Table for 12, Please: Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, “The People’s Ambassador”

When President Biden announced Linda Thomas-Greenfield as his pick for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, he lauded her as a “seasoned and distinguished diplomat with 35 years in the foreign service who never forgot where she came from growing up in segregated Louisiana.”

On Tuesday, the Senate confirmed Thomas-Greenfield by a vote of 78-20, marking a return to a career of foreign service where she excels.

Table for 12, Please: Avril Haines—Director of National Intelligence, Car Mechanic, Aviator, Bookstore Owner, Spy

Avril Haines is the first woman to lead the intelligence community, directing a total of 17 agencies and organizations, and serving as the principal advisor to the president, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council for intelligence matters related to national security.

But before that, she was a caretaker for her sick mother, a judo practitioner, a car mechanic, a bookstore owner, and more.

Table for 12, Please: Janet Yellen Is Willing to be Dangerous

I remember what Stacey Abrams told me: “There are few things as dangerous as a woman with a plan and the perseverance to execute.” By that metric, Janet Yellen is as dangerous as it gets.

“Economics isn’t just something you find in a textbook. I believe economic policy can be a potent tool to improve society. We can—and should—use it to address inequality, racism, and climate change.”

Don’t Mess With Nancy Pelosi

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has led Democrats in Congress for two decades and broke the glass ceiling as the first woman to control the House of Representatives, said on Thursday she’ll step aside as leader at the end of the 117th Congress—though she plans to remain in the House as a lawmaker.

In her 2020 book Pelosi, Molly Ball documents how Pelosi leads, how she wins and how she uses her power. The book is ultimately a portrait of a woman who fully embraces her personal gifts, owns them and uses them effectively—not for herself alone, even though she certainly knows how to wield power to win a legislative battle or even her own reelection campaign.

Equality Can’t Wait: Women, Power and Progress

#EqualityCantWait, declared Melinda Gates—as she put her very significant resources forward today, challenging all of us, at every gathering and with every opportunity, to elevate, activate, motivate and gather our strength, individually and collectively as a global sisterhood, for the often dangerous but absolutely necessary work to move towards true equality in every aspect of our lives and work—not for ourselves alone.