As a major commercial, financial and cultural center, New York City harbors the perfect conditions for cultivating innovation and creativity. In the midst of all the urban clamor – the result of cramming eight million people into just 305 square miles – some incredible women are rising up and paving the way for the future generation of CEOs, entrepreneurs and creatives.
Here are a few that will inspire you:
1. Payal Kadakia and Mary Biggins
Payal Kadakia and Mary Biggins have made exercise a bit more bearable through ClassPlass, a membership service that gives subscribers access to an unlimited number of classes for a monthly fee. Through the service, fitness buffs can try a range of activities, from pole dancing to hot yoga. Since launching the company in 2010, its estimated value has grown to $400 million.
2. Karlie Kloss
While most people recognize Kloss as a former Victoria’s Secret model, she is also an entrepreneur and programmer. After trading in her wings to focus on her education, she began taking classes at the Flatiron School, where she learned how to code. Inspired by the experience, she launched Kode With Karlie, a scholarship competition which selected 21 girls between 13 and 18 for a 12-week coding program at the school. She has also expanded the initiative with Kode With Klossy summer camp, which launched this past summer.
Karlie Kloss | Photo via Flickr: Kou Art
3. Kara Walker
African American contemporary artist Kara Walker is most well known for her black-paper silhouettes. Through her panoramic pieces (often black figures against a white wall), she explores topics of race, gender, sexuality and identity. Her use of unsettling images helps to tell the story of American slavery. She is also currently a professor of visual arts at Columbia University.
4. Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington launched the Huffington Post eleven years ago, and quickly became a powerful force in the world of digital journalism. In 2009, Forbes magazine named her the 12th Most Influential Woman in Media (2009), as well as the 52nd Most Powerful Woman in the World (2014). She has since sold the Huffington Post to begin working on her new health and wellness site, Thrive Global.
Arianna Huffington | Photo via Flickr: C2 Montréal
5. Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin
After quitting their jobs as producers for NBC News, Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin launched a daily email newsletter called TheSkimm. To make news more digestible, each newsletter features condensed versions of popular stories making it “easier to be smarter” and stay in the know.
6. Staceyann Chin
Staceyann Chin is a spoken-word poet, LGBT rights political activist and full-time artist (plus a whole slew of other things – writer, immigrant, feminist, etc.). For years, she has used her activism work and artistic presence to share her stories and “tell it exactly as it is.” Her work has been published in major publications like The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Staceyann Chin | Photo via David Shankbone (CC BY-SA 3.0)
7. Jessie Daniels
As an expert on race and technology, sociologist and professor Jessie Daniels uses social media to curate interesting content about how the Internet influences social inequality. Since 2007, she has also maintained a scholarly blog, Racism Review, which receives 200,000 unique visitors each month.
8. Chirlane McCray
Chirlane McCray, the “First Lady of New York City” and wife to Mayor Bill de Blasio, is a writer, activist and political figure. Throughout the length of her career, she has worked as the speechwriter and public affairs specialist for a number of political figures, including mayor David Dinkins and state comptroller, Carl McCall. She is also well-known for her poetry, which is included in Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology, as well as her groundbreaking essay in Essence magazine, “I Am a Lesbian,” which focused on dispelling the myth that there are no gay black people.
Chirlane McCray | Photo via PanchoS (CC BY-SA 2.0)
9. Reshma Saujani
Reshma Saujani originally began her career as an attorney and later became the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress. During the campaign, she visited schools and saw the gender gap in computing classes firsthand, which led her to start Girls Who Code in 2010. The project has already taught programming skills to 1,000 girls, with a goal of 1 million by 2020.
10. Lena Dunham
American actress, writer and producer Lena Dunham is best known for her HBO series, Girls, which documents the lives of four young twenty-something women living in New York City. Dunham has received numerous Emmy nominations and won two Golden Globe for the series, which has been praised for its portrayal of feminist issues regarding as body image, abortion and sexual harassment.
