2017 was quite a year for women. International Women’s Day was the most talked about moment on Facebook this year, and the Women’s March in D.C. was the most attended Facebook event of 2017. With the #MeToo movement, the increase in women running for office, and the significant advances women have made in media, a lot of women have been inspirational, to say the least. But here are ten women who, in a variety of ways, have made an impact on society in a way that is beneficial to women– and is inspirational to many.

 

Jordan Gill

Jordan Gill is the founder of The Kolada Group, a business operations agency with a strong mission statement: Massive impact doesn’t happen without massive support. And that is exactly what Gill has dedicated her career to– supporting people in their efforts to succeed in their careers. She partners with business owners to give them the tools they need to see their companies grow. And she has first hand experience in doing just that. “When I was working full-time for an online entrepreneur, I just felt in my gut that it was time for me move on. So I put in my 6 weeks with literally no plan. During those 6 weeks, I tripled my monthly salary with 3 monthly retainer clients and was able to consistently have almost 5 figure months,” Gill stated in an interview with ladybossblogger. Through The Kolada Group, she has a weekly podcast called “Systems Saved Me”, in which she talks with people from a variety of industries about how best to navigate their businesses to success through systems. She is proof that sometimes all it takes is a leap of faith, and understanding of the systems at work, to take your business to the next level. For all entrepreneurs looking for some extra help and inspiration, Gill should be a podcast staple.

 

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has long been a champion of women, fighting for them in all aspects of government. Recently, she was one of the first prominent Democrats to say Senator Al Franken should resign in the wake of sexual harassment allegations. And while many people have been the subject of Trump’s criticism, his most recent attack on Gillibrand earned some extreme attention. After Gillibrand called for Trump to resign due to the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against him, Trump took to Twitter with what many are calling a “sexist smear”.

Twitter quickly blew up, interpreting “would do anything for them” as sexually suggestive. But Gillibrand did not let this affect her or hold her back. Instead, she fired right back.

Gillibrand’s tweet in response ending up getting more than six times as many retweets as Trump’s initial attack. And with the widespread belief that Gillibrand will be making a run for president in 2020, some are saying Trump’s tweet could have done more to help her, than ruin her. Whether she ends up running for president in 2020 or not, it’s clear that Gillibrand is not afraid to speak up and be a strong voice in government for women throughout the nation. And her fearlessness, along with her ability to remain confident and steady despite the horrific insults being thrown her way, are definitely inspirational.

 

Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz

When a disastrous hurricane hit the US territory of Puerto Rico, everyone was expecting Trump to step up and send relief in the same capacity as Florida and Texas. But instead, it seemed that the Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz, was Puerto Rico’s real hero. Six weeks after the hurricane hit the island, she stated that the island remained in a “life or death” situation. “Mr. Trump, do your job,” she said in a Capitol hallways. “Lives are at stake. This is not about politics. This is not about your ego. This is about the people of Puerto Rico and the people of the U.S. VI (Virgin Islands).” Trump then took to Twitter to insult Yulín Cruz while at his private golf club in Bedminster. He tweeted that she had “poor leadership ability” and implied that she was ungrateful for the United States rescue efforts. Around this time, a picture went viral showing Mayor Yulín Cruz wading through waters in San Juan, helping her constituents in whatever way she could. And after Trump repeatedly used the term “nasty” to describe the mayor, she wore a T-shirt displaying the word “nasty” during a television interview, causing many to applaud her bravery as well as her commitment to the people of Puerto Rico.

 

Ann Curry

When Matt Lauer, the longtime host of the Today show, was fired due to allegations of sexual misconduct, many people were shocked. As Savannah Guthrie, Lauer’s most recent co-anchor, stated on air, “…we are grappling with a dilemma that so many people have faced these past few weeks. How do you reconcile your love for someone with the revelation that they have behaved badly? And I don’t know the answer to that.” Hoda Kotb, who was next to Guthrie on air when the news was announced, had a similar response: “I’ve known Matt for 15 years and I’ve loved him as a friend and as a colleague…it’s hard to reconcile what we are hearing with the man who we know.” And while both Guthrie and Kotb made it clear that they respect the bravery of the woman who came forward, and believe in making the workplace a safe place for everyone, it was Ann Curry’s reaction that truly stood out. Curry, the former Today show co-anchor who worked alongside Matt Lauer for more than a decade, chose not to defend Lauer in any way. Instead, she focused her response to the incident on the bravery of the women involved as well as the necessity, and significance, of this current movement for women.
“The women’s movement got us into the workplace, but it didn’t make us safe once we got there,” said Curry. “And the battle lines are now clear. We need to move this revolution forward and make our workplaces safe. Corporate America is quite clearly failing to do so, and unless it does something to change that, we need to keep doing more ourselves…I admire the women who have been willing to speak up both anonymously and on the record. Those women need to keep their jobs, and all women need to be able to work, to be able to thrive, without fear. This kind of behavior exists across industries, and it is so long overdue for it to stop. This is a moment when we all need to be a beacon of light for those women, for all women, and for ourselves.”

 

Stephenie Larson

Stephenie Larson is a Mormon mother of six living in Provo, Utah. But one thing about Larson stands out: she runs a support center for gay youth. She opened the nonprofit Encircle LGBTQ Family and Youth Resource Center in February in the hopes of creating a safe space for LGBTQ youth in the deeply religious community of Provo. Larson does not identify as LGBTQ, nor does she have a child who identifies as such. Yet she noticed how often the church’s relationship with the gay community was affecting families in the area, and felt the need to do something about it. LGBTQ youth are at a greater risk of depression, suicide and substance abuse than their heterosexual peers. “The whole goal is to keep the youth alive,” Larson said in a Huffington Post interview. So Encircle is meant to bring families of LGBTQ kids closer together and to foster understanding between them and the Mormon community. “It’s extremely difficult if their family does not understand, love and respect them for who they are, and it’s even more difficult when they feel like they’re living in a community that doesn’t understand who they are,” Larson said in a Huffington Post interview. “Our church, the Mormon church, is extremely important in Provo and affects everyone’s life. So instead of pushing against the community, we’re trying to bring the community in and trying to work in their values to help them better understand and love LGBTQ people.” With upwards of 50 kids coming to Encircle every day, it is clear that her strategy is working. “Kids who have the courage to come out in this community ― they’re very brave, and they’re going to change the world,” Larson said. “They should be honored and loved for who they are.”

 

Caroline Ghosn

Caroline Ghosn is the co-founder and CEO of Levo, a professional network dedicated to helping millennials navigate the workplace and find their passion and purpose. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is not only an investor in Levo (Latin for “to elevate”), but also a personal mentor to Ghosn. Ghosn has spoken at numerous international conferences, including the World Economic Forum, and has interviewed the likes of Warren Buffett, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and journalist Soledad O’Brien. But what makes her work at Levo so special is not the celebrity investors or interviews, but rather her commitment to advancing millennial women. At her first job at a consulting company, she quickly realized that men were negotiating higher salaries and tapping one another for mentoring to move faster through the ranks, drawing on skills and connections she didn’t possess. “Whenever you have to figure out things that aren’t explicit, like in salary negotiations, you see differences in how women and people of color succeed,” she says. This realization led Ghosn to create Levo, a digital space for career newbies that provides advice, mentors, job leads and more, all geared to millennial women. With more than 8 million users, Levo helps them create profiles that are matched with people and resources that can help propel their careers. At only 30 years of age, Ghosn has created an entire network for women just like her, and has inspired countless millennial women to achieve their potential and find their purpose and passion in their careers.

 

Tamar Manasseh

Tamar Manasseh is, first and foremost, a mom. So 3 years ago, as one of many women fed up with the violence in Chicago, she sat down with her group of moms in Englewood in an effort to stand up to deter would-be troublemakers. Since then, the mothers have hosted regular block party-style sit-ins at a number of intersections in the city as part of the group Mothers Against Senseless Killings (MASK). The main goal of the group was simple. According to the MASK website? “Simply hang out on the block, cook food, and emanate love. And now this message of injecting good vibes in troubled areas is catching on in more communities.” Their focus is to build a stronger community through violence prevention, food security, and housing, as well as providing access to city services, education and employment opportunities, and economic development. What started as a small block party has now turned into a movement. As Manasseh has stated, “Everybody is starting to realize that gun violence is not just a south side problem. It’s an American problem.”

 

Stephanie Schriock

Stephanie Schriock is an American political strategist, but is best known for her position as the president of EMILY’s List. EMILY’s list is an organization dedicated to recruiting pro-choice Democratic women to run for elected office. Since Schriock assumed the position as president in 2010, she has been responsible for leading the organization to its most successful election cycles in its 29-year history in 2012. Of the more than $500 million the organization has raised to support women candidates since its founding in 1985, more than half has been raised under Stephanie’s leadership — and EMILY’s List is now more than five million members strong (and counting). She has elected record numbers of women to the House and Senate and recruited and trained hundreds of pro-choice Democratic women, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, who Schriock personally recruited to run. Her efforts to shift the demographic of the American government have been extremely successful for such a short period of time — and it seems that this is only the beginning for Schriock and her inspirational work with EMILY’s List.

 

Lauren Gunderson

If you don’t count Shakespeare and Dickens, Gunderson is the most produced playwright in America for the 2017-18 season. An incredible feat on its own, her success is further amplified by the feminist nature of her plays. She tends to focus her storylines around strong and witty women, in a multitude of time periods, pushing back against conventionality and the aspects of society that have held women back. With more than 20 plays produced at the age of 35, Gunderson is seemingly unstoppable. And her storylines are far from tired, as she explores ways to bust open common female tropes and highlight women in new ways. “Women are more than who they marry, they are more than how cute they are,” as Gunderson puts it. Gunderson was originally going to study physics, but decided to major in English at Emory University, a decision that led to her writing a canon of plays hailing the heroism of women in science. Currently living in San Francisco, her plays have been produced all over the Bay Area and beyond. And her belief that “storytelling is primal and important” has catapulted her to the top of the list in terms of American playwrights, and pushed her stories of strong women into the spotlight in the theater community.

 

Amber Tamblyn

Amber Tamblyn has long been a vocal activist for women’s rights, taking to Twitter and other social platforms often to voice her opinions. But lately, her Twitter activism has been even more extensive. After “Girls” creator Lena Dunham and showrunner Jenni Konner defended their former colleague Murray Miller, who was accused of rape by actress Aurora Perrineau, in a joint statement, saying their “insider knowledge of Murray’s situation makes us confident that sadly this accusation is one of the 3 percent of assault cases that are misreported every year”, Tamblyn responded immediately. She castigated Dunham and Konner for defending Miller instead of believing and supporting Perrineau. She also tweeted about an incident with actor James Wood, accusing him of making an inappropriate advance when she was 16 years old, and went on to publish an op-ed in the New York Times about the incident. And most recently, when actress Rose McGowan slammed the alleged silent protest that will occur at the upcoming Golden Globes by saying the protesting actresses should “all wear Marchesa” (Weinstein’s estranged wife Georgina Chapman’s clothing line), Tamblyn took a shot right back, explaining that she cannot support shaming the movements of other women who are trying to create change.

And when people responded to Tamblyn, claiming that she was doing to Rose McGowan exactly what she claims she doesn’t support doing to others, Tamblyn continued her statement by saying, “Her statement was public and hurtful to some women so a public response was earned. I spoke to her at length today, she knows how I feel. I love Rose fiercely, that will never change. To be critical of an action is not to condemn the person behind it. There’s your common message.”

 

By: Cianna Allen