Words by Daniella Millership
In celebration of International Women’s Day 2019, the Hey Ants team have selected 10 women in the creative industries who have challenged, shaped and opened doors for women across the world.
1. Maya Lin
Maya Lin is one of the most innovative artists of the twentieth century. While in the process of finishing her undergraduate degree at Yale aged just 21, she won a design competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. All submissions were anonymous, and the winner selected solely on the quality of the design. Her minimalistic design consisted of a polished black granite V-shaped wall inscribed with the names of men and women who were killed or missing in action.
Like the war itself, the monument sparked national controversy. Many referred to it as a ‘black gash of shame’, wanting a more traditional monument. The initial hostility faded, and her vision has since become the most visited memorial in the nation’s capital.
Despite receiving relentless criticism and ridicule for both her work and ethnicity, she never caved in and firmly stood by the choice she wanted to portray through her work. Lin has remained humble throughout her success, stating “I’m an architect, I’m an artist, I make things. I just love the fact that I can make a work and put it out there and walk away from it and then look at it like everybody else” (Maya Lin. Newsmakers).
2. J.K Rowling
Being the first author in the world to reach a net worth of $1 billion is an inspiration in itself. However, JK Rowling’s journey to success wasn’t easy. Her real name was not initially revealed and she wrote under a pseudonym for years as her publishers believed that a female name would discourage young boys from reading her writing. These days, teens all over the world are inspired by her determination and generosity and she’s been a guiding force for women around the world to pursue their desire to publish writing.
Anyone who inspires hundreds of millions of people to love reading deserves a spot on this list. Rowling is living proof that if you truly have a passion and set your mind to fulfilling your dreams, you can achieve success.
3. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey embodies ambition, power and is one of the most successful self-made women in America. Born into poverty, she faced relentless adversity but never gave up on her dreams. Winfrey grabbed every opportunity that was thrown to her, climbed the ladder of success to become a household name.
Her influence transcends race and age demographics, inspiring people to follow their dreams and passions through action. Oprah uses her platform to tackle taboo issues like verbal, physical and sexual violence, encouraging victims to speak out. She is now one of the world’s 500 richest people, and the first black female entrepreneur to make it onto the list. Despite her success, her humble nature has never changed, and she remains poised and gracious.
4. Helen Marquis
Helen Marquis, who began her career working in Guernsey’s Number Nineteen Records, now holds the reigns as YouTube’s global head of programming. Prior to her 2017 role at YouTube, Helen worked at HMV Manchester, Amazon and Play.com which took her to Google in 2011.
Marquis pushes for women to support women, and strongly opposes sexism and bias within the workplace. This was apparent during her acceptance speech upon winning the International Woman Of The Year trophy at the 2018 Music Week Women In Music Awards. She states ‘Don’t let anyone try and limit you or reduce you. Stand up to biases, stand up to aggression, stand up to sexism, stand up to objectification, and stand up to those who abuse their power. There are people who will hear you, who will believe in you and who will help you support you. Most of all, be the positive force of change. Show up, make your voice heard, and show everyone just how awesome we all are. The more we normalise this, the more women in the workplace will be normal.’
5. Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin is a powerful woman who demands respect, so much so that she even recorded a song about it. To this day, ‘Respect’ has remained one of the most iconic songs of female empowerment. The original version, penned by Otis Redding, spoke of how a man works all day to support his family, so his wife must respect him in the home. Aretha took it, added her spin to it and placed both men and women on equal ground.
Throughout her life, Aretha has been an inspiration to female singers around the world and has accumulated a vast number of awards and honors. Perhaps the most important came in 1987, when she was the first woman to ever be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In doing so, she kicked open the door for other women while simultaneously solidifying her status as the Queen of Soul. To this day, there are over 50 female performers who have followed in her footsteps — more than half have been African American.
6. Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo is an instantly recognizable woman and is considered one of Mexico’s greatest artists. Her life was marked with suffering, and she began painting mostly self-portraits after being severely injured in a bus accident. Despite living in constant pain, she lived her life with passion. Kahlo displayed her self-confidence throughout her body of work, defying society’s norms of ‘beauty’ by embracing her ‘manly’ features, namely her unibrow and mustache, as a form of beauty.
Kahlo made it okay for women to display their pains and frustrations, which ultimately led them towards understanding them and society beginning to accept that women too can be melancholy rather than depressed — a concept that was previously gender specific. Women prior to Kahlo were ridiculed and deemed hysterical for attempting to communicate their deep emotions.
For a woman who wished to be remembered, it seems her wish has come true.
7. Jude Kelly
Jude Kelly is a British theatre director and producer who has directed over 100 productions across the UK. In 1997, she was awarded an OBE for her services to theatre, and in 2015 she was made a CBE in the New Year honours for services to the Arts.
In 2006, Jude was appointed artistic director of Southbank Centre, Britain’s largest cultural institution.
In 2010, Jude founded the Women of the World Festival (WOW), now an annual international event, which celebrates the achievements of women and girls as well as looking at the obstacles they face. She recently made the decision to step down as the artist director of Southbank Centre to focus full time on expanding WOW. She states ‘Human’s change through stories and it depends what stories you tell about whom and for whom. I’m interested in propelling forward the idea of a human story as a different set of rights and ideas.’
8. Annie Leibovitz
Annie Leibovitz is an American photographer, renowned for her dramatic, quirky portraits of musicians, actors and writers. While still a student in 1970, she was given her first commercial assignment for Rolling Stone magazine. Within three years, she was the first woman to be named chief photographer at Rolling Stone and the last person to take a portrait of John Lennon — one of the most iconic covers to date. By today’s standards, many of her images are considered ‘standard’ portraits, yet she was the one who set that standard.
Something that sets her apart from other photographers is her ability to pull genuine moments from celebrities who are photographed on a daily basis. Her Vanity Fair magazine of a naked, pregnant Demi Moore changed the way people perceived pregnancy and the female form. She states “It’s an interesting moment for me, looking back and realizing here’s a photograph that has one meaning and when something like that happens — where John was killed — that meaning changes,”. Leibovitz’ photography often captures significant moments and begins the development of perception on taboo topics.
9. Huda Kattan
Huda Kattan is a Middle Eastern American entrepreneur who leveraged her online presence to build a dynamic global brand. She grew up in Tennessee to Iraqi-American parents, initially studying finance before deciding to follow her passion and become a makeup artist.
Despite her success, her core values of family over everything have remained and her business is run with the help of her sisters and husband. She fearlessly lives her life with positivity and shows women that you can raise a family, run a business, stay true to yourself and dominate the world simultaneously. She is a woman who is not afraid to ask for what she wants — something women all over the world can be inspired by.
10. Kate Bush
Catherine Bush, better known as Kate Bush is a CBE English singer, songwriter and record producer. She has released ten studio albums, all of which reached the UK Top 10. As well as this, Kate was the first British solo female artist to top the UK album charts and the first female artist to enter the album chart at number one, making her an inspiration for aspiring female musicians across the world.
An elusive character, she retreated from the public eye in 1979, taking a 35 year sabbatical from touring until her 22-day sellout tour at London’s Hammersmith Apollo in 2015. Despite keeping a low profile, she never stopped releasing music and chooses to run her career entirely at her own pace. Her influence is unwavering and in the past few months alone, there have been four covers of ‘Running Up That Hill’. 30 years on, Running Up That Hill still resonates, and countless artists cite her as an influence, from Lorde to Big Boi, proving she may be the most inspirational and influential pop singer of the last few decades.
