Important Women of Today You Should Know

Lisa Marie Franchetti (born 25 April 1964)[1] is a United States Navy admiral who served as the 33rd chief of naval operations from 2 November 2023 to 21 February 2025. She was the first woman to be chief of naval operations, and the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Adm. Lisa Franchetti is a native of Rochester, New York. She is a 1985 graduate of Northwestern University where she was commissioned through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps Program. Designated a Surface Warfare Officer in 1989, she has commanded at every level and deployed in every Fleet, with nearly 20 years of operational and at-sea experience.

Her flag assignments include: Chief of Naval Operations, Vice Chief of Naval Operations; director for Strategy, Plans and Policy (J5), Joint Staff; deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfighting Development, N7; commander, U.S. 6th Fleet, commander, Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO, deputy commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and U.S. Naval Forces Africa during the 2018 strikes against Syrian chemical-weapons facilities; chief of staff, Strategy, Plans and Policy (J5) Joint Staff; commander, Carrier Strike Group 15; commander, Carrier Strike Group 9; and commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea.

At sea, she commanded Destroyer Squadron TWENTY ONE, embarked on USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74); commanded USS Ross (DDG 71) and also served as commander of Pacific Partnership 2010, embarked on USNS Mercy (T-AH 19). Her operational sea tours include assistant surface operations officer on USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group; executive officer of USS Stout (DDG 55); combat systems officer and chief staff officer for Destroyer Squadron TWO; operations officer on USS Moosbrugger (DD 980); navigator on USS Monongahela (AO 178); and auxiliaries officer and first division officer on USS Shenandoah (AD 44).

Ashore, Franchetti’s assignments include military assistant to the Secretary of the Navy; deputy director of International Engagement and executive assistant to the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Operations and Strategy on the Navy staff; division chief, Joint Concept Development and Experimentation, on the Joint Staff, J7; 4th Battalion officer at the U.S. Naval Academy; protocol officer for Commander, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; aide to the Vice Chief of Naval Operations; commanding officer, Navy Reserve Center Central Point, Oregon; program manager, Naval Reserve Readiness Command, Region 13.

Franchetti holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Medill at Northwestern University, a Master’s degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix, completed Harvard Kennedy School’s National and International Security program, and was a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar XXI Fellow. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, was awarded the Northwestern Alumni Medal in 2019, inducted into the Medill School of Journalism Hall of Achievement in 2024, and received the Naval War College Distinguished Graduate award in 2024.

Her personal awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Service Medal (two awards), Defense Superior Service Medal (two awards), Legion of Merit (five awards), Meritorious Service Medal (six awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (four awards), and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (two awards).

Bio from https://www.navy.mil/Leadership/Flag-Officer-Biographies

Rear Admiral Kristin Acquavella is Commander of the Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support. She is the first woman to hold this position.

Rear Adm. Kristin Acquavella is a 1993 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned her commission through the Navy Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program and played on four NCAA Championship Women’s Soccer teams. She holds a Master of Science in Management from the Naval Post Graduate School and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Executive Education Program.

Her operational tours include supply officer, PCU Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78); supply officer, USS Vella Gulf (CG 72); material officer and aviation repairable officer, USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70); supply officer, USS Brunswick (ATS-3); and Multi-National Forces-Iraq contracting officer, Baghdad, Iraq.

Her shore duty assignments include chief of staff, Logistics Supply Chain Operations, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, District of Columbia (DC); commander, Defense Logistics Agency Indo-Pacific, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; division chief, Joint Staff J4, Washington, DC; director, Logistics Readiness Center/Current Readiness, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; deputy force supply officer and carrier strike group readiness officer, Commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia; director, F/A-18 Integrated Weapons Team and Common Systems Integrated Weapons Team, Naval Inventory Control Point, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; special assistant to the director of Supply Corps Personnel and Career Counselor at Navy Personnel Command, Millington, Tennessee; procurement contracting officer, Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC; and aviation support division officer, Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily.

Her previous flag assignments include director, logistics, fleet supply and ordnance, N4, U.S. Pacific Fleet, and special assistant to the Commander, Naval Supply Systems Command.

Acquavella’s personal awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, and Navy Achievement Medal. She is a qualified Surface Warfare Supply Corps Officer and Naval Aviation Supply Officer and has earned Acquisition Professional Membership. She was a member on the All-Navy Women’s Triathlon Team, All-Navy Women’s Soccer Team and All-Armed Forces Soccer Team. She was the 1997 Commander, Fleet Air Mediterranean Aviation Supply Officer of the Year, a 2002 Vice Admiral Robert F. Batchelder Award winner, and a 2006 Elmer B. Staats Young Acquisition Professional Excellence Award winner.

Bio from https://www.navy.mil/Leadership/Flag-Officer-Biographies

Admiral Linda L. Fagan was the 27th Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, having assumed her duties on June 1, 2022. She is notable for being the first female four-star admiral in the Coast Guard's history and previously served as the 32nd Vice Commandant. As Commandant, she oversaw all global Coast Guard operations and managed a workforce of approximately 42,000 active-duty, 7,000 reserve, and 8,700 civilian personnel. 

She was terminated from her role in January of 2025 over concerns about issues including the border, recruitment and DEI issues, and was evicted from her admiral quarters home with three hours of notice on February 3, 2025.

 Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson (Ret.) took over as the leader of the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in 2016, becoming the first woman to lead a combatant command and, at the same time, the highest-ranking woman in U.S. military history. She retired from the military in 2018.

Chief Petty Officer Dominique Saavedra became the first female enlisted sailor to earn her submarine qualification, or “dolphins,” marking a major milestone for female sailors.

 In 2016, Capt. Kristen Griest became the first female Army infantry officer in the nation’s history. 

Adm. Michelle Howard (Ret.) made history in 2014 when she became the  first four-star woman in Navy history. Howard served as commander of  U.S. Naval Forces Europe before retiring in 2017. 

U.S.  Navy Vice Adm. Michele Howard was the first African-American woman to  command a Navy combat ship. This made news in 2009 when it was involved in  the rescue of the merchant ship Maersk Alabama’s captain from Somali  pirates. 

Second Lieutenant Emily Jazmin Tatum Perez (19 February 1983 – 12 September 2006) was born in Heidelberg, West Germany, of African American and Hispanic parents in a U.S. military family. She graduated from Oxon Hill High School in Maryland, where she ranked among the top-10 students in her class. 

In July 2001, after graduation from high school, Perez entered the United States Military Academy at West Point. There she was an exemplary student and talented track athlete, becoming a Cadet Command Sergeant Major in the United States Military Academy at West Point, the highest-ranking African-American female cadet in the history of West Point. 

Following graduation from West Point in 2005, she was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the 204th Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division of the United States Army. 

Perez was killed in action on September 12, 2006, while leading a convoy through Al Kifl, Iraq, a mission for which she had volunteered. She was the first female African-American officer in US military history to die in combat.

Marcia Carol Martin Anderson (born 1957) is a retired senior officer of the United States Army Reserve.

In 2011, Maj. Gen. Marcia Anderson, U.S. Army Reserve, became the first African-American woman to achieve the rank of major general.

She served as Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Army Human Resources Command before going on to serve as Deputy Chief, U.S. Army Reserve, the senior advisor to the Chief, U.S. Army Reserve, advising on U.S. Army Reserve policies and programs, including force structure, congressional budget and appropriations process, manpower and personnel, and Army and Department of Defense matters.

After 37 years of service, Anderson retired from the military in 2016.

Upon her retirement from the Army, Anderson resumed her job as Clerk of the Court for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. 

Anderson received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Creighton University and a Masters Degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College. She was awarded a Masters Degree in Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College.

Her military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Parachutist Badge, and Physical Fitness Badge.

Dolores Huerta (born April 10, 1930) is an American labor leader and feminist activist. After working for several years with the Community Service Organization (CSO), she co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with fellow activists Cesar Chavez and Gilbert Padilla, which eventually became the United Farm Workers (UFW). Some credit her with inventing the UFW slogan "sí se puede" (transl. 'yes you can').

Although she initially opposed certain feminist concepts, such as the right to abortion and contraception, Huerta eventually became a strong proponent of women's rights. She has worked with the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) to help Latina women become more active and visible in politics, campaigned for women's reproductive rights, and served as an honorary co-chair of the 2017 Women's March in Washington, D.C.

Tarana Burke is an American activist who started the MeToo movement in 2006.

Burke began using MeToo to help other women with similar experiences to stand up for themselves. In 2017, #MeToo became a viral hashtag when women began using it to tweet about Harvey Weinstein, developing into an international movement.

Time named Burke and other prominent activists dubbed "the silence breakers", as Time Person of the Year in 2017. 

Burke is the senior director at Girls for Gender Equality in Brooklyn.

Diane Joyce Humetewa is a United States District Court judge for the District of Arizona. Humetewa is the first Native American woman and the first enrolled tribal member (Hopi) to serve as a U.S. federal judge. 

She previously served as the United States Attorney for the District of Arizona from 2007 to 2009. Humetewa is also a Professor of Practice at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., is an Iraq War veteran who lost both legs in 2004 when the Black Hawk helicopter she was flying was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. When she was elected to Congress in 2012, she became the first disabled female to do so. She retired from the Army National Guard as a lieutenant colonel in 2014..

In 2018, Isabella Aiukli Cornell (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) used her prom dress to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.  According to the Department of Justice, American Indians and Alaskan  Natives are two and a half times more likely to experience violent  crimes and at least two times more likely to experience rape or sexual  assault crimes in comparison to other ethnicities. Experts believe even  more crimes go unreported.

Cornell chose a red prom dress because red represents the movement to  end this crisis. She has been part of the movement since she was a  teenager. Cornell is also a member of Matriarch, an organization that  works to create a safe space for Native women experiencing violence.  Cornell asked the dress designer, Della BigHair-Stump (Crow), to include  a cultural design on the top as well. The diamond pattern represents  the diamondback rattlesnake. The Choctaw Nation considers the  rattlesnake, who protected the crops, an important relative. Cornell  said, "Today and always we remember and honor our missing and murdered  Indigenous women. They are not forgotten. Bring them justice. Bring them  home."

Source: https://womenshistory.si.edu/blog/twelve-women-know-native-american-heritage-month

Mariann Edgar Budde ( born 1959) is an American Episcopal bishop who has served as Bishop of Washington since 2011. She is the diocese's first female bishop.  

Budde oversaw the 2017 removal of the Washington National Cathedral's stained-glass panes honoring Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. The windows were replaced with windows depicting the struggle for African Americans' civil rights in 2023.

In October 2018, Budde and Gene Robinson (the first openly gay Episcopal bishop), presided over the interment service of the ashes of Matthew Shepard, a gay man murdered in 1998. Shepard's parents had hesitated for years to bury Shepard's remains out of fear that anti-gay activists would vandalize the site, they felt his remains would be safe at the National Cathedral.

In June 2020, during the George Floyd protests in Washington, DC, Budde criticized the use of police and National Guard to forcibly clear protestors from Lafayette Square to allow President Donald Trump to pose for a photo op in front of St. John's Church, enabling its use "as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus."

In September 2024, Budde was one of about 200 Christian leaders and scholars to sign an open letter calling for the preservation of pluralist democracy, and opposition to authoritarian rule, citing it as an imperative of the Christian faith.

On January 21, 2025, the day after Donald Trump's second inauguration, Budde delivered the homily at the traditional interfaith prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral. In attendance were Trump, Vice President JD Vance; House speaker Mike Johnson; and Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for defense secretary. In her sermon, Budde addressed Trump directly, urging him to show mercy and compassion to vulnerable people, saying, "Millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy on the people in our country who are scared now." Budde specifically cited the LGBTQ+ communities, immigrants, and refugees fleeing from war in their countries.

After the service, Trump disparaged Budde as a "so-called Bishop" and "Radical Left hard line Trump hater"". Trump called the service "very boring" and demanded an apology from Budde and the Episcopal Church.

The Episcopal Church's senior bishop, Sean Rowe, defended Budde, saying that "a plea for mercy, a recognition of the stranger in our midst, is core to the faith ... but it's not bound to political ideology".

When interviewed later, Budde said, "I don't hate President Trump. I strive not to hate anyone and I dare say that I am not of the 'radical left' either, whatever that means. That is not who I am." When asked if she would apologize to Trump, she replied, "I am not going to apologize for asking for mercy for others."

Margaret W. Rossiter (born July 1944) is an American historian of science, and Marie Underhill Noll Professor of History of Science Emerita of the History of Science, at Cornell University. 

Rossiter coined the term Matilda effect for the systematic suppression of information about women in the history of science, and the denial of the contribution of women scientists in research, whose work is often attributed to their male colleagues.

She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989.  The MacArthur Fellowship, otherwise known as the  "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to between 20-30 individuals in any field who have shown "extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction" and are citizens or residents of the United States.

She was editor of Isis, the official journal of the History of Science Society, from 1994-2003. 

In 2004 the History of Women in Science Prize (which she won in 1997) was renamed The Margaret W. Rossiter History of Women in Science Prize after her. This prize is awarded in recognition of an outstanding book (or, in even-numbered years, article) on the history of women in science.

She also continued teaching courses on agriculture, women in science and the history of science at Cornell until her retirement in 2017. 

She has written numerous books and articles on agricultural science, the history of science, and female scientists.

• Women Scientists in America: Forging a New World Since 1972.  Baltimore, MD:  Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012. 
• Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 1940-1972.  Baltimore, MD:  Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.
• Science at Harvard, 1636-1945, with Clark Elliott, eds.  Bethlehem, PA:  Lehigh University Press, 1992.
• Historical Writing on American Science,  with Sally Gregory Kohlstedt, eds. Baltimore, MD:  Johns Hopkins  University Press, 1986.  Originally published as Osiris, 2nd series, 1,  1985.
• Women Scientists in America, Struggles and Strategies to 1940.  Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982; paperback, 1984.
• The Emergence of Agricultural Science--Justus Liebig and the Americans, 1840-1880.  New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1975.

Amanda Renae Simpson (born March 26, 1961) is an American pilot, businessperson and politician.

Simpson is an advisor and consultant on aerospace, energy, and DEI as Founder and CEO of Third Segment LLC. 

Simpson was the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy and was previously the executive director of the U.S. Army Office of Energy Initiatives leading the Army's efforts to implement large-scale renewable energy projects. 

In 2010 she became the first openly transgender woman political appointee of any presidential administration when she was appointed to the position of senior technical advisor in the Bureau of Industry and Security. Simpson worked in the United States Department of Defense and was the first transgender person to lead an U.S. Department of Defense organization.

Tawnya Plummer Laughinghouse is the Director of the Materials and Processes Laboratory, Engineering Directorate, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. 

She joined Marshall Space Flight Center in 2004 as a Materials Engineer in the Materials & Processes Laboratory.

In 2017, she joined Marshall’s Science & Technology Office and spent the next 7 years managing Technology Demonstration Missions, a Level 2 Program for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. Under her leadership, the program launched 10 advanced technologies to space between 2018 and 2024.

In July 2024, Laughinghouse was appointed to the SES position of Director, Materials and Processes Laboratory, in the Engineering Directorate at MSFC. The Materials and Processes Laboratory provides science, technology, and engineering support in materials, processes and products for use in space vehicle applications, including related ground facilities, test articles and support equipment. As director, Laughinghouse will oversee a workforce of science and engineering experts, as well as several research and development efforts in world-class facilities, including the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing.

Ms. Laughinghouse earned a BS in Chemistry from Spelman College, and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Tech. In 2006, she earned a master’s degree in management (emphasis in Management of Technology) from the University of AL in Huntsville.

Bio from  iwrc@ieeeusa.org 

Franzeska H. Becker is a project manager for Science Projects at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, assigned to the Gulfstream IV science aircraft since August 2023. She is responsible for managing G-IV airborne science activities, including structural modifications to support next generation Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar instruments developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Previously, Becker was the project manager for NASA Armstrong’s ER-2 high-altitude science aircraft from January 2022 through August 2023. She coordinated and conducted science campaigns and managed long-term sustainment and budget of the aircraft. She was the ER-2 deputy project manager from June 2019 to December 2021 and mission manager from December 2014 to January 2016. After taking a year off and a year in the private sector, Becker returned to NASA Armstrong as an airborne science mission manager from May 2018 to June 2019. Becker would coordinate and develop the integrated aircraft schedule to conduct airborne science campaigns.

Becker first came to NASA Armstrong as a contractor in October 2007. She worked as a meteorologist through December 2014, producing forecasts and climatology; developing computer programs to model data; providing data analysis; and maintaining and using weather data collection equipment to support flight research and airborne science activities.

In 2022, Becker received a NASA Early Career Achievement Medal. She authored three technical papers: “Lidar Wind Profiler Comparison to Weather Balloon for Support of Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle,” published in 2010; “Heat Stress Equation Development and Usage for the Dryden Flight Research Center,” published in 2012; and “T-34 Air data Pacer Calibration Results, Edwards AFBSCAMP: Sonic Boom Experimental Execution and Measurement Data Acquisition,” published in 2013.

Becker earned a Bachelor of Science in applied meteorology from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Bio from https://www.nasa.gov/

Helen Ling was influential in the inclusion of women in STEM positions at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. After majoring in Mathematics at the University of Notre Dame—the only woman to do so at the time—Ling joined her brother in working at JPL. She became a supervisor for the computing group in the 1960s, a team who was responsible for performing trajectory calculations.

Ling encouraged women within the computing group to attend night school to earn degrees that would allow them more professional opportunities within JPL. A pioneer for women’s rights in the workplace, Helen Ling was so admired in the computing group that those who worked under her lovingly referred to themselves as “Helen’s girls.” Many of “Helen’s girls” went on to become computer scientists and engineers within JPL thanks to the mentorship and guidance of Helen Ling.

Throughout her time at JPL, Ling developed software for the IRAS, Magellan, TOPEX/Poseidon, and Mars Observer missions, and retired in 1994.

Bio from https://www.nasa.gov/

 "Men back then always thought they knew more than you did. So if you hire them under you, they're uncomfortable, you're uncomfortable. So I just hired women just out of college. I thought that if you didn't give them a chance, they'll never get a chance." 

Dr. Mae C. Jemison graduated high school at the age of 16 with a four-year National Achievement Scholarship. At Stanford University, she earned a BS in chemical engineering and a BA in African and Afro-American studies. After graduation, Jemison moved to New York to attend Cornell University Medical College and completed her doctorate degree in medicine in 1981. 

She worked as a General Practitioner in Los Angeles, California, before becoming a Peace Corps Medical Officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa. After returning to the United States, Dr. Jemison applied and was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in 1987 and became the first African American woman in space. 

In 1993 she appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation. She was the first real astronaut to ever appear on Star Trek.

Bio from https://www.nasa.gov/

 Sylvia Acevedo is a rocket scientist, entrepreneur, tech executive, and author of Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist.

She was one of the first Hispanic students, male or female, to earn a graduate  engineering degree from Stanford University. 

Her career started at  NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and she went on to work as an engineer and  executive at Apple, Autodesk, Dell, and IBM. 

Acevedo served as CEO of  Girl Scouts from 2016-2020 and added more than 100 badges in STEM and  the outdoors to their programming. 

Andrea Gellatly is captain of Team Witch Doctor on the TV Show BattleBots and has 20 years of experience in combat robotics. Andrea and her husband and teammate, Mike Gellatly, founded MakeMIA Makerspace in South Florida, where they teach kids how to build  their own combat robots.

Andrea received her BS and MS in Biomedical  Engineering from the University of Miami. She currently works as a research and development  engineer focusing on medical devices for upper extremity trauma and has been awarded several utility patents. 

In interview with Bold Journey on January 13, 2025 she said, ".. I’ve made a very conscious effort on BattleBots  to “show” instead of “tell.” I avoid every interview question about being a female robot builder, and refocus on the robot and the tournament. There’s no better way to help change perceptions than by doing what I do best: building robots. Besides, young girls watching the  show don’t need to be told what is right in front of them: If I can  build 250lb combat robots, so can they. "

Abigail Kimbell was the 16th chief of the Forest Service, and the first female chief of the Forest Service.

She earned a bachelor's degree in forest management from the University of Vermont in 1974 and went on to earn a master's degree in forest engineering from Oregon State University. She began her federal career in 1974 with the Bureau of Land Management in Medford, Oregon. She then joined the Forest Service in 1977 as a pre-sale forester in Kodiak, Alaska. She went on to work in Oregon as a logging engineer and then a district planner. She served as a district ranger in Kettle Falls, Washington, from 1985-88, and in La Grande, Oregon, from 1988-91, and as forest supervisor of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska (1991-97) and the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming (1997-99).

During 1999-2002, she was the forest supervisor for the Pike and San Isabel National Forests and the Comanche National Grassland, as well as the Cimarron National Grassland in Kansas. In May 2002, Kimbell became the associate deputy chief for the National Forest System branch. She served as  Region 1 Forester from 2003-2007. She served as chief from 2007-2009.

Dasia Taylor (born April 6, 2004) developed a low-cost suture to help detect infections in 2019, while an 11th grade student at Iowa City West High School. 

Dasia’s sutures started as the subject of a science fair project, and ended up winning top prizes at both state and national competitions. 

While developing her project, she researched how some sutures are coated with a material that conducts electrical resistance in wounds, which is then sent to a patient or doctor's device to warn them of an infection. This technology is used in the U.S., but it is expensive and the access to this technology is limited. Taylor created and tested out several dyes and suture threads before discovering that beet dye and cotton-polyster blend threads were a cost-effective and accessible way to detect infections.

She has since gone on to be the founder and CEO of VariegateHealth, a medical device company. 

Taylor has said that she hopes to bring her invention to low and middle-income countries where it could better benefit mortality from common infections. Taylor cites research linking a higher infection rate for Black people post-surgeries, where signs of infection "like redness of the skin and swelling don’t appear as easily on darker skin tones". 

In 2021, Taylor was named a finalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, and received the Seaborg Award. In 2023, Taylor was named Iowa's Woman of the Year by USA Today. In 2023, Taylor was included on Black Enterprise's 40 under 40 list for "Tech & STEM" achievements.

Heather Cox Richardson is an American historian and has authored seven books on history and politics. 

She received the Frances Perkins Center Intelligence and Courage Award. In 2022, she was recognized as one of the Women of the Year for 2022 by USA Today. In 2023, The Guardian described her as the single most-important progressive pundit since Edward P. Morgan from the 1960s. In 2024, the Authors Guild Foundation awarded her The Baldacci Award for Literary Activism for 2024. In November 2024, she was awarded the Kidger Award by the New England History Teachers Association.

She writes the Letters from an American newsletter on Substack.

Delilah Bon is the pseudonym of Lauren Tate. She is an English vocalist, songwriter and producer, formerly the frontwoman of Hands Off Gretel.

If you haven't heard the empowering music of this "rage queen", you need to check it out.

Below are lyrics from her song "Dead Men Don't Rape", written in 3 days after Roe V. Wade was overturned.

They're starting a war, creating a scene
My body is not just a playground
For men with their guns, religion and greed
They're taking our freedom to breed now
If freedom to choose is taken away
How many more babies will die now?
How many women will die now?
Tell me, how many more people will die now? 

Laverne Cox is an American actress and LGBTQIA+ advocate. She first rose to prominence as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, becoming the first transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category. 

In June 2014, Cox became the first transgender person to appear on the cover of Time magazine. She won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2015 in Outstanding Special Class Special as executive producer for Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word, becoming the first trans woman to win the award. She became the first transgender person to have a wax figure at Madame Tussauds on June 26, 2015. In 2017, she became the first transgender person to play a transgender series regular on U.S. broadcast TV as Cameron Wirth on CBS's Doubt. She was the first transgender person to appear on the cover of a Cosmopolitan magazine, appearing on the February 2018 cover of the South African edition. 

In May 2016, Cox was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from The New School in New York City for her work in the fight for gender equality.

Mira Nair (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian-American filmmaker based in New York.  She has directed a range of award-winning films, including Salaam Bombay! (1988), Mississippi Masala (1991), and Monsoon Wedding (2001). Nair was awarded the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, making history as the first woman to receive the prize. Nair has also hosted masterclasses for New York Film Academy students.

Nair set up a non-profit film-makers' laboratory, Maisha Film Lab, in Kampala, Uganda. Since 2005, young directors have been trained at this facility with the belief that "If we don't tell our stories, no one else will". 

Kathryn Bigelow is a director, producer and writer. She is the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Achievement in Directing for The Hurt Locker (2008). She has worked on films, television shows, mini-series, and shorts including Zero Dark Thirty (2012) and Detroit (2017), Mission Zero (2007), The Weight of Water (2000), and Point Break (1991).

Ava DuVernay is a director, writer, and producer. She has directed the films, When They See Us (2019), A Wrinkle in Time (2018), and Selma (2014), and the television series, Queen Sugar.

She was the first African American woman to win Best  Director at the Sundance Film Festival, be nominated for a Best Director  Golden Globe, direct a film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, and  direct a film with a budget over $100 million. 

Actress, writer and director Greta Gerwig is known for her work directing and writing the screenplays for Oscar-nominated Lady Bird (2019), Little Women (2019), as well as directing and co-writing the 2023 film Barbie.

Gerwig was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world in 2018.

Suzan Shown Harjo (Hodulgee Muscogee/Southern Cheyenne) is an activist, poet, and  journalist who has fought for Native American sovereignty rights for more than 40 years. These important issues include protecting sacred  sites, religious freedom, treaty rights, removing Native American  mascots, and language revitalization.

In 2014, Suzan Shown Harjo (Hodulgee Muscogee/Southern Cheyenne)  received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Harjo worked as the president of  the National Congress of American Indians. She served as a special  assistant for Indian legislation in President Carter's administration.  Harjo was a founding trustee of the National Museum of the American  Indian. She guest curated the museum's exhibition Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations. 

Source: https://womenshistory.si.edu/blog/twelve-women-know-native-american-heritage-month

Poet and linguist Ofelia Zepeda, PhD, (Tohono O'odham), wrote the first  grammar book on the Tohono O'odham language, a language spoken by  Indigenous people of the Sonoran Desert area of Arizona and northern  Mexico. 

Zepeda also co-founded the American Indian Language Development  Institute. The Institute revitalizes Indigenous languages across  generations. Today, she is the director of the institute. In 1999, she  received a MacArthur Fellowship for her work. Her collections of poetry  include Ocean Power: Poems from the Desert (1995) and Jewed'l-hoi/Earth Movements, O'Odham Poems (1996). 

Source: https://womenshistory.si.edu/blog/twelve-women-know-native-american-heritage-month

Billie Jean King (born November 22, 1943), is an American former tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, King won 39 Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. She was a member of the winning United States team for seven Federation Cups and nine Wightman Cups.

King is a champion for equality and social justice. In 1973, at the age of 29, she famously won the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match against 55-year-old Bobby Riggs. King also founded the Women's Tennis Association and the Women's Sports Foundation.

King campaigned for equal prize money in the men's and women's games. When King won the US Open in 1972 she received US$15,000 less than the men's champion Ilie Năstase. She stated that she would not play the next year if the prize money was not equal. In 1973, the US Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money for men and women.

In 1981, King’s personal secretary, Marilyn Barnett, publicly outed her as a lesbian, revealing that they had been in a secret relationship. Billie Jean held a media conference and told the truth. She lost almost $2 million dollars in endorsements.

King became a leader in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.

Awards and honors:

1972 – Joint winner (with John Wooden) Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year 

1973 - King becomes the first president of the Women's Tennis Association

1975 - Time Persons of the Year

1987 - The International Tennis Hall of Fame

1990 - National Women's Hall of Fame 

2000 - King receives an award from GLAAD

2006 - The USTA National Tennis Center in New York City was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center

2009 - Presidential Medal of Freedom 

2010 - The Fed Cup Award of Excellence 

2018 - BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award

2020 - The Federation Cup was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup

2022 - French Legion of Honour

2024 - Congressional Gold Medal

Janet Guthrie (born March 7, 1938) is an American former racing driver. She is the first female to qualify and race in either the Indianapolis 500, or the Daytona 500, both of which she competed in during 1977. She raced in three Indianapolis 500s, in 1977 through 1979. She was also the first woman to lead a lap in NASCAR Cup Series competition.

During her unsuccessful bid to qualify for the 1976 race, many drivers stated that the reason she did not qualify was mainly due to her sex. These comments angered driver A. J. Foyt to the point he lent Guthrie a back-up car to conduct a shake-down test. Her top practice lap in Foyt's car would have been adequate to qualify for the field.

In a Los Angeles Times interview in 1987, Guthrie lamented the lack of corporate sponsorships for female drivers:

“Men are getting sponsorship and women can’t. That sounds unfair. But who cares about unfair? What counts is the bottom line. Sponsors want the publicity that racing brings. But a successful woman driver will get ten times the attention that a man will get. So, now, what really is important? It keeps coming back to the good ol’ boy network. A lot of corporations are spending a lot of tax deductible dollars to sponsor male racing drivers.”

In 2019, Guthrie was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame. She is the 5th woman to be inducted.

Nancy Ilizabeth Lieberman (born July 1, 1958), nicknamed "Lady Magic", is an American former professional basketball player and coach in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Lieberman is regarded as one of the greatest figures in American women's basketball.

At age 17, Lieberman played for the USA Basketball team in the 1975 USA Women's Pan American, winning the gold medal for the first time since 1963.

Lieberman continued with the USA team to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal in the first women's Olympic basketball team competition. Lieberman became the youngest basketball player in Olympic history to win a medal, when the United States captured the silver medal.

In 1980 she was selected with the first pick in the Women's Pro Basketball League (WBL) draft by the Dallas Diamonds. She helped Dallas to the 1981 WBL finals, where they lost to the Nebraska Wranglers in five games. She was named the "rookie of the year", after averaging 26.3 points per game.

In 1986, Lieberman signed with the Springfield Fame of the men's professional United States Basketball League (USBL) where she averaged 1.7 points in 11 minutes per game. Later, she toured with the Washington Generals, the regular opponents of the Harlem Globetrotters.

In the WNBA's inaugural year in 1997, Lieberman played for the Phoenix Mercury. At the age of 39, she was the WNBA's oldest player. On July 24, 2008, at 50 years old, Lieberman signed a seven-day contract with the Detroit Shock, breaking her own previous record as the oldest player in league history.

In November 2009, Lieberman became coach of the Texas Legends in the NBA Development League, an affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks, becoming the first woman to coach a professional men's basketball team. 

In July 2015, she was hired by the Sacramento Kings as an assistant coach, becoming the second female assistant coach in NBA history.

Lieberman is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, the St. Louis Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

Simone Arianne Biles Owens (born March 14, 1997) is an American gymnast. 

She has won 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals, making make her the most decorated gymnast in history. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest gymnasts of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time. She has the most Olympic medals earned by a U.S. gymnast, and is tied with with Czech gymnast Věra Čáslavská as the second-most decorated female Olympic gymnast. 

 Biles is the originator of the most difficult skill on women's vault, balance beam, and floor exercise and the only gymnast to attempt each skill to date.

On January 18, 2018, Biles spoke out about former USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar sexually assaulting her and USA Gymnastics covering it up. Biles and the other survivors were awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award in 2018. At the 2018 U.S. National Championships, Biles wore a teal leotard she designed to honor the survivors of Nassar's abuse. On September 15, 2021, Biles testified to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, saying that she blamed "the entire system" for enabling Nassar's crimes, and that USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee "failed to do their jobs".

In February 2021, Biles criticized ESPN's SportsCenter for excluding women athletes in their "Greatest of All Time" picture. 

In 2022, President Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980)[3] is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 11 weeks, and as the world No. 1 in women's doubles for 8 weeks. 

Williams has won 49 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including seven majors (five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open), as well as an Olympic gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. 

In doubles, she has won 22 doubles titles, including 16 majors. She won three Olympic gold medals with her sister Serena, in 2000, 2008, and 2012. Williams is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Williams was crucial in ensuring that female players would be paid as much as male players in the French Open and Wimbledon. In 2005 they both still refused to pay women's and men's players equally through all rounds. In 2005, Williams met with officials from both tournaments, arguing that female tennis players should be paid as much as male tennis players.

In an essay published in The Times on the eve of Wimbledon in 2006, Williams accused Wimbledon of being on the "wrong side of history". In response, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and members of Parliament publicly endorsed Williams's arguments. Later that year, the Women's Tennis Association and UNESCO teamed for a campaign to promote gender equality in sports, asking Williams to lead the campaign. Under enormous pressure, Wimbledon announced in February 2007 that it would award equal prize money to all competitors in all rounds, and the French Open followed suit a day later. The Chicago Sun-Times cited Williams as "the single factor" that "changed the minds of the boys" and a leader whose "willingness to take a public stand separates her not only from most of her female peers, but also from our most celebrated male athletes". Williams herself commented, "Somewhere in the world a little girl is dreaming of holding a giant trophy in her hands and being viewed as an equal to boys who have similar dreams."

Williams became the first woman to benefit from the equalization of prize money at Wimbledon, when she won the 2007 tournament and was awarded the same amount as the male winner Roger Federer.

In 2001, Williams was named among the 30 most powerful women in America by the Ladies Home Journal.

In 2007, Williams teamed with retailer Steve & Barry's to launch her own fashion line, EleVen. 

In June 2009, Williams was named 77th in the Top 100 Most Powerful Celebrities list compiled by Forbes magazine.

In August 2009, Williams and her sister Serena became minority owners of the Miami Dolphins, the first African-American women to obtain ownership in an NFL franchise.

In late June 2010, Williams released her first book, Come to Win; On How Sports Can Help You Top Your Profession, which she cowrote with Kelly E. Carter. The book reached the top five on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981 is a former American professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 319 weeks (third-most of all time), and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Williams won 73 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including 23 major women's singles titles — the most in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time. She is the only player to accomplish a career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles. She also has four Olympic gold medals, three in women's doubles—an all-time joint record in tennis, shared with her sister.

in 2012, after winning the gold at the London Olympics, Williams celebrated by doing the “crip walk” or the c-walk. That move turned what should have been a controversy-free occasion into one filled with backlash as the tennis champ was criticized for doing a dance that “glorified gang culture.”

Serena Williams was a special guest during Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, performing a crip walk onstage.

 Kaesee Bourne, a 25-year-old former biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service who lives in Las Vegas. 

 Jessica Cregger, a park ranger recreation fee technician at Gulf Islands, Florida. 

 Angela Moxley ,  botanist at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park . 

 Carrie Schmitt, a biological science technician at Catoctin Mountain Park.