- Ursula von der Leyen
Ursula von der Leyen tops Forbes’ “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” chart at #1. Leyen is a German physician and politician.
Leyen was born and raised in Belgium. She had moved to Germany in 1971 with her father, who was involved with German politics. She graduated as a physician in Hanover, Germany in 1987. She then went on to marry Heiko von der Leyen, a fellow physician, and lived in the United States for four years with her family in the 1990s. After returning to Germany in the late 1990s, Leyen became involved with local politics in the Hanover region. After that, she served as a cabinet minister in the state government of Lower Saxony, Hanover from 2003 to 2005.
As a woman in the German federal government since 2005, Leyen has persistently climbed the ranks. In 2005, she served as the minister of family affairs and youth in the federal cabinet. She then became the minister of labor and social affairs from 2009 to 2013 and finally, she was the first woman to serve as the minister of defense until 2019.
On July 16, 2019, Leyen was elected by the European Parliament and took office on Dec. 1, 2019, becoming the first woman President of the European Commission.
- Christine Lagarde
Christine Lagarde is a French politician and lawyer. She has served as President of the European Central Bank (ECB) since 2019. This is not the first time Lagarde has placed on Forbes’ Top 100, though– It is actually her third.
Lagarde was brought up in Paris, France. She graduated from Paris Nanterre University and earned a Master’s degree from Sciences Po Aix. When she was admitted to the Paris Bar, she was hired at Baker & McKenzie, international law firm, as an associate in 1981.
Rising through the ranks, Lagarde was an executive committee member of the firm from 1995 to 1999 before elevating to Chair until 2004. She was the first woman in both positions and held the top post until she decided to focus on public service.
Lagarde was appointed Minister of Foreign Trade from 2005 to 2007 before briefly serving as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, then finally was Minister of Finance until 2011, making her the first woman to hold the finance portfolio of any Group of Eight economy. During her position, she oversaw the government’s response to the late 2000s financial crisis.
In July 2011, Lagarde was elected to be the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a five-year term. She resigned from the IMF, following her nomination as President of the ECB.
- Kamala Harris
In third place on Forbes’ Top 100 list is Kamala Harris. She is an American politician and attorney, who is currently the vice president, under President Joe Biden.
Harris was born in Oakland, California. She graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of Law. She landed her first position as District Attorney (DA) of Alameda County, then the San Francisco DA and the City Attorney of San Francisco’s Offices.
In 2017, Harris served as the junior U.S. Senator from California, until 2021 when she defeated Loretta Sanchez and served in the U.S. Senate.
Harris sought the 2020 presidential nomination, but withdrew from the race prior to the primaries. Then, Biden selected her to be his running-mate and they were both inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021.
Harris is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well as the first African-American and first Asian-American vice president. It is no wonder why she is towards the top of this list.
- Giorgia Meloni
Giorgia Meloni is the prime minister of Italy. She is the first woman to hold this position.
She has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2006, has led the Brothers of Italy political party since 2014 and has been the president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party since 2020.
Looking to the past, Meloni joined the Youth Front in 1992, which is the youth wing of the Italian Social Movement, a neo-fascist political party founded in 1946 by former followers of Italian fascism. She later became the national leader of Student Action, the student movement of National Alliance, a post-fascist party moving towards national conservatism. By 2002, she was the Student Action president.
In 2008, Meloni was appointed Italian Minister of Youth in the fourth Berlusconi government. She held the role until 2012 when she co-founded the Brothers of Italy.
Meloni unsuccessfully ran in the 2014 Parliament Election and the 2016 Rome Municipal Election. The Brothers of Italy won the 2022 Italian general election and Meloni has been at the top ever since.
- Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift has been off the charts all around this year– Is this surprising? Not at all. Along with placing at #5 for Forbes, Swift is also Times’ ‘Person of the Year.’
Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Tennessee, Swift began her career at 14-years-old when she signed with Big Machine Records to become a country singer. She has since released 10 albums, including those re-recorded in order to reclaim the rights to her music.
This year, Swift’s achievements include, but are certainly not limited to “The Eras Tour,” the release of “Speak Now Taylor’s Version”and her $250 million film, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.”
With over 200 million records sold globally, Swift is one of the best-selling musicians. She is the most-streamed woman on Spotify and Apple Music, the highest-grossing female performer ever and the first billionaire with music as the main source of income.
Even Swift’s beloved cat, Olivia Benson is worth a whopping $97 million.