Inspirational Women for my weekly Newsletter

[DDatWork]

Hello!

I run a company and we send out a weekly newsletter, written by me.
We working with families and children. I have decided to introduce a segment highlighting weird and wonderful women who have shaped our world.

Can people comment below on women they think should be included. I need about 100 as I want to run this until atleast 2027.

Women in STEM and business is great but also women from little towns that did big things. Wacky women with great stories. 'Witches'. Women like my nan, who look old and diddy but has lived a quiet life of helping those around her, and has no idea of what an angel and an asset she is. Women who survived hardship. Women who found that jewel - peace. Women who broke the cycle. ALL women. The glamourous and the quiet. Women I would have heard of, like good ol Florence Nightingale, Friedha Kahlo and Bisan of Palestine to women like Una Marson, who I only learn of last week. She was the first black woman broadcaster for the BBC.

Thank you!

Unconventional women
Isla Robert - See the films Isla's Way
Temple Grandin
Anne Lister
Radclyffe Hall

Isabella Bird. Born in Leeds & travelled the world, writing and taking photographs, in the 1800's. Established a hospital in India. First female admitted to the Royal Geographical Society.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_Steele

I was in Ilkley recently and there is a blue plaque to Daphne Steele, looked her up when I got home, she sounds like the kind of woman you are looking for.

Thank you all, really appreciate all the inspiration!

The BBC podcast History's Secret Heroes, narrated by Helena Bonham Carter is a good source of some very inspiring women.

One who stood out for me was Major Charity Adams, who led an all-Black battalion of the US Women's Army Corps (WAC)[1] that managed postal services during WW2 so that the letters sent to and from the troops got where they were supposed in a timely manner (previously most had got lost or took months to arrive), which massively boosted morale. Her battalion received several commendations for their work.

Also Mary Anning, a pioneering palaeontologist in a time when there were lots of barriers to women pursuing scientific careers.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/mary-anning-unsung-hero.html#:~:text=Mary%20Anning%20was%20a%20pioneering,being%20made%20to%20this%20day.

I learned about her from a display in a museum in York last year.

Oh, that was an excellent programme. I mean, thst particular episode, though they're all good.

Alison Lapper

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Lapper

Interview with her

inews.co.uk/culture/arts/alison-lapper-paint-son-alive-beautiful-3260657?srsltid=AfmBOoqoLbdwGSzoqPN2r7vWgOyYYPQ3vUi-nrEKJL_UHqZmQcXZedLv

Anna Sutherland Bissell

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AnnaSutherlandd_Bissell

By age 16, Bissell was a school teacher.[2]
After Bissell married Melville R. Bissell at 19, they became a joint partner in their crockery and china business. The Bissell Sweeper website recounts that Mrs. Bissell complained to her husband about sawdust that collected in their carpets and was difficult to remove, whereupon he made great improvements to a new invention called the carpet sweeper. When Bissell's husband invented the Bissell carpet sweeper in 1876, Bissell became a salesperson traveling from town to town selling the sweeper. Bissell was the number one salesperson.

After her husband's death in 1889 and with five children and one grandchild, Bissell took over the business and became the chief executive officer of the Bissell company.[3][4][5]
Bissell established new guidelines on trademarks and patents and moved Bissell carpet sweepers into the international market. By 1899 she had created the largest organization of its kind in the world.
In 1919, Bissell also became the chairman of the Bissell company.[4] As president of the corporation and chairman of the board, Bissell introduced progressive labor policies including workman's compensation and pension plans long before these practices were widespread in industry.
It was said of her that she "studied business the way other women of her time studied French." She kept pace with the growing complexities of industrialism and knew every facet of the Bissell production.

Henrietta Lacks (HeLa cells)
Maya Angelou
Rosa Parks
George Eliot (ahead of her time)
Marie Stopes
Beatrix Potter
Helen Sharman
Gentleman Jack (but I can't remember her real name)

Roma Agrawal, an engineer who worked on the Shard, and author of a few fascinating STEM books that have helped me see the world from a different viewpoint.

Evy Poumpouras - has served in American Secret Service and FBI

The Night Witches - a team of all female soviet pilots during WWII

Hannie Schaft - a member of the Dutch resistance in WWII

Venus and Serena Williams

Dolly Parton - look at her philanthropy, her determination, and how she took on some of musics biggest heavyweights

Maggie Aderin-Pocock
Jasmin Paris
Henrietta Lacks
Ada Lovelace

I can't believe no one has mentioned Meghan Markle 😂

I have got 120 women which is just brilliant.
I would like to include a few more from the Asian and African continent so if inspiration strikes please do post.
I will check out the podcasts mentioned above, I love stuff like that!

Have a look at the desert island discs back catalogue. Loads of inspiration there.

Mary Secol, not sure of spelling? The lady of colour who nursed troops in the trenches in WW1.

Mary Seacole. I first heard about her in a podcast and there's a memorial garden in her name fairly local to me.

I think the podcast was part of the You're Dead to Me series, which discusses the life of noteable historical figures.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07mdbhg/episodes/player

Africa: Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, Wangari Maathai, Winnie Byanyima, Queen Al-Kahina, Queen Nzinga Mbande

Elizabeth Anionwu <3