The festival of Durga Puja is here. A festival that glorifies the victory of Goddess Durga’s victory over the evil demon Mahishasura. The triumph of good over evil. Durga is the Hindu Goddess of Shakti (power). She is believed to be the mother of the Universe and the power behind creation and preservation. As the whole of India is beginning to bask in the festive mood and preparing the celebrations to welcome Goddess Durga, we take a look at some of the most influential and powerful women from India and the world. Women who epitomize power, character and determination.
Here’s a list of 5 women that we admire, who defied all odds to carve their own ways and make their mark in this supposedly male-dominated world.
Kiran Bedi
Who better to start off with than our very own Kiran Bedi. Kiran was the first woman officer in the Indian Police Service. She served as the Director General at the Bureau of Police Research and Development, Government of India. She is a prominent social activist and has founded two NGOs – Navjyoti India Foundation for welfare and preventative policing and India Vision Foundation for prison reformation, drug abuse prevention, and child welfare. In 1994, Kiran Bedi was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for government service. She has achieved international recognition for her works and her organization was awarded the “Serge Sotiroff Memorial Award” for drug abuse prevention by the United Nations. She is one of the prominent members of the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement. She has also been the host and judge of a popular TV show in India called “Aap Ki Kacheri” (Your Court).
Sara Blakely
Sarah Blakely is an American businesswoman and the youngest female billionaire in the world. She is a self-made woman who founded Spanx, a multi-million dollar undergarment company. She began her career at Walt Disney and did some standup comedy. She also did door to door selling of fax machines for a company called Danka. From that to being the youngest female billionaire is quite a journey which she covered in a remarkably short period of time. Her company has reported to have done $4 million in sales in the very first year and $10 million in the second. When she tied up with a home shopping channel on TV, she sold 8,000 units of her products in 6 minutes! No wonder she became a billionaire at such a tender age. In 2012, she was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine.
Chanda Kochhar
She is the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ICICI Bank, the second largest bank in India and the largest private one. She started her career as a management trainee at Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Ltd. (ICICI) way back in 1984. Talk about consistency and dedication. She was a member of the core team that set up the ICICI Bank in 1993. She climbed the ladder from thereon and in 2009 she was appointed the CEO and MD of the bank. Under her leadership, ICICI Bank has won several awards, and she herself was awarded the most powerful businesswoman in India by Forbes in its list of ‘The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women 2013″.
J. K. Rowling
Who doesn’t know Harry Potter and his magical adventures? J. K. Rowling has sold more than 400 million copies of her Harry Potter series which was made into the immensely popular Harry Potter movie series. She has achieved worldwide popularity and accolades. Through her book sales and sale of movie rights of the books plus the royalty on the multi-million dollar movie series, she became the first person to become a billionaire by writing books according to Forbes in 2004. She wrote her first manuscript in an old manual typewriter in 1995. She lost her mother, went through a divorce after being a victim of domestic abuse, single parenthood, she has had it all. She was also diagnosed with clinical depression and contemplated suicide. She was so poor at that point that she even had to sign up for welfare benefits. After her success, she has won many awards and recognition including the Order of the British Empire among many others.
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” fame has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history and is currently North America’s only black billionaire. She is also regarded as the most influential woman in the world. She is a self-described victim of sexual abuse as a teenager and at age 14, gave birth to a boy, who unfortunately died shortly after. She was born to an unmarried teenage mother herself, who worked as a housemaid and was raised in rural poverty. Reportedly, she was rejected the job of a news anchor stating, she wasn’t fit for television. Ironically, her show The Oprah Winfrey Show, commonly referred to as just Oprah, is the highest rated talk show in the history of American television. She became a millionaire at the age of 32, and as of September 2013, according to the Forbes, her net worth is $2.9 billion. She is the richest self-made woman in the world.