Ada Lovelace was a British Analyst, Metaphysician, and Founder of Scientific Computing. Lovelace was born Ada Gordon in 1815. Her father, George Gordon, Lord Byron and her mother Annabella Milbanke separated when she was a month old. A few months later, Lord Byron left England and never saw Ada again. Lovelace’s mother raised her under …
Rebecca Adlington is an English former competitive swimmer. She has won four Olympic medals including two Olympic gold medals. She was Britain’s first Olympic swimming champion since 1988, and the first British swimmer to win two Olympic gold medals since 1908. She is Great Britain’s joint most decorated female Olympian. Adlington was born in Mansfield, …
Michelle Obama is the 44th first lady of the United States. She is a writer and an advocate for poverty awareness, nutrition, physical activity and healthy eating. Obama was born Michelle LaVaughn Robinson in 1964 in Chicago, Illinois. She was pushed to succeed in school and skipped the second grade. She was chosen for a …
Laverne Cox is an American emmy-nominated actress and the first trans woman of colour to have a leading role on a mainstream scripted television show. She is an advocate for the transgender community and was honored by GLAAD with its Stephen F. Kolzak Award for her work. Cox was born in Mobile, Alabama and raised …
Grace Lee Boggs was an American author, social activist, philosopher and feminist. She fought relentlessly for civil rights, feminism and labor for seven decades and was hugely influential in bringing about social change in Detroit. Boggs (born Grace Chin Lee or Yuk Ping (玉平) to use her Chinese name) was born in Providence, Rhode Island …
Mary Fields (also known as Stagecoach Mary and Black Mary) was the first African-American woman employed as a mail carrier in the United States. She was the second woman to work for the United States Postal Service. Fields was born a slave in Hickman County, Tennessee around 1832. When American slavery was outlawed in 1865 …
Beyoncé is an American multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning recording artist and actress. She is a philanthropist and co-founder of Chime for Change, a global campaign to raise funds and awareness for girls and women around the world. Beyoncé started singing at an early age, her talent was discovered by her dance instructor who was impressed when …
Tu Youyou is a Chinese medical scientist, pharmaceutical chemist, and educator. She has received the 2011 Lasker Award in clinical medicine and the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She is the first Chinese woman in history to receive the Nobel Prize in the sciences. Tu was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China in 1930. …
Jeannette Rankin was the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. She helped pass the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, and was a committed pacifist. Rankin was born in 1880 near Missoula, Montana. As a child, Rankin cleaned, sewed, and helped care for her younger siblings, in addition to sharing in …
Lindiwe Mazibuko is the former Democratic Alliance Parliamentary Leader. She also served as the National Spokesperson of the Democratic Alliance. She is currently a resident fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics. Mazibuko was born in Manzini, Swaziland and raised in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She speaks isiZulu, French, English and Afrikaans. When she was 12 …