The League of Extraordinary Women 2012
Every change agent needs an agency. We've chosen 60 notable members of the League of Extraordinary Women and the organizations, both for-profit and not-for-profit, that are their vehicle to tackle areas of dire need, such as developing the next generation of female entrepreneurs.
Click each name below to see how they're changing the world, or sort by the emphasis of their heroic projects.
| Name | Organization | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | Noorjahan Akbar | Young Women For Change | ••• | Led a July 2011 march through Kabul to protest street harassment. Read More |
| Laila Ali | Women's Sports Foundation | •••• | Handed out $50,000 in grants to 2012 Olympic hopefuls. Read More | |
| Asenath Andrews | Catherine Ferguson Academy | •• | Detroit high school for pregnant teens operates a farm on campus. Read More | |
| b | Molly Barker | Girls On The Run | ••• | The triathlete's after-school program trains girls for 5K runs. Read More |
| Jamie Bechtel | NewCourse | • | Women aid communities by restoring and preserving natural resources. Read More | |
| Maria Bello | We Advance | •••• | The actress is an outspoken advocate for investing in Haitian women. Read More | |
| Cherie Blair | The Cherie Blair Foundation For Women | • | Recent deal with Qualcomm brings smartphones and laptops to Malaysian women for e-mentoring. Read More | |
| Grace Bonney | Design*Sponge and D*S Biz Lady Series | •• | Awarded more than $30,000 in scholarships to design students. Read More | |
| Tina Brown | Women In The World Summit | •• | Stages annual N.Y.C. gathering of women power brokers and activists. Read More | |
| Jennifer Buffett | NoVo Foundation | ••• | $1 billion fund made 115 grants in 2011, totaling just over $46 million. Read More | |
| Tory Burch | Tory Burch Foundation | • | Supports women-owned businesses via mentorships and microloans. Read More | |
| c | Kathy Calvin | United Nations Foundation | •• | Aims to reduce deaths during childbirth by promoting family planning. Read More |
| Hillary Clinton | WEAmericas | •• | Small Grants Initiative will impact 55,000 women entrepreneurs. Read More | |
| Lily Cole | The Body Shop | • | Cosmetics made by women in oppressive communities. Read More | |
| Ann Cotton | Camfed International | • | Supports schoolgirls through college via mentorships and financial aid. Read More | |
| d | Susan Davis | BRAC U.S.A. | •••• | MasterCard Foundation's $45 million funds innovative microfinance. Read More |
| Abigail Disney | Daphne Foundation | ••• | Produced Pray the Devil Back to Hell, a documentary on Liberian women. Read More | |
| Tiffany Dufu | The White House Project | • | Goal: Improve women holding just 18% of U.S. leadership roles. Read More | |
| e | Maria Eitel | Nike Foundation | ••• | The Girl Effect launched a journalism program in three African nations. Read More |
| Carolyn Everson | Facebook Women | •• | Global ad chief organizes women's meet-ups to support one another. Read More | |
| f | America Ferrera | Save The Children | •• | Raised $44,000 using social media to build a school in Mali. Read More |
| g | Erin Ganju | Room To Read | •• | Wooed 16,000+ participants in nine countries for Girls' Education. Read More |
| Melinda Gates | Gates Foundation | ••• | Goal: Raise $4 billion for birth control for 120 million women by 2020. Read More | |
| Helene D. Gayle | CARE U.S.A. | •• | Specializes in large-scale HIV/AIDS and poverty initiatives. Read More | |
| Leymah Gbowee | Women Peace and Security Network (WIPSEN) | •• | Gbowee, a Liberian activist, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. Read More | |
| Holly Gordon | 10x10 | ••• | This film-and-social-action project follows 10 girls in 10 countries. Read More | |
| h | Janet Hanson | 85 Broads | • | Connects 30,000 professional women to mentor at 200 colleges. Read More |
| Gina Harman | Accion U.S. Network | • | The group has lent $130 million to more than 17,000 women. Read More | |
| Laura Pincus Hartman | Zynga.org | ••• | Leveraged the generosity of Zynga gamers to build a Haitian school. Read More | |
| j | Deborah Buresh Jackson | Plum Alley | •• | The accelerator platform advances female-founded companies. Read More |
| Jessica Jackley | Kiva.org | • | 80% of Kiva's microloan borrowers are women entrepreneurs. Read More | |
| Leila Janah | Samasource | • | Has connected poor individuals to work for LinkedIn, Intuit, and Google. Read More | |
| Pamela Jeffery | Women's Executive Network | • | Provides mentoring for 18,000 Canadian and Irish executives. Read More | |
| k | Liya Kebede | Liya Kebede Foundation | ••• | The fashion model doubles as a maternal-health advocate. Read More |
| Alicia Keys | Keep A Child Alive | •• | KCA-funded Rwandan HIV/AIDS clinic treats more than 2,300 patients. Read More | |
| Jean Kissell | Welfare Association For The Development Of Afghanistan | •• | Teaches 2,400 Afghan community leaders about women's rights. Read More | |
| l | Alessandra Lariu | SheSays | • | Networking program for creative women in 17 cities on four continents. Read More |
| Nancy Lublin | DoSomething.org | •• | Gives teens the tools to start their own campaigns to address social ills. Read More | |
| m | Somaly Mam | Somaly Mam Foundation | •••• | A survivor of sexual slavery, Mam combats the $12 billion black market. Read More |
| Molly Melching | Tostan | •••• | Persuaded 5,000+ African communities to abandon genital cutting. Read More | |
| Pat Mitchell | The Paley Center for Media/She Made It | • | TV legend (CNN, PBS) uses media as a platform to tell women's stories that otherwise would not be heard. Read More | |
| Siiri Morley | Prosperity Candle | • | Empowers women in conflict regions by teaching them candle making. Read More | |
| Megan White Mukuria | ZanaAfrica | •• | Every year 860,000 Kenyan girls miss over a month of school because they don't have sanitary pads; ZanaAfrica distributes affordable pads. Read More | |
| o | Charlotte Oades | Coca-Cola | • | The company's for-profit 5 By 20 initiative aims to support 5 million women entrepreneurs worldwide by 2020. Read More |
| Michele Ozumba | Women's Funding Network | ••• | 160 organizations invest more than $65 million a year worldwide. Read More | |
| p | Dina Powell | Goldman Sachs Foundation, 10,000 Women | •• | $100 million initiative aims to boost women's income and, in turn, educated households. Read More |
| r | Gina Reiss-Wilchins | GirlUp | • | 100 U.S. Clubs fundraise to to send supplies to their girl counterparts abroad. Read More |
| s | Zainab Salbi | Women For Women International | •• | The organization's Women's Opportunity Center in Rwanda, designed by New York architect Sharon Davis, opens in 2013. Read More |
| Shakira | Barefoot Foundation | • | Postquake, raised $400,000 to rebuild a Haitian vocational school for girls. Read More | |
| Jennifer Siebel Newsom | MissRepresentation.org | • | 1 million+ have seen her doc about the media's portrayal of women. Read More | |
| Rachel Sklar | Change the Ratio and TheLi.st | •• | Launching TheLi.st, a newsletter resource for women in tech. Read More | |
| Veronika Sonsev | Women In Wireless | •• | Holds networking events for women in mobile and digital media. Read More | |
| t | Tammy Tibbetts | She's The First | •• | Social-media-driven fundraising will help sponsor 300+ girls this year. Read More |
| Christy Turlington | Every Mother Counts | • | The model's difficult childbirth inspired a focus on maternal survival and her first film, No Woman, No Cry. Read More | |
| v | Melanne Verveer | Vital Voices Global Partnership | ••• | Global network of women's leaders has mentored more than 500,000. Read More |
| w | Joanne Wilson | Women Entrepreneur Mondays, Gotham Gal | • | Invests in women-led tech startups and features them on her blog, Gotham Gal. Read More |
| Oprah Winfrey | Leadership Academy for Girls | •• | The first graduating class, 72 girls, are college bound this fall. Read More | |
| Sheryl WuDunn | Half The Sky Movement | ••••• | Turned reporting on women's rights into a PBS series airing this fall. Read More | |
| y | Nelly Yusupova | Webgrrls | •• | Leads the N.Y.C. chapter of the international tech networking group. Read More |
| z | Gabi Zedlmayer | HP | •••• | Mothers2mothers partnership educates HIV-positive mothers; HP Life initiative grooms entrepreneurs. Read More |