of A-list actresses such as Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo. During WW2, Chanel lived in the Hotel Ritz in Paris and became associated with a Nazi military officer. This connection tainted her reputation, and she closed her business for the next 15 years. In 1954, at 71, she reopened her Couture House and introduced several new styles, such as the bell-bottomed pants and the braided cardigan jacket, maintaining her agenda of a clean, classic luxurious look. Although she received harsh reviews, the shoppers thought otherwise, and her clothing returned to be a must-have in every fashionista’s closet. In the next two decades, Chanel continued to design new and innovative clothes, fragrances, and accessories, including bags, watches, and jewelry. She kept on running her brand until she died at the age of 88. Read more...

Beatriz de Luna was born in Lisbon, Portugal, to an exiled Spanish-Jewish family who was forced to convert to Christianity during the reign of King Manuel I of Portugal in 1497. At 18, she married her uncle, Francisco Mendes, a wealthy and successful trader. Ten years later, he died, leaving her half of his fortune and their daughter Ana. Soon after, she fled Portugal to escape the Portuguese Inquisition to Antwerp, in nowadays Belgium, joining her husband’s brother and business partner, Diogo. She took her late husband’s place in the family business, overseeing the expansion of the Mendes commercial empire, which included partnerships across Europe and the Middle East and loans to the monarchs of Germany, Portugal, England, and Turkey. In 1542, Diogo died, leaving her the control of the business and one of the richest women in Europe. Her enormous wealth allowed her to influence kings and church representatives and protect fellow converted Jews by establishing an escape network for Crypto-Jews to flee Spain and Portugal to Greece and the Ottoman Empire and save hundreds of Jews. Two years later, she moved to the Republic of Venice. Although Jews were not forbidden to practice their religion in Venice, they lived in ghettos, and she had to practice Judaism in secret while publicly presenting herself as Catholic. She successfully ran the family business, adding more trading products, such as textiles and grain. In 1549, Ercole II, Duke of Este, invited her to relocate her enterprise to the city of Ferrara. There, for the first time in her life, she openly practiced Judaism, adopted the Hebrew marital surname of her daughter, Nasi, and became known as Doña Gracia Nasi. She was active in the Sephardic community in Ferrara, using her fortune to promote literacy and printing, and initiated and benefactor the publication of the Ferrara Bible –the Ladino version of the Hebrew Bible. By the early 1550s, the approach toward Jews in Italy was increasingly hostile, and in 1533, Doña Gracia moved to Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, where Jews were welcome. She dedicated her time and wealth to benefit the Jewish relief, aiding fugitives from the Iberian Peninsula, supporting rabbinic scholars, and building synagogues, yeshivas, schools, and hospitals throughout the empire. She also established her own printing business, becoming the first woman printer and publisher in the Ottoman Empire and the first Jewish woman to do so. In 1558, 390 years before Israel was officially established, Doña Gracia leased land in Tiberius, then under the rule of the Ottomans and nowadays a city in the north of Israel. Her purpose was to rehabilitate the area, make it available for Jewish refugees to settle in the Holy land, and turn it into a center of Jewish trade and learning. She intended to live in the city but died before her dream was realized. She was 59 years old. Read more...

Viola Desmond was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to a white mother and a black father. Although intermarriages were uncommon then, her parents were accepted into the Black community and were active in various communal organizations. After graduating high school, she worked as a teacher in segregated schools for Black students. In those days, Black women were not allowed to go to beauty salons and beauty schools in Nova Scotia, so Desmond went to study the profession in Montreal and NYC at Madam C.J. Walker’s program. On her return to Halifax, she opened Vi’s Studio of Beauty Culture salon. Soon, she launched a line of skin and hair products for Black women called Vi’s Beauty Products and opened The Desmond School of Beauty Culture, in which she trained her students to open their own beauty salons. On November 8th, 1946, while on her way to a business meeting, her car broke down, and she had to stay overnight in New Glasgow. To pass the time, she went to see a movie at the Roseland Theatre. When buying the ticket, she requested a seat on the main floor, though, without informing her, the cashier gave her a balcony ticket, the area of the non-white customers. When she sat on the main floor, she was asked to move to her signed seat upstairs. At first, she thought it was a mistake and requested to change her ticket, but the cashier refused, explaining that “people like her” could not buy the downstairs tickets. Realizing that this discrimination was because of her skin color, she decided to take a stand and remain on the main floor. Then she was confronted by the manager, to whom she tried to explain that she was willing to pay the difference in the cost of the seats, but refused to leave the main floor. At that point, a police officer arrived, dragging her out of the theater, injuring her knee and hip, keeping her in jail overnight. In the morning, she was brought to court and charged with a case of tax evasion on the false claim that she refused to pay the amusement tax for the floor ticket. On her return to Halifax, Desmond decided to fight her conviction in court. With the financial help of the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NSAACP), she hired an attorney that filed a lawsuit against the Roseland Theatre. Her story got covered by the journalist and social activist Carrie Best, who published it on the first edition of The Clarion – the first black-owned newspaper in Nova Scotia. Desmond’s case was brought before Nova Scotia’s Supreme Court, but she lost her appeal because she missed the deadline for filing it. Though she lost her appeal, Desmond’s case resonant within Nova Scotia’s Black community and inspired the civil rights movement in Canada. The trial had a significant impact on her life. Not long after, she got divorced, closed her business in Halifax, and moved to Montreal. Eventually, she moved to NYC, where she died from gastrointestinal bleeding at the age of 50. On April 15th, 2010, more than 60 years after her conviction, Desmond became the first person in Canada to be granted a free pardon by the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Mayann Francis (the first woman and second black person to hold the position). Read more...

MacKenzie Scott Tuttle was born in San Francisco, California. Growing up, she loved to read and write stories, and at the age of 6, she wrote a 142-page book titled The Book Worm. After graduating high school, Scott attended Princeton University, studying English under Nobel prize Laureate Toni Morrison, later working as her research assistant. In 1992, at the age of 22, she worked at the hedge fund company D.E Shaw in NYC, where she met Jeff Bezos. The couple married in 1993, and the following year, they moved to Seattle, where her husband started the online marketing website Amazon.com with Scott by his side. She was one of Amazon’s first employees, working on its business plan, accounts, orders, and negotiating its first shipping contract. When the success took off, Scott became less involved in the business and focused on her children and literary career. In 2005, at 35, she published her first novel, The Testing of Luther Albright. Los Angeles Times named it the book of the year, and she received the American Book Award. In 2013, she published her second novel, Traps. Later that year, she founded the anti-bullying organization Bystander Revolution, where she serves as executive director. In 2019, at the age of 49, Scott and her husband separated. As part of the divorce deal, she received 25% of Amazon stock, worth $35.6 billion, and became the third richest woman in the United States. In that same year, she signed a Giving Pledge, in which she promised to donate at least half of her wealth over her lifetime. In 2020, Scott gave $5.8 billion to 500 non-profit organizations that promote causes close to her heart, including LGBTQ+ equality, racial equality, climate change, and Covid-19 relief. In 2021, she gave $2.7 billion to more than 280 organizations. In her action, Scott is changing the world of philanthropy, not only by the sum of money she is donating and the frequency she is giving it but also by her no-strings-attached philosophy. This system enables the organizations to use the funds according to their needs, with no restrictions, and by supporting hundreds of different causes and organizations, not a handful of steady ones. Read more...

Susan Diane Wojcicki was born in Palo Alto, California, and grew up on the Stanford campus, where her father taught physics. After graduating from Gunn High School, she attended Harvard University, studying history and literature to earn a Ph.D. in economics and pursue an academic career. In 1993, at 25, Wojcicki completed her master’s degree in economics at the University of California, followed by a Master of Business Administration from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. During her studies, she worked as a management consultant in R.B. Webber & Company and Bain & Company and at Intel’s marketing division. In 1998, at 30, Wojcicki married Dennis Troper, and the couple settled in Menlo Park, California. In that same year, she rented her garage space to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, who turned it into its headquarters. In the following year, Wojcicki joined Google as its first marketing manager and 16th employee. In the beginning, she worked on viral marketing programs, heading products such as AdSense, AdWords, and Google Analytics, before developing new services, such as Google Images and Google Books. Under her direction, Google became the leading company for online display advertising. In 2006, she initiated and handled the acquisition of YouTube for 1.65 billion dollars, and within two years, she oversaw two of Google’s biggest acquisitions – DoubleClick and AdMob. In 2010, she became senior vice president of AdWords and AdSense. In 2014, at the age of 46, Wojcicki was named CEO of YouTube. In this position, she is responsible for all the developments of the service, from channel memberships and merchandise to YouTube Premium and YouTube TV, and oversees the website’s localization all over the world. She tightened YouTube’s policy on videos that contain violent and hateful speeches. As a loud advocate against gender discrimination at technology companies, she increased the number of YouTube’s female employees from 24% to 30%. Along with her role at YouTube, Wojcicki serves on the boards of several organizations, including Salesforce, UCLA Anderson School of Management, and Room to Read, an organization that promotes gender equality in education. Wojcicki is also an activist and involved in numerous social causes, such as the expansion of paid family leave, girls in STEM, and support of Syrian refugees. Read more...

Donna Carpenter was born in NYC. At 17, while attending Barnard College, she met Jake Burton Carpenter, who founded Burton Snowboards. The following year, they married and moved to his house in Manchester, Vermont. Burton Snowboards operated from their house. The store was in the dining room and the shipping from the basement. Soon, Carpenter became a driving force in the business, helping with the designs and upgrading the manufacturing technology. In 1985, after Carpenter graduated college, the couple moved to Austria to establish a European base for the company. There, at the age of 22, Carpenter set up the headquarters and warehouse. After five years, they returned to the US, and Carpenter was nominated the chief financial officer and chief international officer. Over the years, Burton Snowboards became one of the largest and most successful snowboard companies in the world, with offices in the US, Canada, Austria, Japan, China, and Australia. The Carpenters are credited with modernizing the traditional snowboard and turning snowboarding from a hobby to the mainstream sport it is today. Their innovation manifested not only with the products but also in their management. In 2003, after attending a meeting with the company’s Global Directors, Carpenter realized that out of 25 people at the meeting, there were only two women in the room, including herself. Since then, the company has been working to promote diversity in the company and snowboarding. Today their CEO senior team is half men and half women. In 2016, at 51, Carpenter was named co-CEO of the company, a position she held for four years. In 2019, her husband had died of cancer, and Carpenter took many of his responsibilities, including chairman of Burton’s Board of Directors. Under her leadership, the company has been promoting diversity in the boardrooms as well as on the snowboard slopes and is using the sport to raise awareness of climate change and its hazards. Read more...

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born in Saint Michael, Barbados. Growing up, she witnessed her father struggles with alcohol and drug addiction and physically abusing her mother. It caused her chronic headaches, which improved at the age of 14 when her parents divorced. Singing was her way to release the tension at home, and at the age of 15, Rihanna formed a girl singing group with two of her friends. The trio landed an audition with the producer Evan Rogers, who invited her to a solo audition and then helped her record a demo tape. In the following year, 16 years old Rihanna moved to the US. She lived with Rogers and his wife and signed on a six-album record deal with Jay-Z’s record label Def Jam. At 17, Rihanna released her debut single, Pon de Replay. The song was an immediate success and paved the way to her first album, Music of the Sun, which sold over 2 million copies and received a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. Within less than a year, she released her second album, A Girl Like Me that included the number one hit SOS. The album topped the charts in more than 10 countries and gained Rihanna her first certified Platinum. In her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, Rihanna leaned into R&B. The album was sold in over 8 million copies, and its lead single, Umbrella with Jay-Z, earned Rihanna her first Grammy Award. In 2009, at the age of 21, Rihanna was physically assaulted by her boyfriend, Chris Brown. The incident got covered by tabloids all over the world. Her following album, Rated R, was influenced by her experiences and feelings of revenge. Two years later, she released her fifth studio album, Loud, which included the hits Only Girl (In the World) and S&M. At 23, she became the youngest artist to have 10 number one hits on the Billboard chart and the fastest to reach that milestone. By the age of 28, Rihanna recorded three more top-of-the-charts albums and dozens of number-one hits, including We, Found Love, Diamonds, and Work. She collaborated with A-list artists like Paul McCartney, Eminem, Kanye West, Britney Spears, and Shakira. By 2021, her eight studio albums sold more than 250 million copies worldwide, she became the youngest solo artist to score 14 number-one singles on the billboard hot 100 and received hundreds of awards for her music, including 9 Grammy Awards, 13 American Music Awards, and 8 Billboard Music Awards. Between one record to another, Rihanna is running various successful businesses. In 2011, she launched her first fragrance, followed by six more for both men and women. At 27, she established Fr8me, a beauty and stylist agency that assists artists in editorial shoots, booking commercials, and red-carpet looks. Two years later, she founded Fenty Beauty, the first cosmetics company that offers 40 different shaded foundations, bronzers, and other products that fit any skin color. The brand has changed the cosmetics industry with its diversity and setting a new standard for all the other companies. Rihanna continued her method of inclusivity by opening Savage X Fenty, a lingerie brand that provides products in a wide variety of sizes and shades. In 2019, she launched a line of clothing, footwear, and accessories under the LVMH group. Throughout the years, Rihanna used her fame and influence to help society. In 2006, she founded the Believe Foundation for terminally ill children, and in 2012 she established the Clara Lionel Foundation to fund education and early response programs. She is a loud advocate against LGBT discrimination and for women’s rights. She is often performing on benefit shows and donates millions of dollars to various causes, such as the rehabilitation after Hurricane Sandy, COVID-19 relief, and more. Read more...