Women Who Have Inspired Us Over Time

Women Who Have Inspired Us Over Time

In 2014, Malala was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She survived a gunshot wound to the face by the Taliban and has become a spokesperson for human rights, education and women’s rights.

Biles has reached enormous success within her career as a gymnast. Her accolades consisted of 32 Olympic and World Championship medals. Despite her established celebrity status, at the Tokyo Olympics she prioritized her mental health over the expectation placed on her to compete in the Olympics. Her willpower was exemplary.

Mardini is a true inspiration. She competed in the 100 metre Butterfly swimming event in the Tokyo Olympics this year as part of the Refugee Olympics team. As a teenager, she fled the war in Syria. She endured a three hour swim across the open waters, steering her sinking boat and saving every passenger on board. She then journeyed from Greece to Germany by boat and is currently seeking refuge there. Mardini has also been appointed a UNHCR Good Ambassador.

DuVernay is the first female African American director to earn a Golden Globe nomination. She also has been nominated for an Oscar for the best picture for Selma. She directed the very powerful and thought provoking short series, When They See Us, which was based on the Central Park five.

Jones is making waves in the fashion and beauty industry as the fifth-editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair magazine. She is championing diversity and has since had Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Viola Davis on the cover of the magazine. She promotes inclusion and is looking for ways to further develop the magazine.

Melanie Perkins is an Australian entrepreneur who is the co-founder and CEO of Canva. This is a graphic design platform which is used to create visual content such as social media posts, flyers and documents. Here at I Am Beyoutiful, we use Canva a lot during the production of our magazine, and it has allowed our creativity to flourish even more due its easy to use software.

Bethany Shreiver is one of the fairytale stories of the Tokyo Olympics, where she won the Gold medal for BMX. In 2017, UK Sports said that it would only fund male riders for Tokyo 2020 based on results. In response to this, Shriever decided to leave the national set-up to go solo. As a 22-year-old, she took up a part-time teaching assistant job and launched a crowdfunding appeal that helped fund her to qualify for the games.

Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run as an officially registered competitor in the 1967 Boston Marathon. She was following in the footsteps of Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb, who had jumped into the race and finished it previously. Switzer’s coach had told her that women were too fragile to run such long distances. In addition, race manager Jock Semple assaulted Switzer during the race, trying to grab her bib number and stop her from competing, but she kept running. She started a movement as a result and empowered women to run marathons around the world. Switzer still advocates today - a true inspiration who further propelled the fight for equal rights for women.