14 Of The Most Powerful Women Of Today
They say it's a mans world but for years women all around the world have been proving that to be entirely untrue, sorry James Brown! With current affairs and certain politicos making drastic changes towards women's equality women have been taking control and taking over. Although woman are still likely to be paid less than a man hired for the same job, recently women have been demanding more cash money. Women are taking control of their lives, their rights and their vaginas. Women have been underestimated and overlooked for years in a world that is primarily tailored for a man. The majority of jobs are in a male-dominated field especially the high paying ones and the handful of female-dominated jobs are the same stereotypical jobs they've been for 60 years like teaching, administrative work and nursing. More women are taking high power positions in male-dominated fields, making more money and bridging gender gaps. The following list of women have made history, led the way for women in mostly male dominated fields and or taken a stance for women's equality.
14 Oprah
Not much needs to be said about Oprah because well, she's Oprah. Anyone that is known on a first name basis holds a lot of power or just has a really unique first name; either way there is no doubt that Oprah is a powerful woman. Oprah Winfrey is best known for her highly popular international talk show the Oprah Winfrey Show but her titles also include actress, producer and philanthropist. She is the first black American billionaire. Her monthly magazine O: The Oprah Magazine has been successful since 2000 and in 1999 She co-founded Oxygen Media, a company that dedicates Internet programing and cable shows to women. After her contract with ABC ended in 2011 she started her own network The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), what else would she name it right? Winfrey's tear jerking interviews have made her one of the most well known names in TV and media. Winfrey has been said to be the most influential woman of her generation and the greatest black philanthropist in American history and in 2013 former President Obama awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contributions to the country. Oprah not only cashes checks she writes them just as much. Her success and influence makes her one of the most powerful women of today, yaaas queen!
13 Michelle Obama
Former first lady, Michelle Obama is basically always hash tag goals and there should be a shrine dedicated to her if there isn't one already. She was the first black American first lady of the United States from 2009-2017 and her departure from the white house was a somber goodbye. Obama focuses on issues like poverty, education and helping working women balance career and family. She also promotes healthy lifestyles at schools and started a fitness program for kids so that she can make efforts to end childhood obesity. She has made iconic speeches some of which were so good that they were plagiarized. Being from the south side of Chicago Michelle overcame the statistics and graduated cum laude from Princeton University she then studied at Harvard Law School. Obama's confidence has allowed her to make an enormously positive impact on the U.S. as she encourages young girls and minorities to go after what they want with out fear.
12 Anna Wintour
With a stone face and signature bob, Anna Wintour is one of the most powerful women in fashion. As the editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine she basically controls all of our fashion trends and after becoming artistic director for 21 of Condé Nast's publications in 2013 Wintour's influence continues to grow. Wintour has a long history with magazines working as an editor for publications like Harper's Bazaar, New York magazine and Home and Garden. Her perfectionist mentality and strong opinions allowed her to give new life to suffering magazines; she gave them makeovers and spent generous amounts of money for photo shoots. She is responsible for renaming Home and Garden's title to HG. When she left HG in 1998 to become the editor-in-chief of Vogue the publication was going through a rough time. Her impact has helped launch successful careers for designers like Marc Jacobs and Alexander McQueen. Whether she's sitting front row at all of the fashion week shows or vetoing an editorial, Wintour doesn't hold back and isn't afraid to speak her mind.
11 Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters is a famous television journalist and the first female co-anchor of a network evening news program. Walters began as a researcher and writer for the Today show in 1961 where she began co-hosting. During her years as co-host Walters wasn't aloud to shine and was only able to ask guests “serious” questions after her male co-host finished asking his. Walters was on the show for 11 years and in that time she began to craft her trademark interviewing style. With an Emmy Award and several presidential interviews and moderations Walters started a series called Barbara Walters Specials in 1976. She was the highest-paid journalist at that time with a salary of $1 million a year. Walters began working as a correspondent for ABC news show 20/20 after she faced criticism about her credibility as a journalist. Walters was again the highest paid news host in history in 2000 when she renewed a contract with ABC News. Walters has made history and a lot of money while doing it.
10 JK Rowling
If you've heard of Harry Potter then you know who this magical woman is. JK Rowling, a UK native is the author of one of the most popular book and film franchise in history. From an early age Rowling knew she wanted to be a writer and she began writing stories at age six. Her book series made waves in the United Kingdom, but Rowling's success really took off when the first three books in the Harry Potter series took the top three spots on the New York Times best-seller list in 1999. The fourth book in the series was the fastest selling-book in history and Harry Potter quickly became a billion dollar brand that produced blockbuster films and even a main attraction at Universal Studios Theme Park. Rowling began to create the mystical world of Harry Potter on a delayed train ride in 1990 where she began creating the characters in her mind before returning home to begin writing the book. Although, in 2006 Rowling released her seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series she continues to write other enchanting fiction novels.
9 Lisa Randall
This babe has beauty and brains; Lisa Randall is a Harvard Theoretical physicist and there isn't any weird science going on here. Randall's interest for math and science started at a young age as she attended an elite magnet high school in Manhattan. She was the first woman tenured in the physics department at Princeton University and the first tenured woman at MIT and Harvard. Randall has written three books one of which has led her to become the most cited scientist in her field and continues a science research program. As one of the few women in her career, Randall said “it's difficult for women in science,” in an interview with Vogue. With striking good looks and a mind to match Randall studies extra dimensions in space and dimensions beyond the ones we experience, she theorizes and answers some of our toughest questions about space, time, gravity and the universe. Randall has made important discoveries and influenced many in the field of science and that is definitely powerful.
8 Ruth Barber Ginsburg
Ruth Barber Ginsburg is the second woman to be appointed as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Ginsburg is a courtroom advocate for the unfair treatment of women. Throughout Ginsburg's life she has broken barriers for women. She was one of nine women to attend Harvard Law School and she was one of the first women to be elected to the Harvard Law Review and she faced the same feat at Columbia Law School as well where she gradated first in her class. After school she faced discrimination from firms that would not hire her because she was a woman and why someone wouldn't want to hire such a smart and accomplished person is baffling. Ginsburg began focusing her attention towards women's rights under the law and she co-founded the Women's Rights Law Reporter (the first law journal in the U.S to focus on women's rights) and the Women's Rights project at the ACLU. To say she is accomplished would be a major understatement!
7 Mary Barra
A love for cars and an automotive history led Mary Barra to General Motors where in 2014 she became CEO. Barra has been with the company for 36 years and is the first women to run one of the three largest American automotive companies alongside Ford and Chrysler. Barra definitely earned her high power position as she began working for the company at just 18 years old when she attended General Motors Institute and received an electrical engineering degree while she interned. A GM fellowship led her to Stanford University where she earned her MBA. After Barra received her MBA she took a position as a GM manager for a manufacturing plant and through out the years she made her way up to her current top position. Barra has made strong progress and change with the company especially after a major recall, bankruptcy and lawsuits that have put the automotive company in very tough situations to say the least. Barra's long history led her to make history and that makes her one of the most powerful women.
6 Christine Lagarde
As a poised five-foot-ten French lady, Christine Lagarde is head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the organization that economically advises 189 countries to keep the global economy stable. So basically this woman handles much of the world's financial problems. As the first woman to head the IMF, she has also addressed gender and income inequality. As an advocate for women's equality she plans to bring more gender diversity to the IMF, which is of course is an all male board. In the past she has been criticized for her elegance and outspoken personality, she has been quoted for observing that when men are left to themselves they often make a mess of things. However, this woman has brought whole countries out of financial crisis and she deserves a little (no a lot) of credit. Before she was handling financial debts for whole countries Lagarde was a lawyer at one of the worlds largest law firms where she was elected as one of the firm's first female chairs. Lagarde takes a lot of female firsts!
5 Sheryl Sandberg
As a single mother, author, activist and Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg hasn't let the death of her husband defer her from becoming the successful woman that she is today. Sandberg was the Vice President for Google's online sales and operations before she met Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at a Christmas party. Sandberg was able to grow the company into a profitable business and within three years it grew from 70 million users to 700 million worldwide. During her time at Harvard Sandberg came to realize that women faced self-doubt and insecurities when it comes to success and achievements. She co-founded a group called Women in Economics and Government where the goal was to get more girls to major in government and economics. When Sandberg attended Fortune magazine's annual Most Powerful Women summit in 2005 she thought the name of the event was embarrassing but she later realized there is nothing wrong with embracing your power.
4 Susan Wojickicki
If it wasn't for this Silicon Valley native we wouldn't be able to watch our favorite beauty and hair tutorials, Susan Wojickicki is the CEO of Google and YouTube. As a long time Google employee, their 16th employee ever to be exact, Wojickicki insisted that her bosses at Google purchase YouTube and they did for $1.65 billion in 2006. It was definitely worth it because now the site is worth $70 billion and Wojickicki is reaping the rewards. This mother of five makes juggling work and family seem effortless, she joined Google when she was four months pregnant and has told interviewers she is glad she never gave up her career when she got pregnant. It also comes as no surprise that Wojickicki has always been an entrepreneur; Wojickicki and her sister started a profitable business making spice ropes when she was 11 years old. As the head of two major companies and the mother of five children Wojickicki is a powerful woman in more ways than one.
3 Ginni Rometty
Following the trend for powerful businesswomen in software and tech companies comes Ginni Rometty. As the Chairwoman, president and CEO of IMB, Rometty has been with IMB for 35 years and the first woman to take lead over the company. She is one of the most powerful women in the world and she has an estimated networth of $45 million (cha-ching!) Rometty's career started when she was a systems engineer at IBM, she then worked her way up to senior VP of IBM's consulting unit and she led the companies sales and marketing. Before IBM Rometty worked at GM for two years where she met her very supportive husband who took on all the household duties as she focused on her blossoming career. This boss lady definitely isn't a housewife and she with out a doubt puts the boss in bossy! With three high power positions at IBM it's no surprise that Rometty is on the list.
2 Angela Ahredts
When it comes to businesswomen Angela Ahredts knows her stuff, as the senior vice president of retail at Apple Inc. Ahredts went from fashion powerhouse to tech tycoon when she was recruited from Burberry in 2014. As the former CEO of a major fashion brand Ahredts is attributed to lifting the brand out from a low point. Before Ahredts lead Burberry to victory she was making her mark in the fashion retail game at brands like Donna Karen and Liz Claiborne. Much of her success with Burberry may be due to the fact that she was able to introduce the brand and it's stores to Apple technology like iPads, which allowed them to make an entrance into the modern world. She is the first woman on Apple CEO Tim Cook's executive team. Ahredts is an innovative and modern woman that puts forth change and influence in a big way.
1 Safra Catz
With a net worth of $510 Million Safra Catz is the Co-CEO of one of the largest software companies, Oracle. She's basically the definition of a boss b*tch and she's one of the worlds highest paid-paid female executives, earning $53.2 million in 2015. Catz worked as Oracle's chief financial officer for several years during which time the company thrived more than ever. Catz started with Oracle in 1999 and her success has continued to grow ever since as she climbed her way to the top. She went from Board of Directors to president of the company three years later. Catz then took the role as co-CEO in 2014 when the companies co-founder Larry Ellison took a step back. She is known by some as Ellison's “enforcer,” if that doesn't scream doesn't scream HBIC what does? With her recent political affairs and as a powerful businesswoman it's no surprise that Catz has made the list for one of the most powerful women.