With a mix of monikers other than her birth name, Justin Vivian Bond first achieved prominence under the pseudonym Kiki DuRane, a has-been, alcoholic lounge singer of the stage duo Kiki and Herb. From an early age, Bond desired to sing, amuse, wear makeup, high heels and fashionable outfits. She grew up watching female role models on television and listening to their popular music from the remote Maryland suburbs.

A whirlwind of mannered and disciplined energy, Bond is a trans-genre singer-songwriter, actor, painter and performance artist. Born Stanley Huffman Bond III, she never identified as male but didn’t have the reference or language to express her true identity. In high school, Bond studied voice and theater and acted in plays whose gender and sexually ambiguous characters helped her to construct her own identity as a performer and human.

Bond uses her deep vibrato voice as art, entertainment and activism. After trying to earn a living playing straight parts, then as a gay man, she embraced androgyny and developed an identity as a queer performer. Playing an intersex character fueled her creatively and watching her friends die of AIDS fed her politically. Bond became an activist, renaming herself Justin Vivian Bond. As a transgender person, her identity falls between male and female and is constantly shifting. She likes and has kept her penis but also takes female hormones creating a medical imprint of her fluid self-creation.

Bond has labored tirelessly in support of LGBTQ causes and organizations. Her wide range and appeal have garnered decades of accolades and awards for her performances and activism. She uses the gender-inclusive honorific Mx and pronoun v (as in vself) as a reference of self-acceptance, honoring herself and nature.

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Refugee | Supermodel | Activist

Alek Wek has been saluted for her invaluable influence on the perception of beauty. She has never been interested in industry standards and refused to have her skin lightened or to have her now-famous gap-toothed smile Photoshopped. Alek will not agree to have her general appearance altered in any way. As a result, her exotic, ethnic appearance took her to the peak of a demanding profession. It challenged every traditional definition of a model, and her success gave a world of women a broader, better concept of beauty.

In London, after fleeing her homeland as a refugee during the Sudanese Civil War, Alek was spotted by a model agency scout who was smitten by her unconventional beauty. Nearly six feet tall and ebony black, Alek was nothing anyone had seen on the catwalk before.

Bookings soon filled her schedule. Requests to star in music videos and movies came fast as did offers to grace catwalks and be featured on magazine covers and in the international marketing campaigns of top design houses.

Hers was a groundbreaking attitude and honors all women previously excluded from the traditional definition of good looks. Alek’s influence extends far beyond the beauty industry. She travels across the globe using her voice, her platform, and her story to advocate for refugees and to support the life-saving work.

That sort of beauty is incalculable. In fact, it has changed the world.

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Artist | Feminist | Activist

Frida’s existence was characterized by almost unimaginable suffering. She had crippling polio as a child and as a teenager was severely injured in a streetcar accident. Through 32 surgeries and countless complications, she suffered terribly for the rest of her life. Bedridden, her parents bought a customized easel and many of her creations were painted lying in bed or from a wheelchair.

When Frida approached the famous activist Mexican painter, Diego Rivera, to critique her work, he immediately recognized her talent. She knew he was a notorious womanizer but they married, divorced and remarried. This volatile relationship was another of her great heartbreaks.

Kahlo's works are usually populated by sad, disturbing portrayals of pain. Employing her characteristic folk-art style, she also examined themes related to Mexican national and indigenous traditions, socialism and feminist ideas.

The last sad chapter of her life Frida was bedridden, deeply depressed, hooked on painkillers and Diego began yet another affair. Seemingly anticipating her death, Frida spoke about it to visitors, gave Diego an early anniversary gift, and drew skeletons and angels in her diary. Evidence suggests and historians believe she committed suicide. The nurse who faithfully counted her pain pills insisted far too many pills were missing.

Kahlo's art remained relatively unknown until the late 1970s when political activists and art historians rediscovered her work. Her fame has only grown since then, and on the rare occasion one of her paintings comes up for sale, it sells for millions of dollars.

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Mathematician | Computer Pioneer

An only child, Ada Byron Lovelace was born to lauded poet, Lord Byron. Her mother saw to it that her education was exemplary and insisted Ada master mathematics and science.

Around the age of seventeen, Ada met Charles Babbage, a mathematician, and the inventor of the first mechanical computer. It was obvious to Babbage that Ada understood the machine better than anyone else had. To demonstrate its capabilities, she went on to write the world's first computer program. Science and art coexisted freely in her mind, and she possessed an obvious gift for connecting disparate ideas in original ways. A full century before the digital day dawned, Ada envisioned the computer-driven world we know today.

More than a hundred years after her death, Ada Lovelace's notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine were republished after having been forgotten. The engine was recognized as a model for a computer, and Ada Lovelace's notes served as a description of a computer and software.

Ada’s contributions to the field of computer science were not discovered until the 1950s. Since then, Ada has received many posthumous honors for her work. In 1980, the U.S. Department of Defense named a newly developed computer language "Ada," after Lovelace.

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Actress | Humanitarian

Actress Elizabeth Taylor had beauty, fame, wealth, and privilege. Then alcohol, drugs, food addiction, disease and time eroded her beauty, health and spirit. Elizabeth admitted to her addictions and her public battle brought drug treatment out of the darkness and into the light. The super star made her own bed, shared communal meals and attended group counseling.

A lifetime of willfulness, self-indulgence, decadence and hedonism was replaced by humility, grace and service. The actress became a strong voice in the fight against AIDS and demonstrated unwavering compassion and courage at a time when society and government regarded AIDS as a gay disease and did nothing. Appalled by the suffering, cruelty and condemnation, Elizabeth spoke out against hypocrisy and discrimination in favor of compassion and care.

Elizabeth lobbied before Congress to address the AIDS crisis, educated the world and encouraged communities to mobilize against the disease. She joined a small group of physicians and scientists to form the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and established her own foundation to provide direct care, along with love and moral support, to the most vulnerable patients.

Elizabeth’s foundation continues to carry her voice and mission in the fight for social justice and human rights for people living with HIV and AIDS to achieve an AIDS-free world.

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Media Mogul | Actress | Author | Philanthropist | Humanitarian

Starting from nothing, Oprah Winfrey cobbled together an empire. Born into poverty to an unwed teen in rural Mississippi, she would overcome astonishing odds to become the world’s first black female billionaire and the Most Influential Person in America.

Oprah experienced molestation and became pregnant at fourteen but her premature son died in infancy. These experiences fueled a sense of empathy that would ultimately become her calling card.

Articulate and outspoken, Oprah was nicknamed “Preacher” for her ability to recite Bible verses and credits her religious grandmother for encouraging her to use her voice and giving her a positive sense of self-worth and confidence.

Oprah stumbled into radio at sixteen, studied communication on a full scholarship earned by winning an oratory contest and became the first African American woman and youngest person ever to anchor the news at a Nashville station. Ultimately, she landed in Chicago and her television show became the highest rated talk show in America. Oprah used the show to educate, entertain, enlighten and uplift millions of viewers.

She continues to educate, inspire, encourage and teach her audiences that each among them has a divine purpose and that we are all the same, lowest to highest, because we all seek to be seen and heard. Oprah believes if we work to discover our truest, deepest purpose, we can accomplish the unimaginable. She has awarded 100s of grants and gives scholarships to students in the US and abroad.

Oprah is one of the most respected and admired people in history. In recognition of her extraordinary career and contributions, she has received innumerable awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement.

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Human Rights Activist | Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Malala Yousafzai was born in a Pakistani village in transition from a peaceful region to a military-controlled space where those who did not comply were slaughtered in the city’s streets. The Taliban was taking control of politics and education.

While most girls were not encouraged to learn anything about life outside their homes, Malala’s father, a teacher and activist, allowed her to study anything she chose. She was scarcely ten when she began drawing the attention of friends, family – and Taliban foes, too – by giving speeches and presenting papers on women’s and children’s rights.

Then the Taliban attempted to murder Malala, just fifteen, on a bus to school. She survived and brought a new awareness of the evils of the Taliban to the entire world. She became a touchstone for all issues regarding women, children, and education. The entitlement to adequate education for every child, no matter his or her economic standing, was the cornerstone of her belief system.

Her activism resulted in many International and National awards. At seventeen, Malala was named among the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Also at seventeen, her human rights advocacy work led her to become the youngest-ever Nobel Laureate.

Referencing the gunman who had tried to kill her she said: “I don’t hate. If I had a gun in my hand…I wouldn’t shoot him. This is the compassion I have learned from Muhammed, the Prophet of Mercy, and Jesus Christ and Lord Buddha.”

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Supreme Court Justice | Human Rights Activist

Ruth Bader Ginsburg studied law at Harvard when females were not welcome in the classroom or the legal profession. A seat occupied by a woman was thought to be a wasted seat.

After Harvard Ginsburg enrolled in Columbia Law where she graduated with a law degree and tied for first in her class. Despite stellar credentials, law firms didn’t want women among them, and she struggled to find employment. When she began work as a professor at Rutgers, Ruth was informed her salary would be less than her male counterparts.

Diminutive, reserved, sober and unbending in her opinions, Ruth was strong as steel. She became determined to abolish gender inequality and decided if the good old boys wouldn’t give her a job, she’d teach the next generation to think differently and change the system. She was determined to prove gender discrimination was harmful to both women and men. Ruth earned an enviable reputation, arguing in six gender discrimination cases and won five.

Ginsburg co-founded the first law journal to focus exclusively on women’s rights and co-authored a book on sex discrimination, the first law school casebook that was ever written.

Justice Ginsburg, in her eighth decade of life, developed an ardent following and an admiring student coined the term “Notorious R.B.G.” after the late rapper. Ginsburg’s greatest success was in teaching people of all ages, colors, genders and creeds to think more deeply about social justice.

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Artist | Feminist

Dogged by mental illness as a child, hallucinations were a preoccupation and provided fodder for Yayoi Kusama’s artistry. A theme of endless dots and repetitive marks informed her art from the beginning.

Born in Japan to a prosperous family, her mother often engaged young Yayoi as a spy to follow her father and report his infidelities in specific detail. Seeing her father in sexual situations traumatized her and she developed a lifelong aversion to the male body and to sex in general.

Yayoi sprang on the male-dominated New York City scene in the 1960s. Successful contemporaries like Andy Warhol, David Hockney and others came to admire and imitate her style of painting. She worked in a variety of media, including film, fashion, performance and sculpture. Her influence was far-reaching and included artistic influences like feminism, war resistance, minimalism, capitalism, social injustice and the patriarchy.

For fifteen years, Yayoi’s creations were plentiful and wildly diverse and she often worked for three or four days without resting. She went back to Japan to seek treatment for exhaustion and declining physical health. After being diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive neurosis, Kusama checked herself into a mental hospital and has willingly lived there ever since. She continues to work obsessively at her studio across the street.

Kusama reigns as one of the most iconic, revolutionary and famous contemporary female artists of all time. Despite significant challenges, she made sense of the world – for herself and others.

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Songwriter | Singer | Actress | Businesswoman | Humanitarian

Raised on a tumbledown farm in the Great Smoky Mountains, music ran deep in Dolly Parton’s large family. Her objective was to have a country-music career and by thirteen she graced the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. Dolly dreamed of success, planned for it, and lets nothing stop her in its pursuit.

From the beginning, she made unexpectedly bold decisions that served her well. Dolly has written thousands of songs, starred in movies, sold more than 100 million albums and won ten Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Strewn across decades in business are significant humanitarian deeds and simple acts of kindness. The singer established The Dollywood Foundation to support education and gifts more than a million books a month to youth in the U.S. and abroad to encourage a lifelong love of learning. She opened Dollywood to drive the economy of the communities around her birthplace. In the 2020 pandemic, Dolly donated $1 million to vaccination efforts.

Her artificial style mixes big blonde wigs, tight costumes, cleavage, bling and 9-inch heels which is in direct opposition to her entirely authentic self. Many of her lyrics and her movie performances address feminist topics and other themes of social interest. A strong advocate of the LGBTQ community, Dolly has also thrown her support behind the Black Lives Matter movement.

Internationally beloved, Dolly has used her fame and fortune to change the world. Everything she does has its roots in love, compassion, acceptance and generosity.

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Why Be A Virgin? Known for pushing boundaries in songs and imagery, Madonna’s fashion style, provocative performances and music influenced and liberated females from conventional standards. Undermining longstanding societal norms, she posed in Playboy with full body hair, used religious icons in unholy ways, sanctioned premarital sex and unwed pregnancies to change forever a woman’s limits and expressions.

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Musician | Singer | Mother of Rock & Roll

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, hymn-swinging, guitar-slinging evangelist, was shredding her electric guitar when Elvis Presley was a toddler. Yet it took nearly a hundred years for her to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Rosetta’s early life took shape perched atop church pianos. From the beginning, she sang and picked a guitar better than much more experienced musicians. Featuring sexy growls and high notes, her style bridged contemporary urban and backwoods rural. In church and nightclubs, she hopped between many styles of music to belt out gospel and secular tunes.

Rosetta’s personal life was a live checkerboard and she wasn’t shy about rattling conventions. Sister Rosetta married three times and had at least one female lover. Fleeing to New York City as a teen after her first bad marriage, Sister Rosetta gathered quite a following. Her lively single Strange Things Happening Every Day became the first gospel single to leap the divide between Billboard charts. It is considered by some to be the first rock song ever!

Her musical influence is obvious every time a rock musician picks up a guitar and plugs in. Sister Rosetta Tharpe accomplished so many firsts…she toured with all-white bands, traveled openly with a gay partner, blended gospel, jazz and blues into a genre all her own, and she did it long before Elvis or Little Richard.

A century later, Sister Rosetta Tharpe – female, black and queer – is accepted as the undisputed Mother of Rock & Roll.

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Marine Biologist | Author | Mother of Environmentalism

Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, led directly to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and gave birth to the sustainability movement we know today.

Rachel was curious, read voraciously and took an active interest in all manner of flora and fauna. Her studies in Marine Biology made her aware of the harmful environmental effects of synthetic chemicals leading her to write her most famous book, Silent Spring. It sold over two million copies, catapulted the environment to the top of the political agenda, and turned untold millions into environmentalists. It also played a major part in persuading governments to restrict and/or ban the use of DDT and other pesticides.

As her graduate work began, Rachel’s parents, older sister and two nieces moved in with her and soon after, her father and sister died. She was forced to earn income as the family’s sole breadwinner. She worked days and wrote at night. Carson was diagnosed with breast cancer that metastasized and ravaged her body for the next four years as she continued to work tirelessly on Silent Spring and other projects.

More than any other person, Rachel Carson opened the public’s eyes to the complexities of the natural world and she is credited with launching the environmental movement. Jimmy Carter awarded her posthumously with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Silent Spring represented a paradigm shift that changed the world.

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Not My Cup of Tea. “Not My Cup of Tea” is set on an antique dress form littered with jewelry, buttons, pins and brooches that represent the Crown Jewels. In this photographic collage, dutiful Queen Elizabeth is serving a traditional cup of tea to her public but isn’t all that happy about it. Her message on the teacup is that life is Unfair but sacrifice is necessary to fulfill one’s destiny and serve humanity.

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Reformer | Imperial Supreme Ruler

In the seventh century, Empress Wu Zetian became the first and only female sovereign ruler in more than 3,000 years of Chinese history.

In a society that demanded women remain invisible, she rose from obscurity to a position of authority. Wu bent law when possible and proclaimed herself a living deity. She has been accused of murdering her child, mother, brothers and a sister. Sifted through the lens of centuries and chauvinism, we cannot know the truth, but what we do know is impressive.

Empress Wu stabilized the Tang dynasty, now considered China’s Golden Age. Her reign was prosperous and nonviolent. Although Wu was a strong military leader, she welcomed ambassadors and avoided wars, and presided over the pinnacle of the Silk Road.

During her reign, military expenses were reduced, taxes cut, retirees were given a viable pension and vast royal lands near the capital were turned over to husbandry. Wu became a patron to scholars and founded an institute to produce the Collection of Biographies of Famous Women. Buddhism became the state religion in China, even above Taoism and Confucianism. By promoting Buddhism as the favored state religion, the Empress countered strongly held Confucian beliefs against female rule. She even issued instruction for children to mourn both parents, rather than merely their fathers.

Empress Zetian’s leadership resulted in important effects regarding social class in Chinese society and she was worshiped as the Sage Mother of Mankind. Empress Wu Zetian was among one of history’s earliest feminists.

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First Lady | Author | Human Rights Advocate

It is said Eleanor was hungry for affection and felt like an ugly duckling all her life. Maybe because of this she did not abide by the attitudes of the generation into which she was born and assumed roles that confirmed she was a force to be reckoned with.

At seventeen, she met, then later married her fifth cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Eleanor married into politics for love but did not anticipate her own potential to affect the U.S. government – and global history.

Well before her husband became President in 1933, she had already proved herself as sage a politician as he was. She led youth movements and women’s organizations, and in every forum fought for the ideals of liberty and human rights.

Eleanor stood up for the oppressed and revolutionized the role of wives - particularly by redefining the role of First Lady. Even after her husband’s death she became an outspoken United Nations Delegate, Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, a newspaper columnist, Democratic party activist, and diplomat.

As Chair of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, her greatest legacy is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a charter of liberties published in 1948. In it, she advocated for the civil rights of African and Asian Americans, encouraged expanded workplace roles for women, and promoted the rights of World War II refugees. Regardless of color, creed, or religion, this document deemed all humans equal.

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Business Woman | Author | Lifestyle Leader

For Martha Stewart, being a woman and a businesswoman is one and the same. Born into a working-class neighborhood, her parents instilled a strong work ethic that Martha firmly embraced. Jobs ranged from babysitting and modeling to successful Wall Street stockbroker in an all-male firm.

A self-taught gourmet cook, Martha started a catering business and quickly captured her clients with her creativity and style. She grew Martha Stewart, Inc. into a million-dollar business serving corporate and celebrity clients. Martha rose to prominence as the author of books and then expanded her brand to include publishing and television.

America's domestic goddess returned to Wall Street to oversee her company’s initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. With plenty of opposition, including her own lawyers, who were skeptical about the possibility of success, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia went public on the NYSE making her the first female self-made billionaire in the U.S.

Martha made headlines again for insider trading. A judge dismissed the securities fraud charge but a jury found her guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements. Sentenced to five months, Martha was an exemplary prisoner and instead of hostility at her fate, she was gracious, poised, and kind.

Since prison the persevering, resilient domestic diva has made an extraordinary comeback. You can’t keep a woman with a dream down for long.

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Photographer | Journalist | Activist

Letizia Battaglia’s photographs portrayed the corruption and death in Mafia controlled Sicily in the 70s and 80s. She witnessed firsthand the terror in Palermo, her birthplace, where bodies of politicians, policemen, investigators, civil servants and errant Mafia members littered the streets.

Rebellious and unwilling to live conventionally, she married at sixteen, had three daughters, divorced and then began her journalistic career in Milan and later in Palermo for a left-wing newspaper. Armed only with her courage and camera, Letizia photo-documented the Mafia caused bloodshed and its assault on society. Over 600,000 of her shockingly graphic works served to represent the brutality of Sicilian life as well as earning her death threats. In a male-dominated industry Letizia forged a place for herself as Italy’s first female photojournalist to work at a major newspaper.

Letizia’s photographs were used as the only physical evidence to indict seven term Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. Her contributions to exposing the Mafia stranglehold are the cornerstones of her life changing efforts.

For several years, Letizia stopped taking pictures and entered politics as Palermo city council and then as Deputy of The Network, whose members were murdered by the Mafia for their opposition. She was instrumental in saving and reviving the historic center of Palermo and managed a publishing house as well as co-founding a monthly journal for women.

Duty and justice called again and Letizia is now involved in women's, prisoners’ and environmental issues. She has won numerous awards for activism in civil and human rights, including two lifetime achievement honors. In 2019, a documentary film based on her life, Shooting the Mafia, was released.

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Diplomat | Professor | Author | Businesswoman

As the daughter of a Czech diplomat, Madeleine Korbel Albright grew up steeped in world affairs so it is not surprising that she embraced politics early in life. Madeleine’s immigrant family escaped twice from their native Czechoslovakia, first to London when the Nazis invaded and then to the U.S. when the Communists took power.

Albright graduated with honors from Wellesley and was awarded a PhD from Columbia. Her political career began when a former professor tapped her as his liaison to Congress. President Bill Clinton catapulted her to diplomatic fame as Ambassador to the United Nations where she earned a reputation as a fierce advocate for America. Later, with her appointment to Secretary of State, Madeleine became the highest-ranking woman in U. S. history. In this role, Dr. Albright reinforced America’s alliances, advocated for democracy and human rights, and promoted trade, business, labor, and environmental standards around the world. The plight of women was of particular importance to her and she spent a lifetime chasing remedies to all manner of life's problems - personal, social, political, global.

After she left the halls of power, Dr. Albright’s pace continued. She authored six bestsellers, launched a private investment fund, spearheaded a task force about preventing genocide and established her own institute at Wellesley College. In fact, she navigated a half-dozen professions, tirelessly striving to give voice to everyone everywhere who yearned for dignity and respect.

Dr. Albright was a female leader who broke one glass ceiling after another. For her efforts President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award that can be given to a civilian.

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It started with the “possible behavioral issue”. Could she speak…or not?

The artist had lost her voice. Perhaps due to the poor intubations resulting from the near-death experience that was not nearly as helpful as one might think. At least not as far as the “behavioral” issues went.

This recent episode was heralded by a new neuropsychologist. Dr. Henry was not young and not charming. She was dressed as though she had been unconscious of fashion since her last Nordstrom makeover. Her suits were once glorious in the mid 1970s, later reincarnated in the late 90’s and while still slightly acceptable, are now officially “dead to me”. The white lab coat accessorized with her magnetic name badge cold not hide this debacle.

Dr. Henry, upon review of the last brain MRI mentioned evidence of two new strokes pointing out lesions in the white matter to the now mute artist. The artist in denial over the strokes could suddenly speak and loudly stated to the doctor ”you are a fucking idiot’ and the lovely women, Dr. Henry, was dismissed once again.

‘Yes……a stroke, a stroke of genius!” I proclaimed. “You are the intersection of genius and medical anarchy…Why are you smiling” I asked? “Because you too are a genius and an idiot”. This reply was far too smug and far to flattering for my liking.

As the artist closed her eyes to rest she lazily said aloud in her strongest voice “If I could hold a paintbrush in my hand…I would ever so slightly lift your lips just a bit my darling… you are so pleasant and peaceful that way…pardon me while I sleep and dream you into eternity…it seems just yesterday we were nowhere and now we find ourselves here only to lose each other in the very next moment. I must capture you now. I’ve had a stroke you know.” The lights dimmed and then she winked.

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Painter | Rape Survivor

At twelve, when Artemisia’s mother died, she became the head of household including three older brothers and an extended group of male artists who worked for her busy, preoccupied father, well known painter Orazio Gentileschi.

Recognizing her artistic talent and abilities, Orazio hired fellow famous painter, Agostino Tassi, to privately tutor Artemisia. A married man, Tassi raped her when she was sixteen. Artemisia’s father sued Tassi on the principle that Artemisia’s virginity was an asset that belonged to him and had been unjustly taken from him. A daughter without her virginity would require a much larger dowry if a husband could even be found.

Artemisia won the rape case in a time when women’s claims were rarely believed over those of their male counterparts. It was quite literally a painful victory. To prove she was telling the truth a Sibille was wrapped around her fingers in open court. It was designed to permanently maim her hands and force her to confess to lying about Tassi. Even as the device was slowly tightened she repeatedly screamed: “It’s true! It’s true! It’s true!”

Quick-witted and business-savvy, she transformed herself from a nearly illiterate young woman to one who could speak succinctly, entertain gracefully and mingle with the greatest art patrons of Europe.

In a man’s world, against all odds, she created a substantial body of work and after being left out of art history books, she is now indisputably known as one of the world’s greatest Baroque painters.

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