Women in Power: 4 Female Leaders to be Inspired By

Women entrepreneurship is up 69% over the last five years according to US Census Bureau data and despite only getting 1% of VC funding, women are consistently out performing men in the business world, even with less capital and support. No longer needing to “make it in a man’s world”, a new form of feminism has been birthed from the ashes of that old Victorian rhetoric “women are so competitive with each other”. Gone are the days of believing we are meanest to each other, there is a global rise in “sisters are doing it for themselves” and flipping the script to tell the larger story of women, we support each other. 

A huge narrative of the women who entered the work force in the 80’s was having to compete like a man in a man’s world and it was largely true for the women of the time. Women were the minority in every work place, had little power and did have to compete to stand out in the sea of their male counterparts. Thanks to the pioneer efforts of these women we now have female CEOs, (known) inventors and world leaders that are reminding everyone it’s also a women’s world and we can work within our own strengths to make the it a little better. 

Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo

Since October 1st 2024 Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo has been the seated president of Mexico, making her the first female leader in its post colonial history. President Sheinbaum approached her campaign with women, children and poverty at its center. A little over 18 months into her first term she has made large strides in protecting the rights of women, including constitutional reforms enshrining women’s right to substantive equality, raising the minimum wage and decreasing the homicide rate by about 25%-30% across Mexico according to the government website. While there is still a long way to go in closing the gender and living wage gaps throughout the country, as well as continuing to reduce the homicide and disappearance rate, Mexico is now seeing an expansion in social programs including more scholarships for higher education, higher pensions for the elderly and more support for women nationwide. 

While in the year 2026, we are no longer naive enough to think that there is a perfect politician, President Sheinbaum seemingly has the best interest of her people and country at the core of her agenda. With a goal to raise Mexico’s renewable energy use to 45% and restore 30% of the degraded coastal ecosystems by 2030, the president’s ambitions are high. Her critics point out that,  despite these ambitious goals, there is still a heavy reliance on oil and gas projects which would impede the work she is committed to and that the minimum wage increase still doesn’t fill the gap necessary to meet the cost of living. 

Overall, her first year has seen vast improvements in social programs, inclusion across communities and the keeping of campaign promises, all while having to battle international bullies and increasingly anti-latinx policies in neighboring countries. 

Stella Li 

Photo Courtesy of BYD

Stella Li is the female Executive Vice President of BYD and President of BYD Americas who is kicking Elon Musk’s Tesla out of the top spot in global EV sales. Ms. Li joined BYD in 1996 and is credited with being the architect of BYD’s global expansion. Under her leadership BYD has expanded into 110 countries since 1999, expanded their EV production from cars into buses, trucks and true off road vehicles and been the driving force in the “local for local” manufacturing strategy, long before the competition.

Beyond her impressive resume, she is an outspoken advocate for clean energy adoption, women’s leadership and inclusion and diversity within BYD and in the broader tech and clean energy sectors.

Zaha Hadid

Photo Credit: Steven Double

Nicknamed “Queen of the Curves” Baghdad born Zaha Hadid transformed the skylines of the past littered with towering phallic structures into sweeping futuristic masterpieces with bold continuous curves and unexpected diagonal layers. 

Launching her own architecture firm in 1979, her signature style and theoretical projects made waves in the architecture community long before many were built. In 2004 she was the first woman to receive the highest honor in the industry, the Pritzker Architecture Prize. However, she detested being labeled a “female architect” preferring to be seen for her work rather than her “diva” image, noting that if she were a male that the label diva wouldn’t exist. 

Throughout her career she was committed to pushing the envelope and breaking the mold of the “soft” and “frilly” designs expected of her as a female architect. She created a studio, unlike any other at that time, where women held key roles in leadership and could design any type of project that they wish, “gender appropriate” or not. Beyond these quiet acts of feminism, she was also dedicated to paying attention to the landscape and geology around her build sites, ensuring that her buildings were a compliment to their context rather than a trophy to her ego.

When she passed away unexpectedly in 2016, her legacy and her firm lived on. Leaving her spirit in buildings as notable as the Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Centre, the Heydar Aliyev Center, the Guangzhou Opera House, and the Galaxy Soho Building. 

Nzambi Matee

Video Courtesy of Gjenge Makers Website

Plastic waste is an epidemic across the globe and notably affects developing countries far more than their (majority) plastic consuming neighbors. Nzambi Matee, a Kenyan social entrepreneur has made it her mission to combat the increasing plastic pollution crisis by using it to her advantage. Founding Gjenge Makers by using her background in material science and her engineering expertise in environmental sustainability. With the goal of reducing plastic waste and providing affordable, sustainable alternative building materials, she started her venture with a single brick made of recycled plastic, which is now one of many products her company offers. 

Her desire to curb the mounting plastic pollution problem that had a harmful grip on Kenyan communities turned her knowledge of materials and sustainable engineering into her passion to reduce plastic waste and create a sustainable solution to traditionally carbon intensive building materials. Her solution not only addressed waste management and the carbon footprint of new construction but it also created jobs in her community especially for women and young adults thus enabling economic resilience in marginalized communities. 

Having recycled over 250,000 kilograms (551,156 pounds) of plastic waste into eco-friendly building materials, she has proven to the global community that circular economies hold great power and are an effective solution to combat the climate crisis we are facing.