This week as we celebrate Earth Day and National Park Week, we also honor Marjory Stoneman Douglas.” Douglas (April 7, 1890 - May 14, 1998) was a journalist, columnist, author and conservationist whose book, The Everglades: River of Grass, started a movement to restore the Everglades.

Chieko Asakawa is the creator of the first voice browser and digital Braille library, two inventions that revolutionized computer access for millions of blind and visually impaired people. A pioneer in the field of assistive technology, today she is developing the AI Suitcase, a smart device/robot that will help blind people travel independently.

This week’s Remarkable Woman of the Week post is by Melanie Kirkpatrick, a writer, journalist and former deputy editor of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial pages and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. Her blog introduces us to one of the most consequential women of 19th century America and is based on her most recent book, Lady Editor: Sarah Josepha Hale and the Making of the Modern American Woman. We are so pleased to share the story of yet another remarkable figure from history.

Shirley Polykoff and Ilon Specht were advertising copywriters who broke through the glass ceiling of the male-dominated ad industry. Polykoff and Specht produced two of the beauty industry’s most iconic ads and memorable taglines for Clairol and L’Oreal. Their work went beyond advertising to energize the women’s empowerment movement.

Jeannie Leavitt is a retired two-star Air Force Major General who made history in 1993 when she became the first American woman to fly a fighter jet.

The wealthiest woman in America during the country’s Gilded Age (1870s-1890s) was Hetty Green, who created a fortune through her investing skills. As the first successful female financier, she was called the “queen” or “witch” of Wall Street by those who either admired or dismissed her.

As we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage month, this week’s Remarkable Woman is Ellen Ochoa, born May 10, 1958. Ochoa was the first Latina American astronaut in space. She went on to be director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center – the second woman and first person of color to hold that job.

One of the architectural triumphs of the 19th century was made possible by Emily Roebling, who stepped in to oversee the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge when her husband fell ill.

She was “society’s best kept secret” – an African American fashion designer who dressed Hollywood stars and wealthy high society women. Her most famous creation was the wedding dress of future First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. But who was Ann Lowe?

Kirsten Neuschafer became the first woman to win sailing’s Golden Globe Race in 2023. The solo, non-stop around the world race is one of the sport’s most challenging and has been known as “a voyage for madmen.”

Marian Croak is a scientist who invented VoIP (voice over internet protocol), a technology she developed and created more than three decades ago. She’s also the inventor of text-to-donate apps that raised millions in aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

We're honored and delighted to welcome USA Today best selling author Kerri Maher as our guest blogger for this week's Remarkable Woman of the Week feature. The author of three (soon to be four) books of historical fiction featuring female characters, she has a fascinating take on "Why Write About Remarkable Women." Read her essay and bio and sign up to pre-order her new book, All You Have to Do is Call due out on Sept. 19.

As we celebrate July 4th, our Remarkable Woman of the week is Emma Lazarus, a poet whose famous poem with the line, “Give me your tired, your poor,” is engraved on the Statute of Liberty. Who was Emma Lazarus and how did her poem become synonymous with Lady Liberty?

This week marks the 53th anniversary of the first PRIDE march, which took place on June 28, 1970. One of the organizers was Barbara Gittings (July 31, 1932-Feb. 18, 2007), a pioneer in the fight for gay and lesbian rights. Ten years before the Stonewall Uprising she organized the first lesbian civil rights group in New York City. She also succeeded in getting the American Psychiatric Association to drop homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

As we celebrate Juneteenth this week, our Remarkable Woman of the week is Opal Lee, a community activist and retired teacher described as “the grandmother of Juneteenth.” After years of advocating to make Juneteenth a national holiday, in 2016, at the age of 89, she walked 1,400 miles from her home in Texas to the White House to dramatize her campaign.

Four years before American women won the right to vote, Jeannette Rankin, born June 11, 1880, made history by becoming the first female elected to Congress. On her first day in office, she introduced a bill that would become the 19th Amendment. In her first week, she voted against going to war, an act that would define and doom her political career.

Martha Gellhorn, (Nov. 8, 1908-Feb. 15, 1998) was a pioneering war correspondent. She was the only female reporter on D-Day 79 years ago this week, the military battle that was the turning point of World War II.

Nancy Kwan, born May 19, 1939, is a Chinese American actress who broke racial barriers when she became a Hollywood star playing romantic leads in the 1960s.
Before Michelle Yeoh, before Lucy Liu, before Ming-Na Wen, there was Nancy Kwan, whose first screen role in The World of Suzie Wong in 1960 catapulted her to fame and launched her remarkable career.

Lorraine Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – Jan. 12, 1965), born 93 years ago this month, was a feminist, civil rights activist, writer and playwright whose play, A Raisin in the Sun, changed American theater.  Her work remains relevant even today. Hansberry’s final play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, is in revival on Broadway this summer.

World Press Freedom Day is celebrated in May. This week’s RW is Nellie Bly (1864-1922), a female journalist who was a war correspondent, went undercover to expose abuses within a mental asylum and pioneered investigative journalism. She paved the way for generations of women reporters.