1. Emily Dickinson
Born in 1830 in Massachusetts, Emily Dickinson is regarded as America’s greatest poets. Emily began rhyming and creating original reading material as a child. Emily later lived in seclusion from society, writing 1700 poems she hid in a box. Emily passed on at the age of 55 due to Bright’s Disease. Her poems were found by her sister who refused the request to burn old manuscripts. With the help of her sister and old friends, Emily Dickinson’s book of poems was published in 1893.
See full biography here: Emily Dickinson
2. Helen Keller
Helen Keller was born 27 June 1880 in Tusculum, Alabama. At 19 months old, she experienced a severe childhood illness, which left her deaf and blind. For the first few years of her life, she was only able to communicate with her family through a rudimentary number of signs. Unable to communicate properly, she was considered to be badly behaved, for example, eating from the plates of anyone on the table with her fingers. Helen was sent to the Perkins Institute for the Blind and this led to a relationship of 49 years with Anne Sullivan, who helped Helen communicate. Keller made rapid progress and became proficient in braille. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree and became a writer and a speaker. She also published an autobiography called “The Story of My Life.”
See full biography here: Hellen Keller
3. Coco Chanel
Gabrielle Bonheur ‘Coco’ Chanel was born in August 1883. She was a leading French modernist designer, whose patterns of simplicity and style revolutionized women’s clothing. She was the only designer to be listed in Time 100 most influential people of the Twentieth Century. In the 1920’s, Coco Chanel helped create women’s clothing that was simpler and more practical. She also introduced trousers and suits for women – something which had not been done before. She also created her famous Chanel No.5 scent and this has been a lasting trademark.
See full biography here: Coco Chanel
4. Mother Theresa
Mother Teresa born 1910 was a Roman Catholic nun, who devoted her life to serving the poor around the world. She spent many years in Calcutta, India where shed founded the Missionaries of Charity. In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and has become a symbol of charitable selfless work. She was beatified in 2003, the first step on the path to sainthood, within the Catholic church.
See full biography here: Mother Theresa
5. Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was the first American female to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Born in 1897, Amelia had a love for flying ever since she was a girl and made it a goal of hers to fly one day. Amelia began taking flying lessons in January 1921. In 1922, Earhart flew the Airster to an altitude of 14,000 feet (4,300 m), setting a world record for female pilots. Amelia mysteriously disappear in 1937, while flying over the Pacific Ocean.
See full biography here: Amelia Earhart
6. Marilyn Monroe
A name famous until today, Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson). She was born in 1926 and spent many years in foster homes. In 1946, she changed her name to Marilyn Monroe after her grandmother. She took drama lessons and got her first movie contract with Twentieth Century Fox. Her first few films were low key, but, it gained her more prominent roles . These film roles had thrust her into the global limelight. She was an iconic figure of Hollywood glamour and fashion. She was an epitome of sensuality, beauty and effervescence and was naturally photogenic. Trying to move beyond the typecast of “Blonde Bombshell” and set up her own movie production. She died early from an overdose of barbiturates in 1962 aged just 36.
See full biography: Marilyn Monroe
7. Aung San Su Kyi
Aung San Su Kyi was born in 1945 in Myanmar. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in the University of Oxford and lived in the United States, England and India with her husband in children from the 1970s to the 1980s. In 1988, Suu Kyi returned to Burma and found protesters rallying against the brutal rule of dictator U Ne Win. She spoke out against him and initiated a non- violent movement toward achieving democracy and human rights. In 1989, the government placed Suu Kyi under house arrest, and she spent 15 of the next 21 years in custody. In 1991, her ongoing efforts won her the Nobel Prize for Peace. She was releases in November 2010.
See full biography here : Aung San Suu Kyi
8. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey was born in Mississippi in 1954. After a troubled adolescence in a small farming community, where she was sexually abused by a number of male relatives and friends of her mother, Vernita, she moved to Nashville. She entered Tennessee State University in 1971 and began working in radio and television broadcasting in Nashville. In 1976, Winfrey moved to Baltimore, where she hosted a hit television chat show, People Are Talking. Afterward, she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show. She later became the host of her own, wildly popular program, The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired for 25 seasons, from 1986 to 2011. That same year, Winfrey launched her own TV network, the Oprah Winfrey Network. In November 2013, Winfrey received the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidental Medal of Freedom. President Barack Obama gave her this award for her contributions to her country.
See full biography here: Oprah Winfrey
9. J.K Rowling
Famous for her world known success book series, Harry Potter, Joanne Rowling was born in 1965 and grew up in the United Kingdom. From an early age, J.K. Rowling had an ambition to be a writer. She often tried her hand at writing, although little came from her early efforts. It was in 1990, that J.K.Rowling first conceived of the idea about Harry Potter. On the 21st December 2006, J.K.Rowling finished her final book of the Harry Potter Series – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows“. The book was released in July 2007, becoming one of the fastest selling books of all time.
See full biography here : J.K Rowling
10. Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, Pakistan. As a child, she became an advocate for girls’ education, which resulted in the Taliban issuing a death threat against her. On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot. However, she survived and has continued to speak out on the importance of education. In 2013, she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. She has also written an autobiography, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, which was released in October 2013.
