10 Millennial Women That Are Kicking Ass and Taking Names
“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”
― Nora Ephron
By Sam Alder
If you haven’t heard, March is women’s history month. I have a lot of feelings about these months or ad hoc holidays dedicated to the observance and celebration of minority groups who have contributed plenty of their skills and knowledge to the betterment of society. An issue I have with women’s history month is that it allows people to become socially inclined to only praise women during this short time period.
If you take anything from this article, please continue to support and follow female leaders past the month of March, and encourage your peers to do the same. It was nearly impossible to choose only ten millennial women for this list. There are so many more that exist and I’m uncovering new trailblazers each day, but for now these are my top ten millennial women that are kicking ass and taking names.
1. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Image via Twitter
This influential latina you may have heard of, she’s the 29-year-old Bronx native who was just elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Not only is that impressive on its own, but she’s also a Democratic socialist who unseated a 10-term congressman in NY. If that’s not badass, I don’t know what is.
2. Anna Valencia
Image Via Block Club Chicago
Another feminist politico dream, Anna Valencia was sworn in as Chicago’s City Clerk in January 2017. Her goal is to make city services more accessible to all the people of Chicago. She is the second Latina to hold office for this position and is passionate about women’s rights and the Chicago Public School system.
3. Yiqing “Pocket” Sun
Image via Twitter
This 27-year-old Chinese native immigrated to the US in 2009. She became the co-founder of a multi-million-dollar venture capitalist firm after experiencing how male-dominated the venture capitalist industry can be. Her VC firm,SoGal ventures is a female-led, millennial venture capital firm operating in the multi-million-dollar range.
4. Cassandra Levesque
Image via Twitter.com
At 19 years old Cassandra ran for the U.S. House of Representatives after attempting to abolish child marriage in the state of New Hampshire. She was elected as a Democrat from the Strafford 4 district in 2018.
5. Andreja Pejic
Image via Today.com
This Bosnian-Australian beauty is a top supermodel and now successful actress, recently starring in The Girl in the Spider’s Web. She came out as a trans woman in 2013 and has been one of the most sought after runway models ever since.
6. Jennifer Lambert/Jihan Thomas
Image via Twitter
These ladies are business partners so I’m grouping them together (my article, my rules). They are the co-founders of SWIVEL Beauty. The app connects women of color to hair professionals across the US. If you didn’t know, it’s extremely difficult to find a hair stylist that can properly style black women’s hair. Lambert and Thomas saw an opportunity to fill this need. Even before becoming tech entrepreneurs Lambert attended Harvard Law School and Thomas had an education from the University of Pennsylvania.
7. Tara Baker
Image via Twitter
Frustrated with the state of the current wedding industry, Baker partnered with her fiancé to create a wedding magazine dedicated to LGBTQ+ brides. “Dancing With Her” started as a mini digital magazine and soon skyrocketed to hold a global readership of 85,000 people per month.
8. Alice Brooks
Image Via Bizjournals.com
You might have seen Brooks and her partner on ABC’s hit show Shark Tank. As an ivy league educated engineer Brooks saw a lack of toy options for girls that would encourage them to be creative and explore the world of engineering and building. She and her partner developed Roominate, a now very successful toy line that allows children to create structures with full mechanics and circuits. As a result, Roominate has won Forbes “Top 10 Toys to Watch in 2015,” TIME “Toy of the Year” and 2015 TOTY Finalist.
9. Jessica Williams
Image via Marie Claire
At just 23 years old she joined the cast of The Daily Show as one of the youngest correspondents to ever be hired. Ever since then she has become an iconic ball buster who advocates for women’s equality. Her comedic skills and political know-how have made her a fan favorite and you can currently catch her and her gal pal Phoebe Robinson on their hit HBO stand-up show “2 Dope Queens”!
11 Women who Broke Barriers in the 2018 Midterm Elections
The 2018 midterm elections were a monumental moment in modern US history. More specifically, red seats turned blue and women were elected into Congress in record numbers. To celebrate the successes, here’s a recap of some women who broke barriers in the 2018 midterm elections.
As Queen Bey once said, “Who run the world? Girls."
And really, we run this motha’ because so many women broke barriers in the 2018 midterm elections. The female candidates running for Congress came from different backgrounds — from veterans to teachers. It was also a night of many firsts — from the first Native American women in Congress, to the first female governors in some states. According to the Washington Post, “Women have never held more than 84 of the 435 seats in the House.”
Before Election Night, USA Today had estimated that at least 118 women would be elected into Congress. Although results are not yet finalized, two things are certain — 1) women will be serving Congress in record numbers and 2) Democrats are regaining control of the House. To celebrate these successes, here’s a breakdown of some women who’ve broken barriers in the 2018 midterm elections.
11 Women who Broke Barriers in the 2018 Midterm Elections
1) Stacey Abrams (Dem)
With the support of President Obama and Oprah Winfrey, Stacey Abrams ran to become the first black female governor in Georgia and all of the US.
2) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Dem)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the US Representative for New York’s 14th Congressional District. At 29-years-old, the Latina is the youngest woman ever elected into Congress.
3) Deb Haaland (Dem)
Former Chair of the Democratic Party in New Mexico, Deb Haaland, is one of the first Native American women elected into Congress.
4) Sharice Davids (Dem)
In addition to being one of the first Native American women elected into Congress, Sharice Davids is also Kansas’ first openly gay representative.
5) Rashida Tlaib (Dem)
Former member of the Michigan House of Representatives, Rashida Tlaib, is the first Muslim woman elected into Congress.
6) Marsha Blackburn (Rep)
Marsha Blackburn is the first female senator coming from Tennessee.
7) Chrissy Houlahan (Dem)
Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force Veteran, was elected as the US Representative for Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District.
8) Mikie Sherrill (Dem)
Mikie Sherrill, a former US Navy helicopter pilot and former federal prosecutor, was elected as the US Representative for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District.
9) Abigail Spanberger (Dem)
Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA operative, defeated Republican Dave Brat and was elected as the US Representative for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
10) Laura Kelly (Dem)
Laura Kelly defeated Republican Kris Kobach in the race for Kansas’ governor.
11) Gretchen Whitmer (Dem)
Gretchen Whitmer, the newly elected Governor of Michigan, flipped the state’s party from Republican to Democrat.
It’s safe to say that women dominated the 2018 midterm elections. Despite the record breaking numbers, women are still underrepresented in Congress. This is just the turning point and we still have a ways to go. We need to keep on pushing and empowering each other. After all, there is definitely strength in numbers.