Everyone has heard of boss ladies such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren. These women are iconic in fighting for women’s rights and being trailblazers for women everywhere. But there are many women out there who have made their contribution to women everywhere and do not get the recognition they so deserve. So we highlighted four of them for you below.
Photo Courtesy of NASA’s Official Website
Margaret Hamilton
Margaret Hamilton is a graduate of Earlham College earning a bachelor of the arts in mathematics. She started her career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in a time before computer science was considered a field someone could work in. When NASA started issuing contracts for the Apollo program in 1961 the first went to MIT. Hamilton ended up leading the Software Engineering Division of the then MIT Instrumentation Laboratory and made sure there was thorough testing because as she said, “There was no second chance. We all knew that.” The software they used was created so well there were no software bugs found on any crewed Apollo missions. Hamilton was honored for her work both in 2003 and 2016. First by NASA when she was honored with a special award for her innovations in the Apollo software development. She was honored then again in 2016 when President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to the success of the Apollo mission.
Photo Courtesy of Barbara Hackman Franklin’s Official Website
Barbara Hackman Franklin
Barbara Hackman Franklin is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University as well as one of the first female graduates of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. She faced many challenges in such a male-driven environment during college and in her work in the private sector. She moved to the public sector when she was hired to recruit women for high-level government jobs in the Nixon Administration. This effort nearly quadrupled the number of women in these positions from 1971-1973. Through her work in many other roles, she earned the position of 29th U.S. Secretary of Commerce of President George H. W. Bush. In this position, she increased American exports, especially in the Chinese, Russian, Japanese and Mexican markets. Currently, she is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Barbara Franklin Enterprises, which is a private consulting firm.
Photo Courtesy of Elizabeth Plank’s Official Website
Elizabeth “Liz” Plank
Elizabeth “Liz” Plank is a graduate of McGill University and the London School of Economics where she got her masters. She is an award-winning journalist getting her start writing articles for the Huffington Post and eventually was a Senior Correspondent at Mic. One of her more notable projects is 2016ish, an award-winning series about the presidential election where she spoke to important public figures. She is currently the Executive Producer of Divided States of Women at Vox Media where she discusses controversial women’s issues with her cohost. Liz also regularly appears on shows such as including The Today Show, The Daily Show, MSNBC, Fox News, ABC News, Fusion, Al-Jazeera America and BBC World. Liz is on Mediaite’s 2016 list of the most influential in news media and was named one of Forbes’ 30 under 30 in media.
Photo Courtesy of Hitha Herzog’s Official Website
Hitha Herzog
Hitha Herzog is a graduate of Smith College and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She has been featured in many major publications including Vogue India, New York Times and Oprah Magazine. Hitha Herzog is the co-host of Divided States of Women where she offers important commentary about issues that plague women in this country. She is the Chief Research Officer of H Squared Research LLC as well as a columnist at US News and World Report. She also penned the book “Black Market Billions: How Organized Retail Crime Funds Terrorists”. She also appears on television as a national retail and consumer-spending expert for NBC Nightly News, The Today Show and MSNBC. Forbes Magazine recently named her one of the most influential South Asian women in the United States.
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