‎ ‎ View the list: A-FJenna Park Adler59 | Music Agent, CAAJenna Park Adler has carved her own lane at CAA: When she got her first job at the talent agency in the early 1990s, there were no female music agents. Today, her roster reads like a who’s who of music: Charli xcx, Olivia Dean, Shania Twain, Hilary Duff and more. She was the force behind Green Day’s two-year Saviors Tour (which concluded in 2025 and reportedly grossed $400 million). This year she has also been instrumental in Olivia Dean’s first arena tour, Jennifer Lopez’s Las Vegas residency and Doja Cat’s global arena tour. Barbara Banke72 | Owner & Chair, Jackson Family WinesBarbara Banke is chair and proprietor of Jackson Family Wines, which she owns with her and her late husband Jess's blended family of five children. Together, they built the business—best known for its signature Kendall-Jackson wines from Sonoma—since the mid-1980s. Today, the company owns La Crema and nearly 40 other wineries in California, Oregon, Chile, Italy and beyond. Banke also helps lead the family's Stonestreet Farms racing stables, with horses on farms in Kentucky and Florida (with Grade 1 winners that include Curlin, Rachel Alexandra and Good Magic). A former land-use lawyer, Banke met Jess Jackson when they were law partners at the same firm. Chanda Bell52 | Co-CEO & Co-founder, The Lumistella CompanyChanda Bell was working as a middle school teacher when she and her twin sister, Christa Pitts, turned a cherished family holiday tradition into a business. Inspired by a magical elf that reports children' s behavior to Santa in the North Pole, they created The Elf on the Shelf: a children's book paired with a toy. Today, it has grown into one of the world's biggest holiday brands. The Lumistella Company (the holding company for Elf on the Shelf) has more than 100 licensees around the world and sells its wares across 36 countries. Christal Bemont55 | CEO, Direct TravelChristal Bemont took the helm of business travel management company Direct Travel in 2024 and almost immediately supercharged its reach: She spearheaded the acquisition of partner company ATPI to create a combined travel juggernaut with more than $6 billion in annual sales. She joined Direct Travel after serving as CEO of data platform Talend, which she led through a $2.4 billion take-private deal. Earlier in her career, Belmont spent 15 years at Concur, where she rose through the ranks to become chief revenue officer, overseeing a $2 billion business. Robin Brown62 | Founder & Owner, Magnolia PearlA purse made with kite strings proved to be the unofficial start to a clothing brand that is beloved for its artistic flare: In 2001, Robin Brown sold that purse for just $100, and a year later she officially launched boho brand Magnolia Pearl. Today, the company has scaled to 1,400 employees with 400 retail partners around the world, and its wares are favored by A-listers including Taylor Swift (who wore one of Brown’s designs in the photoshoot for her Folklore album). “If I lived to be 300,” Brown writes in her 2025 memoir, “I still wouldn’t have time to make everything I’ve imagined.” Suzan Bymel 71 | Founding Partner, Entertainment 360Suzan Bymel co-founded Entertainment 360 in 2002 and helped grow it from a boutique management company into one of Hollywood's leading talent management and production firms. Long known for representing stars including Anne Hathaway, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kiefer Sutherland, Bymel helped expand the firm’s model beyond traditional representation to include producing, brand partnerships and long-term business opportunities. In 2025, she led Entertainment 360 through its first outside investment in 22 years, a landmark strategic partnership with private equity firm Carlyle.Patricia Chin88 | Co-founder, VP RecordsKnown as the “matriarch of reggae,” Miss Pat—as she is often called—is responsible for building VP Records into the world’s largest independent reggae record label. What began as a small music outfit in Jamaica, Queens, that Chin co-ran with her husband is today a label with offices in New York, Miami and London with artist alumni like Shaggy, Sean Paul and Patoranking. Earlier this summer, VP Records notched its first entry on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart in five years with Buju Banton’s “Too Too Bad.” Annie Chun69 | Co-founder, Gimme SeaweedAnnie Chun co-founded Gimme Seaweed in 2012 as a way to bring a traditional Korean snack to a U.S. audience. Fourteen years later, Gimme Seaweed has grown into the top organic seaweed brand in the country with market share north of 50%. The company’s roasted seaweed snacks are distributed through Amazon, Target, Walmart, Instacart and other top retailers. Chun started Gimme Seaweed after selling her prior company, Asian food brand Annie Chun’s, in 2009 to Korean food manufacturer CJ Corp. for $6 million. Ree Drummond57 | Founder, The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond transformed life on her family's Oklahoma cattle ranch into one of America's most successful food and lifestyle brands. She launched The Pioneer Woman as a blog in 2006, sharing recipes, family stories and snippets of ranch life before building it into a multimedia empire that includes a long-running Food Network series, bestselling cookbooks, restaurants and a popular home goods line. Drummond continues to film The Pioneer Woman from the family's working ranch, where generations of the Drummond family have raised cattle. Janet Evans54 | Chief Athlete Officer, LA28; California Sports Hall of FameFive-time Olympic swimming medalist Janet Evans is the first-ever Chief Athlete Officer for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games. She is responsible for designing the athlete experience at the first U.S. Summer Olympics in 32 years, overseeing everything from housing and training logistics, to transportation and family support. A long-time advocate for equality in sports, Evans also founded the LA28 Olympian and Paralympian Fellowship Program, which supports retired Olympic and Paralympic athletes transition to new careers. Liz Folce57 | Founder, Nakery BeautyLiz Folce founded Nakery Beauty at 53 after more than three decades in the beauty industry, building a self-funded brand dedicated to the beauty and body care needs of women over 50. Drawing on years of conversations with customers as a Estee Lauder counter beauty advisor, Folce created products designed to address real concerns she believed had long been overlooked by the beauty industry. Since launching in 2022, Nakery has become HSN's No. 1 beauty brand, surpassed $20 million in sales last year and also expanded into retailers including Ulta Beauty. Jennifer Foyle 59 | President & Executive Creative Director, AE & AerieJennifer Foyle transformed Aerie from a $225 million intimates brand into a $2 billion business while making authenticity central to the brand's identity. She championed the retailer's pioneering 2014 AerieREAL campaign, which pledged to stop retouching models in its advertising years before body positivity became an industry norm. More than a decade later, she extended that commitment into the AI era, spearheading Aerie's pledge not to use AI generated people or bodies in its marketing. As president and executive creative director of AE & Aerie, she continues to shape the brand's creative vision and long-term strategy. Gabriela Lena Frank 53 | Composer & PianistGabriela Lena Frank won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Music for Picaflor: A Future Myth, a modern symphonic work inspired by Andean mythology, her Peruvian heritage and the impacts of climate change. Throughout her career, Frank has drawn on Latin American folklore, Indigenous traditions and her multicultural heritage in her compositions. Born with profound hearing loss, she has said that silence is central to her creative process, often removing her hearing aids while composing in order to imagine new musical worlds. Amy Freeman59 | Co-founder & CEO, The Spice & Tea ExchangeAmy Freeman remembers falling in love the first time she walked into an independent spice shop—and her follow-up thought was that this was a retail concept that could easily multiply. In 2009, she and co-founder Penny Rehling launched The Spice & Tea Exchange. Today, the franchise-based business has 98 locations and more than $50 million in system-wide sales (as of year-end 2025). Freeman plans to open another eight locations throughout this year. Julie Fussner52 | CEO, Culver’sCulver’s has taken over the midwest, and Julie Fussner has taken over Culver’s. Named CEO in April 2025, Fussner is the first woman to lead the fast-growing restaurant chain. Previously, Fussner served as the company’s first CMO. With 1,041 locations, Fussner oversaw approximately 40 new openings in 2025 and has plans to add another 50+ in 2026. The chain’s signature frozen custard and cheese curds help generate more than $4 million in total annual sales per location, outpacing competitors like McDonald’s ($3. 9 million) and Wendy’s ($2.1 million). G-QWhoopi Goldberg70 | Actor; Co-founder, All Women's Sports Network (AWSN) After more than four decades as an entertainment icon, EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg cofounded the All Women's Sports Network (AWSN), the first global television network dedicated exclusively to women's sports. Goldberg spent some 15 years developing the idea before the network launched in 2024, determined to give female athletes the visibility she believed they had long been denied. Today, AWSN reaches more than 1 billion devices across 65 countries, carrying competitions from organizations including UEFA, FIBA and Athletes Unlimited. This summer, Goldberg also launched a revival of The Whoopi Monologues, the one-woman show she first launched on Broadway in 1984. Ariane Gorin52 | CEO, Expedia GroupSince becoming CEO of Expedia Group in 2024, Ariane Gorin has led one of the world's largest online travel companies while advancing its use of AI to transform how travelers discover, plan and book trips. A longtime Expedia executive, Gorin previously led Expedia for Business, where she oversaw the company's global business-to-business platform, travel technology network and supply partnerships, helping boost the division’s revenue by 33% in 2023. Overall Expedia revenue grew 8% last year, to $14.7 billion, and Gorin is projecting 2026 revenue will grow another 6 to 9%.Jamie McCarthy/Betsey Johnson/Getty Images50 OVER 50 HIGHLIGHTBetsey Johnson 84 | Founder, Betsey JohnsonNearly 50 years after launching what has become one of fashion's most recognizable and colorful brands, Betsey Johnson continues to reinvent her business through new retail and philanthropic ventures. In 2026, she returned to brick-and-mortar retail with an immersive pop-up that combined fashion, art and community, and her annual Pride collection this year benefited the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Johnson has also tapped into new audiences with her TikTok, where she has 900,000 followers. “I basically never f—-ing grew up,” she recently said about her appeal to young people. “Getting older-looking clothes and becoming more logical were never interesting to me.”Teresa Johnson60 | CEO, Color Me Mine; Co-Owner, Twist BrandsA one-year non-compete agreement ultimately transformed Teresa Johnson’s life: In 2006, Johnson was working on the corporate side of a boat manufacturing company and was preparing to launch her own boating business, but the non-compete was delaying her timeline. Instead, Johnson decided to buy her local paint-your-own-pottery studio—a $25,000 acquisition she charged to her credit card. Over the next decade and a half, Johnson bought more pottery locations and also became a franchisee with Painting With A Twist. In 2021, Johnson became the CEO of Color Me Mine, the paint-your-own-pottery business; today that business has more than 130 locations in the U.S. and abroad.Kwanza Jones54 | Investor, entrepreneurKwanza Jones is poised to make history this year with the pending purchase of the San Diego Padres alongside her husband, José E. Feliciano. If approved, the acquisition will make her the first Black woman to be a majority owner of a Major League Baseball team and would value the franchise at a record $3.9 billion. But Jones is influential in sectors beyond the world of sports, too: The pop and R&B singer has hit Billboard charts nine times with songs like “SUPERCHARGED,” and “Think Again.”Sally Kim 52 | President & Publisher, Little, Brown and CompanySince becoming president and publisher of Little, Brown and Company in 2024, Sally Kim has broadened the range of stories the historic imprint publishes while rethinking how books are acquired, marketed and brought to readers. A longtime editor and publisher, Kim has spent nearly three decades editing and publishing acclaimed fiction and nonfiction, helping launch the careers of bestselling authors. Her roster includes Kiley Reid (Such a Fun Age) and Chloe Benjamin (The Immortalists), and she has acquired debut books by Gillian Flynn, John Kenney and others. Lisa Lockhart60 | Professional Barrel RacerProfessional barrel racer Lisa Lockhart is one of the most accomplished competitors in women’s rodeo. She began barrel racing at age 6 and turned professional when she joined the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association in 1993. In the decades since, she’s won American Rodeo titles in 2014, 2015 and 2023, the 2019 RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo and continues to dominate at age 60. This year, Lockhart became the first WPRA barrel racer to surpass $4 million in career earnings and has tied the all-time record with 19 National Finals Rodeo qualifications. Katrina Markoff53 | Founder, Violet Flame Chocolate; Founder, Vosges Haut-ChocolatKatrina Markoff started her first luxury chocolate brand, Vosges Haut-Chocolat, when she was just 22 and fresh out of Paris’ prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. She built it into a $30 million (2019 sales) business, but a series of pandemic-era financial setbacks led to Markoff’s ousting from her own company. In 2024, she launched a comeback with Violet Flame Chocolate, a Chicago-based luxury chocolatier that ships nationwide. Markoff says that Violet Flame’s first year of revenue was ten times that of Vosges’ first year in operation—proof of both her reputation in the industry and also resilience.Laura Miele57 | President, Enterprise Development, EA EntertainmentLaura Miele is leveling up. In June, the longtime Electronic Arts (EA) executive was named president of Enterprise Development, expanding her leadership role and putting her in charge of strategic growth opportunities for the online gaming giant, which generated $7.5 billion in fiscal 2026 revenue. Prior to this role, Miele oversaw EA’s non-sports franchises, including Star Wars, The Sims and Apex Legends, which together have generated nearly $15 billion. She previously served as the company’s COO, and led a 2023 restructuring that split the giant into EA Entertainment and EA Sports.Demi Moore 63 | ActorDemi Moore's performance in The Substance marked a career resurgence, earning the actor her first Academy Award nomination and first Golden Globe after more than four decades on screen. The role brought renewed critical acclaim, launching a new phase of her career and reaffirming her place among Hollywood's leading actresses. She has continued that momentum with an expanded role in the second season of Paramount+'s Landman, underscoring a remarkable new chapter in her career. Susan Morris57 | CEO, Albertsons CompaniesAs the CEO of Albertsons Companies, Susan Morris leads one of the nation’s largest food and drug retailers, which generated more than $83 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025. Morris started her career with the company at age 16, working the customer service desk at an Albertsons store in the Denver area. Four decades later, Morris was named CEO following her predecessor's planned retirement in 2025. Today, she oversees a sprawling operation spanning 2,240 stores across 35 states and Washington, D.C., including 1,708 in-store pharmacies, 408 fuel stations, 22 distribution centers and 19 manufacturing facilities, under brands such as Safeway, Vons and Shaw's. Osea50 OVER 50 HIGHLIGHTJenefer Palmer71 | Founder, OSEA Jenefer Palmer founded OSEA in her Malibu garage in 1996, growing the ocean-inspired skincare company into a family-owned business generating more than $100 million in annual revenue. After building OSEA as a self-funded company for more than two decades, Palmer helped guide its next phase of growth when her daughter, Melissa, became CEO in 2015, accelerating the brand's digital expansion and retail channels while keeping the company family-led. Today, OSEA products are sold direct-to-consumer and at retailers including Ulta, Nordstrom and Blue Mercury.Ann Patchett 62 | Author & Co-founder, Parnassus BooksAnn Patchett published her tenth novel, Whistler, in June of 2026, extending a literary career that has produced bestselling works including Bel Canto, The Dutch House and Tom Lake. Beyond her writing, Patchett has become one of the country's leading advocates for independent bookstores since co-founding Nashville's Parnassus Books in 2011. Through Parnassus Books and the Parnassus Books Foundation, she has championed independent bookselling and provided books to children in Nashville's public schools.Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/Getty Images50 OVER 50 HIGHLIGHTLucia Penrod69 | Co-founder, Owner & CEO, Nikki Beach Hospitality GroupLucia Penrod opened the first Nikki Beach—her pioneering "barefoot luxury" club—in South Beach nearly 30 years ago with her late husband as a tribute to his daughter. Today, she owns and runs the $400 million hospitality brand, which spans Saint-Tropez, Saint Barth and beyond. Her 12 beach clubs, some with adjoining resorts or residences, generate an estimated $150 million in annual revenue. Penrod has also launched a new eponymous brand, Lucia, which recently expanded from its first location in Cannes to a beach club in Marbella, Spain. A Nicaraguan immigrant who moved to Miami in 1979, Penrod still owns 100% of the business. “I make all the decisions,” she says. Rosie Perez61 | Actor, Choreographer & Podcast HostRosie Perez has spent four decades building one of Hollywood's most distinctive careers. She got her start as a dancer on Soul Train in the mid-1980s before Spike Lee cast her in Do the Right Thing, launching an acting career that earned an Academy Award nomination for Fearless, Emmy nominations for both In Living Color and The Flight Attendant and multiple turns on Broadway. This year, Perez took on two new roles: host of Futuro Media's podcast Our Thing: The Birth of Salsa in Nueva York and as a cast member in HBO's fourth season of The White Lotus. Beyond the screen and stage, she is a longtime advocate for Puerto Rican communities, HIV/AIDS awareness and arts education. Hillary Peterson 59 | Founder, True BotanicalsAfter a thyroid cancer diagnosis in her 30s, Hillary Peterson founded True Botanicals to prove that high performance skincare could prioritize both efficacy and ingredient safety. Under her leadership, the company has grown over the past decade into a leading clean beauty brand, with products certified “Made Safe” and developed to meet rigorous safety standards. Peterson has helped demonstrate that clean beauty products can deliver high-performance results without compromising ingredient safety. Christa Pitts52 | Co-CEO & Co-founder, The Lumistella CompanyWith her twin sister, Chanda Bell, Christa Pitts built and runs The Lumistella Company, the business behind Christmas phenomenon Elf on the Shelf. The brand—built with credit card debt and the help of their mom’s cashed-in 401(k)—began as a simple children’s book that sold 1 million copies within four years of its launch. The sisters recently celebrated the brand’s 20th anniversary by expanding into new ventures, including a partnership with Disney and the preschool digital series Scout Elf Squad, which has surpassed 2 million views on YouTube Kids. Sharon Price John62 | CEO, Carter’sAfter 13 years at the helm of Build-A-Bear Workshop, Sharon Price John was named CEO of baby-and-children’s retailer Carter’s in June 2026. The company, which recorded $2.9 billion in net sales last year and has a roughly $1.4 billion market cap, is the nation’s largest retailer focused specifically on babies and children. Price John has spent most of her career in children’s retail, previously serving as president of Stride Rite Children’s Group and as a senior executive at Hasbro.R-ZMel Raines57 | CEO, Pacers Sports & EntertainmentMel Raines became CEO of Pacers Sports & Entertainment in June 2024. Today, she oversees business development and operations for the NBA's Indiana Pacers, valued at $4.2 billion, and the WNBA's Indiana Fever, valued at $500 million and ranked No. 3 on Forbes' list of the most valuable WNBA teams. One of only two active women NBA team CEOs, Raines came to the role after more than 20 years in politics, including serving as assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney during the George W. Bush administration and as chief operating officer of the 2008 Republican National Convention. Tracee Ellis Ross53 | Actor; Founder, Pattern BeautyTracee Ellis Ross has been acting since her 20s, but at age 53, she reached a new milestone: her Broadway debut. In July, she took the stage in the Tony Award-winning play Every Brilliant Thing, a performance built around a 40-page monologue and live audience improvisation, a challenge Ross embraces. “Being connected to humans is my life's work. It is my purpose. It is what brings me the most joy,” she says. That same passion also drives Pattern Beauty, the haircare company she launched in 2019 to better serve people with textured, coily hair. Pattern’s products are sold at Sephora, Ulta, Macy’s, Nordstrom’s and other major retailers. “About 73% of the global population has textured hair,” Ross says. “So it can get as big as that.” Paula Scher77 | Designer & Partner, PentagramPaula Scher has spent five decades shaping the visual landscape of modern America. After beginning her career designing hundreds of album covers—from Cheap Trick to Leonard Bernstein—in the 1970s, she joined the legendary design firm Pentagram as a partner in 1991 and has become one of the world's most influential graphic designers. Her logos, branding and environmental design have transformed institutions and companies including Microsoft, Tiffany & Co., and New York's Public Theater and Metropolitan Opera. In 2001, Scher received the AIGA Medal, the design profession's highest honor, and she continues to lead major projects while mentoring the next generation of designers. Komal Shaw56 | Philanthropist & Art CollectorKomal Shah left a successful career as a Silicon Valley tech executive to pursue a new calling: philanthropy and championing women artists. An engineer by training who immigrated to the U.S. from India to study computer science at Stanford University, Shah began building the Shah Garg Collection with her husband, tech investor Gaurav Garg, nearly two decades ago, ultimately focusing on contemporary art by women. Earlier this year, Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection, a traveling exhibition, opened at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. Of collecting, Shah has said, “Women are not only recognizing this as a valid avenue of passion, but also embracing the lifestyle that comes with supporting art and artists.” Amy Sherald 52 | ArtistAmy Sherald's major retrospective, American Sublime, concluded its national tour in 2026 at Atlanta's High Museum of Art. Best known for her iconic portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama, Sherald has built a career exploring contemporary American life through her distinctive paintings, often pairing grayscale figures with vibrant backgrounds. The exhibition, which is the largest presentation of her work to date, marks a milestone in a career that has established her as one of the country's leading contemporary painters. Kendra Scott52 | Founder, Kendra ScottKendra Scott started making jewelry out of her spare bedroom of her Austin, Texas, home in 2002 after struggling to find affordable color gemstone pieces she loved. In 2024, private equity firm Berkshire Partners sold its stake in the company to Singapore-based 65 Equity Partners in a deal valuing the business at more than $1 billion. Today, the Kendra Scott business has more than 170 standalone stores. In July, Scott reached another milestone when she was named a permanent "Shark" for the 2026 season of Shark Tank. Carla Vernón55 | CEO & Board Director, The Honest CompanyIn 2023, Carla Vernón took the helm of The Honest Company as CEO and board director, and has since been leading a turnaround at the publicly-traded, baby-focused personal care brand. In December 2025, the company announced it would exit its direct-to-consumer business and focus on retailer partners, including Walmart, Kroger, H-E-B and Amazon. One of the first Afro-Latina CEOs of a U.S. publicly traded company, Vernón is also positioning Honest for long-term growth by expanding beyond baby products to serve consumers at more stages of life. Jessica Vogel54 | Co-founder & Chief Brand Officer, ScenthoundDog owners often take their pups to the groomers for aesthetics and vet for wellness, but in 2005, Jessica Vogel and her husband Tim launched Scenthound as a way to combine the two. Scenthound offers hygiene services and basic wellness checks for dogs and today has grown into a franchising business with more than 160 locations. System-wide revenue was $40 million in 2024, and last year, the company secured a minority investment from consumer private equity giant VMG. Latriece Watkins51 | President & CEO, Sam's ClubLatriece Watkins became president and CEO of Sam's Club in 2026 after nearly three decades at Walmart, where she rose from a real estate intern to chief merchandising officer of Walmart U.S. She now leads the $96 billion membership retailer through its next phase of growth, overseeing one of Walmart's largest businesses. Watkins helped reshape Walmart's merchandising strategy by expanding its appeal to higher income shoppers and is now bringing that customer focused approach to Sam's Club. Marie Watt59 | Sculptor & Textile ArtistMarie Watt is an internationally acclaimed Seneca artist whose monumental sculptures and textile installations—often primarily created from reclaimed wool blankets through community sewing circles—explore history, memory and community. In 2025, she received the $250,000 Heinz Award in the Arts as her work continued to appear in major museum exhibitions, including a commissioned installation for the Obama Presidential Center. Her work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and other leading institutions. Carrie Mae Weems73 | PhotographerCarrie Mae Weems is one of the most influential figures in contemporary American art, using photography, installation, text and performance to examine race, gender, history and power for more than four decades. Her landmark Kitchen Table Series helped redefine conversations about race, gender and family through intimate scenes of everyday life. A MacArthur Fellow and the first Black woman to receive a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, Weems created the commissioned installation The Cool Blue Wind for the Obama Presidential Center, continuing a career that has explored identity, history and American democracy. Roberta Williams73 | Co-founder, Sierra EntertainmentRoberta Williams cofounded video game publisher Sierra On-Line (now called Sierra Entertainment) in 1979 and helped pioneer the graphic adventure game through landmark titles including King's Quest, helping establish story-driven adventure games as one of the medium's defining genres. One of the video game industry's earliest and most influential designers, Williams became one of the first widely-recognized women in game development and later received the Game Developers Choice Pioneer Award for her lasting contributions to the industry. After returning to game design with the 2023 remake of Colossal Cave, her decades-long influence continues to shape interactive storytelling. Emily Wilson54 | Author & Professor, University of PennsylvaniaEmily Wilson has changed the way a new generation experiences Homer's The Odyssey. A professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Wilson became the first woman to publish an English verse translation of the 2,700-year-old epic poem in 2017. This year, director Christopher Nolan's blockbuster adaptation, inspired in part by Wilson's translation, propelled one of the oldest surviving works of Western literature back into the public imagination, driving a sharp increase in sales, library checkouts and audiobook downloads of The Odyssey, including Wilson's edition, while sparking fresh debate over how the Western canon should be reinterpreted. Paras Griffin/Getty Images50 OVER 50 HIGHLIGHTCeCe Winans 61 | Gospel SingerCeCe Winans released The Hymns in 2026, continuing a career that has made her the most awarded female gospel artist of all time. An 18-time Grammy winner, Winans has remained one of gospel music's most influential voices for more than four decades while continuing to reach new audiences through new albums and national tours. In 2026, she expanded that legacy with The Hymns and her largest headlining run to date, reaffirming her enduring influence on gospel and Christian music.Michelle Wong58 | Producer, Sony Pictures AnimationMichelle Wong was a key figure on the (largely female) team responsible for changing the zeitgeist in 2025: She served as a producer for KPOP Demon Hunters, a film that has become Netflix’s most-watched animated movie ever and, in March, received an Oscar Award for Best Animated Feature and also Best Original Song. An early Sony Pictures Animation employee (she joined in 2002, the year it launched), Wong’s past producing projects have included Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Hotel Transylvania, and Vivo.Bess Wohl50 | Playwright, LiberationIn June, playwright and screenwriter Bess Wohl became just the fourth woman ever to win the Tony Award for Best Play—an accomplishment she earned for Liberation, an ensemble play about second-wave feminism that takes place in both the 1970s and today. Wohl also received the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for the play. “I want to honor women everywhere who have the courage to use their voice,” she said in her Tony acceptance speech. “And to all the girls out there, may you speak your truth, and may the world be wise enough to listen.”Jennifer Yuh Nelson54 | Director & AnimatorJennifer Yuh Nelson has defined some of Hollywood’s biggest animated films while breaking barriers along the way. Born in South Korea, she immigrated to the U.S. at age 4 and earned a B.F.A. in illustration at California State University, Long Beach. She made history as the first woman to solely direct a major Hollywood animated feature with 2011's Kung Fu Panda 2, which took in some $665 million worldwide, before returning five years later to co-direct Kung Fu Panda 3, another global $520 million hit. Since then, Nelson has expanded into live action with The Darkest Minds and won back-to-back Emmy Awards as supervising director of Netflix's Love, Death & Robots.