Quotes
“ We all have agency over our own stories, and no one can strip you of that agency. Your story is yours and it's your story to tell. ”
— Janet Mock
Journalism Women Trans LGBTQ+ She / Her · Pronounced: JAN-et MOK
She / Her · Pronounced: JAN-et MOK
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Mock on owning your own narrative, from her memoir press tour.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them. ”
— Ida B. Wells
Journalism Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: EYE-duh bee WELLZ
She / Her · Pronounced: EYE-duh bee WELLZ
Context Wells was a journalist who documented lynching in the American South.
“ Why not me? ”
— Mindy Kaling
Entertainment Women Asian She / Her · Pronounced: MIN-dee KAY-ling
She / Her · Pronounced: MIN-dee KAY-ling
Context The title question of Kaling's memoir, on claiming opportunity.
Read More: Asian Voices
“ I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there, I was promoted to the washtub. From there, I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there, I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations. ”
— Madam C.J. Walker
Business Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: MAD-um SEE-JAY WAWK-er
She / Her · Pronounced: MAD-um SEE-JAY WAWK-er
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Walker's own summary of her path from field labour to building a business empire.
Their Story Born Sarah Breedlove to formerly enslaved parents in Louisiana in 1867, she built a line of hair care products for Black women into a business empire, becoming widely regarded as the first self-made female millionaire in America. She employed thousands of Black women as sales agents.
Biographies by her great-great-granddaughter A'Lelia Bundles are the fullest primary-adjacent sources. See Their Full Story
“ Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts. ”
— Nikki Giovanni
Literature Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: NIK-ee jee-oh-VAH-nee
She / Her · Pronounced: NIK-ee jee-oh-VAH-nee
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Giovanni on resilience, from a poet central to the Black Arts Movement.
Read More: Black Literature
“ I did not lose myself all at once. I rubbed out my face over the years. ”
— Amy Tan
Literature Women Asian She / Her · Pronounced: AY-mee TAHN
She / Her · Pronounced: AY-mee TAHN
Context From The Joy Luck Club, on the slow erosion of self across a life.
Read More: Asian Voices
“ Hope will never be silent. ”
— Harvey Milk
Politics LGBTQ+ He / Him · Pronounced: HAR-vee MILK
He / Him · Pronounced: HAR-vee MILK
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context A compact rallying phrase drawn from Milk's message of hope.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ We have this notion that disability is invisible disabilities or physical disabilities. The reality is, we live in an ageing society. We'll all be disabled at some point in our lives. ”
— Sinéad Burke
Business Women Disabled She / Her · Pronounced: shin-AYD BURK
She / Her · Pronounced: shin-AYD BURK
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Burke on disability as something nearly everyone will experience eventually.
Read More: Disability Rights
“ I use my platform for more than just myself. To neglect the political is to neglect what essentially is your job of storytelling. ”
— Zendaya
Entertainment Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: zen-DAY-uh
She / Her · Pronounced: zen-DAY-uh
Source: Widely reported interview material · original link to be verified
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Zendaya on why she treats her public platform as more than promotion.
Their Story American actor who became the youngest woman ever, and the second Black woman, to win the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, for her role in 'Euphoria', a win she repeated in 2022.
Her Emmy acceptance speeches are direct primary sources. See Their Full Story
“ Our greatest threat right now is leaders not taking action in environmental racism and the American water crisis. ”
— Mari Copeny
Activism Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: MAR-ee KOH-puh-nee
She / Her · Pronounced: MAR-ee KOH-puh-nee
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Copeny naming environmental racism directly.
Read More: Black Activism
“ This whole thing is a talent issue. Women is a talent issue. It's not a gender issue. ”
— Indra Nooyi
Business Women Asian She / Her · Pronounced: IN-druh NOO-yee
She / Her · Pronounced: IN-druh NOO-yee
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Nooyi reframing gender diversity in business as a matter of talent, not favour.
Read More: Asian Voices
“ I want to reframe the narrative for the industry and allow everyone to express themselves authentically. ”
— Beckie Taylor
Technology Women She / Her · Pronounced: BEK-ee TAY-lor
She / Her · Pronounced: BEK-ee TAY-lor
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Taylor, founder of Voices in Tech, on her aim for the tech industry.
“ One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. ”
— Simone de Beauvoir
Philosophy Women She / Her · Pronounced: see-MOHN duh boh-VWAHR
She / Her · Pronounced: see-MOHN duh boh-VWAHR
Context From The Second Sex, her foundational claim that womanhood is shaped by society rather than fixed at birth.
“ Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. ”
— Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Law Women She / Her · Pronounced: ROOTH BAY-der GINZ-burg
She / Her · Pronounced: ROOTH BAY-der GINZ-burg
Context Ginsburg on why institutions need women at the table, not as a favour but as a correction.
“ If Aristotle had cooked, he would have written much more. ”
— Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Philosophy Women Latinx She / Her · Pronounced: sor WAH-nah ee-NESS deh lah KROOZ
She / Her · Pronounced: sor WAH-nah ee-NESS deh lah KROOZ
Context Sor Juana, a self-taught nun and scholar in colonial New Spain, defending everyday domestic knowledge as a form of philosophy.
Read More: Latinx Voices
“ It's an artist's duty to reflect the times in which we live. ”
— Nina Simone
Music Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
Context Simone on the artist's responsibility to their times, which she lived through the civil-rights era.
“ Equality is intersectional and gives everyone freedom to be ourselves safely. ”
— Lila Schallert-Wygal
Technology Trans LGBTQ+ Ze / Zir · Pronounced: LY-lah SHAH-lert WY-gul
Ze / Zir · Pronounced: LY-lah SHAH-lert WY-gul
Context Schallert-Wygal, a Thoughtworks employee in the US, on why equality has to account for more than one axis of identity at once.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ In nature nothing exists alone. ”
— Rachel Carson
Science Women She / Her · Pronounced: RAY-chul KAR-sun
She / Her · Pronounced: RAY-chul KAR-sun
Context From Silent Spring, the book that helped launch the modern environmental movement.
Read More: Women in Science
“ There are years that ask questions and years that answer. ”
— Zora Neale Hurston
Literature Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: ZOR-uh NEEL HUR-stun
She / Her · Pronounced: ZOR-uh NEEL HUR-stun
Context From her novel of a Black woman's search for selfhood in the early-twentieth-century South.
Read More: Black Literature
“ Democracy is the best revenge. ”
— Benazir Bhutto
Politics Women Global South She / Her · Pronounced: beh-nuh-ZEER BOO-toh
She / Her · Pronounced: beh-nuh-ZEER BOO-toh
Context Bhutto, the first woman to lead a modern Muslim-majority nation, on democracy as the answer to repression.
Read More: Women in Politics
“ I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way. ”
— Georgia O'Keeffe
Art Women She / Her · Pronounced: JOR-juh oh-KEEF
She / Her · Pronounced: JOR-juh oh-KEEF
Context O'Keeffe on painting as a language of its own, from a defining figure of American modernism.
