On March 8, the world is celebrated International Women’s Day, showing appreciation for females across the globe and their inspiring contributions to society. In the US, women stood in solidarity by wearing red, as many chose not to go work and participated in a general Day Without Women Strike. With this, let’s take a moment to recognize the many females who are using their creativity to make the world a better place. Here are some bad ass female creators in no particular order.
1. Whitney Wolfe, Founder of Bumble
Source: TechCrunch/ Flickr via Creative Commons.
Whitney Wolfe left her co-founding position at Tinder amid sexual harassment allegations at the company, but didn’t let that stop her from pursuing her passion and vision. Soon after, she created her own dating app, Bumble, which gives women power in their dating decisions, and has since settled her lawsuit with Tinder.
2. Simone Giertz, Queen of Shitty Robots
Giertz was always told failure was not an option, so she made it one. She studied engineering in college, dropped out after a year, and began teaching herself how to create ‘shitty robots.’ Gertz’s mantra is to not be afraid of failure, which has led to a successful career in creating crafty yet shitty inventions. She has also become a host for Adam Savage’s show, Tested.
3. Grace Helbig, YouTuber
Source: Gage Skidmore/Flickr via Creative Commons.
Grace Helbig never took herself too seriously, and this positive attitude has propelled her into a successful career as a YouTube personality, actress, content creator, and more. Her fun, interesting videos made her channel one of the most popular on YouTube with over three million subscribers.
4. Hannah Hart, YouTuber
Gage Skidmore/Flickr via Creative Commons.
Like Helbig, Hannah Hart has been a YouTube sensation for a long time now, with unique content that surely keeps her two million subscribers (and counting) entertained. She’s also been in films with Helbig and has written a book about her life called ‘Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded.’ Hart stands out as both a female content creator and member of the LGBT community.
5. Jen Rozenbaum, Photographer
Source: Jen Rozenbaum Facebook
Jen Rozenbaum has created a photography platform for women to learn more about their field in a “shamelessly feminine” space. As a boudoir photographer, she believes in the power of women, which shines through in her work as she strives for females to be better represented in the industry. Check out our feature on Rozenbaum from the Fall 2016 issue of Resource Magazine.
6. Francesca Ramsey, YouTuber
Francesca Ramsey first rose to fame with her ‘Shit White Girls Say To Black Girls’ video. Now, she uses her channel to educate her audience on social issues, such as the Black Lives Matter movement, and emphasizes the importance of recognizing black women’s’ contributions to society.
7. Ava DuVernay, Filmmaker
Source: Disney/Flickr via Creative Commons
Ava DuVernay has already taken tremendous strides as a black woman in the film industry. Her most recent documentary film, 13th, a Netflix original, was nominated for an Oscar this year, as it explores the history of racial inequality in the US.
8. Sarah Maple, Photographer
Source: www.sarahmaple.com
Like Rozenbaum, Sarah Maple wants to change the way female photographers are portrayed and represented in the world. Feminism is a huge subject presented in her work and women are the central subjects to many of her pieces. Many of her images are a bit obscure and unusual, but at the same time empowering. Check out our feature on Maple from the Fall 2016 issue of Resource Magazine.
9. Lauren Tracy and Greta McAnany, Creators of BLUE FEVER
Female actors, producers, filmmakers, and more are still not given the same opportunities as males in the film industry. That’s why Tracy and McAnany created a platform where females in the movie business can share their creations and collaborate with each other without any setbacks. BLUE FEVER is a ground breaking platform that’s all women, all the time.
10. Jenna Marbles, YouTuber
Source: Gage Skidmore/Flickr via Creative Commons
Jenna Marbles is a YouTuber who transformed what’s possible to achieve with the video sharing platform when it started to become popular. She went from working odd jobs after college and struggling to pay rent to using her comedic and quirky personality to make vlogs and funny videos for the world to watch.
11. Gigi Gorgeous, YouTuber, personality
Gigi created her YouTube channel as a personal diary and place to share her struggles with her gender and sexuality, as well as her love for makeup. Her viewers followed her journey as a transgender woman, as she uses her platform to promote acceptance, love and beauty.
12. GloZell Green, YouTuber
Source: Gage Skidmore/Flickr via Creative Commons
GloZell Green always asks ‘is you okay?’ ‘is you good?’ Because she genuinely wants to know. Green is another YouTuber who has produced viral video after video for nearly a decade. With funny characters, challenges, and energy, she’s a female content creator your can’t stop watching.
13. Laura Weidman Powers, Co-founder and CEO of Code2040
Source: Knight Foundation/Flickr via Creative Commons
Weidman is one of the strongest, most influential women in the tech world. Her involvement with CODE2040, a company that creates access, awareness, and opportunities for top Black and Latino/a engineering talent, is “cracking the code on diversity in tech,” which is something the industry desperately needs.
14. Erica Joy Baker, Senior Engineer at Slack
Screen grab from ericabaker.com
Baker has taken over tech offices worldwide, not only at Slack, but Google too. As senior engineer at Slack, she advocates for diversity and more accessible tech education.
15. Reshma Saujani, CEO of Girls Who Code
Source: TED Conference/Flickr via Creative Commons.
Saujani is working on making the gender gap and female involvement in coding more visible, as her company offers free summer programs and after-school clubs for teen girls to explore coding in a fun and friendly environment.
16. Natalie Keyssar, Photographer
Source: Photo Brigade
Natalie Keyssar is an activist and photographer who tackles many different social issues in her work. She says she’s been treated unfairly as a female photographer, but that never stopped her from following her passion. Check out our feature on Keyssar from the Fall 2016 issue of Resource Magazine.
17. Kimberly Bryant, CEO of BlackGirlsCode
Source: nrkbeta/Flickr via Creative Commons
Bryant has committed herself to giving black females equal opportunity in the technology industry, combatting the dearth of African-American women in science, technology, engineering and math professions. Her mission is to give young and pre-teen girls of color opportunities to pursue careers in tech and computer programming at a time when they’re naturally considering what they want to be when they grow up.
18. Lilly Singh, IISuperwomanII, YouTuber
Lilly Singh, a.k.a Superwoman, has taken the world by storm and inspired girls all over the world to follow their passions and never stop dreaming. She’s a huge advocate of females supporting other females, which is why she created #GirlLove to break the cycle of girl-on-girl hate.
Happy Women’s History Month!
[featured image by Jordan Doner, provided by Bumble]