7 Trailblazing Women to Look Out For in 2017
International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. In honor of the awesome women leading our planet to a better place, we made a small selection to showcase the incredible potential that rests within the women of our world.
1. YOKY MATSUOKA
Yoky Matsuoka is Silicon Valley’s most in-demand robotics professor and co-founded Google’s experimental Google X labs before taking her first stint as VP of Technology of Nest. After some time in other positions, including a short stint at Apple, Matsuoka recently returned back into Google fold as Chief Technology Officer of the company’s smart home devices division.
2. ALAINA PERCIVAL
Alaina Percival has a long history with Women Who Code. While working in brand management, she often volunteered for the non-profit and quickly became the go-to person for almost all questions. Without a proper background in programming, Percival eventually learned how to code and took over leadership of Women Who Code. She incorporated the organization, filed for a 501(c)3 status, and trademarked the name. The nonprofit has since grown to over 80,000 members worldwide and has helped countless women.
3. KAMALA HARRIS
Kamala Harris is the newly elected junior Senator in California and already has a heroic service record as both District Attorney and later Attorney General in her home state. During her time in public office, she worked hard for marriage equality and the betterment of education for underpriviliged classes. Some even think of her as a possible candidate for the first female president of the United States.
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4. STEPHANI LAMPKIN
When Lampking realized that the circumstances into which we’re born dictate much of our potential for economic success in life, she wanted to do something about this injustice. Her startup Blendoor is a “blind recruiting” app that uses merit-based matching on the key elements that predict job success, hiding any features that could possibly trigger hiring and interviewing bias, like race and gender.
5. LAUREN DUCA
Lauren Duca is a freelance writer and editor, currently working as the weekend editor for Teen Vogue. A recent essay of hers dealing with President Trump, thrust Teen Vogue into the center of a discussion on the current state of journalism and became the most-read article of the magazine ever. While many applauded the magazine’s transition into a serious magazine, finally realizing that women’s magazines have been much more than just fashion and make-up lists for quite some time. Duca’s work can also be found in The New Inquiry, Vice, Complex, New York magazine, Pacific Standard, The Nation, and The New Yorker,
6. YIN LIN & LISA WANG
Yin Lin along with co-founder Lisa Wang are the force behind SheWorx, a global collective of female entrepreneurs with programs in New York, Los Angeles, London, Singapore, and Tel Aviv. Since 2015, SheWorx has launched in 4 global cities, reached over 15,000 women, and curated over 75 dynamic roundtables and educational summits focused on providing women with actionable business strategies and access to top mentors
7. ANGELA LEE
Angela Lee is the Executive Director of Academic Integration at Columbia Business School and an Adjunct Assistant Professor teaching Strategy and Leadership courses. Lee was shocked by the lack of women in the investment world and wanted to do something about it as she felt this lack was limiting innovation. She founded 37 Angels, an angel investment community that trains women to invest in early stage start-ups and invests in startups led by both men and women.
