Inspiring Stories of Women Changing the Workplace (and the World)

She has undoubtedly had a profound and prolific career as a journalist, but recently, she made a major career decision.

“Disability only becomes a tragedy when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives — job opportunities or barrier-free buildings, for example,” she said. “It is not a tragedy to me that I’m living in a wheelchair.”

Isabella Abbott, the first native Hawaiian woman to earn a doctorate in science, rewrote the book on her beloved limu.

Spanx founder Sara Blakely was actively seeking a business idea when she thought of Spanx. Then she moved fast, found help in the right places, and went all-in. The result: A billion-dollar company & women’s wardrobes transformed.

An African American washerwoman rises from poverty to build a beauty empire and become the first female self-made millionaire. Based on a true story.

In this deeply moving talk, educator Shabana Basij-Rasikh shares the harrowing story of evacuating more than 250 students, staff and family members from the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA)— the country's first and only all-girls boarding school—to Rwanda after the Taliban took power in 2021.

Lina Bo Bardi’s ideas of living heritage and the historical present live on in the transformations she wrought, even as some of her buildings have been left to fall into ruin

In 1910, Orville and Wilbur Wright hired an Ohio seamstress, who is only now being recognized as the first female worker in the American aviation industry.

At the dawn of the Harlem Renaissance, Augusta Savage fought racism to earn acclaim as a sculptor, showing her work alongside de Kooning and Dalí. But the path she forged is also her legacy.

“My great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells, was a journalist, a suffragist, a civil rights activist, a social worker. She was one of the founders of the NAACP and the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs. She also founded the Negro Fellowship League, so she was involved in a lot of different movements and initiatives during her time.”

For many viewers, and particularly South Asian women, it's the wardrobe of Kaling's character Mindy Lahiri that epitomises the enduring appeal of the show, not only making them feel seen and heard on screen, but impacting their personal confidence and style choices.

Thirty-three-year-old Harpreet Chandi became the first woman of color to make the difficult solo trek to the South Pole.

The American deafblind lawyer and activist on why disabled people have the skills to design and build a better society for all.

90 years ago, the South African singer, who was to become “Mama Africa”, a Pan-African heroine, was born. The life of a woman who thought that the fight should never end.

In this eye-opening talk, digital rights expert Kathy Kleiman describes uncovering the hidden story behind an old photograph. Despite showing both men and women working on the groundbreaking Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) in 1946, the caption only named the men. What followed for Kleiman was a years-long journey to locate and celebrate the achievements of these pioneering women—ENIAC's first programmers.