She broke the glass ceiling. What a jagged image we use for women who achieve greatly, defining accomplishment in terms of the barrier rather than the triumph. Talk to women about the forces that drive them and they hit notes of joy and fascination—a passion for music or molecules or finance or food that took them places their sisters and mothers had not gone before. “Sometimes even now when I’m told I was a ‘first,’ it comes as a surprise,” says Patricia Bath, a pioneering physician and inventor. “I wasn’t seeking to be first. I was just doing my thing.”
We wondered if there is a common motive or muscle shared by women who are pioneers. The women profiled here range in age from 16 to 87 and have flourished in public service and private enterprise, explorations to the bottom of the sea and to the outer orbit of Earth. They have been on journeys to places only they could imagine and frequently encountered people who said they would never get there. These stories of success are knitted with stories of setbacks, and these women often credit the people who tried to stop them as a motivating force.
“I recall visiting the home of friends, and a man who was present asked me what I wanted to do one day,” says molecular biologist and Nobel laureate Elizabeth Blackburn. “I said, ‘I’m going to be a scientist.’ And he said, ‘What’s a nice girl like you doing going into science?’ I was shocked and so mad that I didn’t know what to say in response. So I kept my mouth shut, but I was all the more determined. In a way, I’m quite grateful to that man.”
The first woman to reach a pinnacle may not want anyone to notice her gender; there she is up where the air is thin, where men still outnumber women, but she made it on her own wings. Gender is irrelevant; it’s the altitude that is awesome. But why are there so few women up there with her? Why did it take this long? And if the answer is even partly that there were few role models, that there were no ladies’ rooms in the halls of power, that every step was steeper and harder, then women need to stand up, stand out and be seen at every level, for every talent and discipline. “If the person who gets to tell the story is always one kind of person,” observes filmmaker Ava DuVernay, who describes Hollywood as a white man’s world, “we internalize it, we drink it in as fact.” Hence the need for an alternative reality. “You can’t imagine doing something you can’t even see,” argues Hillary Rodham Clinton. “How do you plan to be an underseas explorer or a general in the military or a great scientist if you don’t see role models?”
At the same time, many of these women extol the men in their lives—an older brother as a first competitor, a father who set no limits. “If your dad believes in you, that’s important to young girls,” says philanthropist Melinda Gates. “If your dad thinks you can be good at math and science, good at business, good at anything, it lifts your confidence and your self-esteem.” Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch recalls how her father, a Baptist minister, defied convention and invited women to preach at his pulpit. “The aspirations and dreams he had for my brothers were the same ones he had for me,” she says.
Behind the FIRSTS Project: How Luisa Dörr Shot 12 TIME Covers On Her iPhone
Famously successful figures often develop a thick skin in the face of criticism—as when a flock of supercilious French chefs came to Alice Waters’ renowned restaurant and declared, “That’s not cooking, that’s shopping.” Or as TV star Issa Rae puts it, “There’s so much subtlety in the sexism and racism in this industry that you either have to call it out and risk being shunned, or move past it and find your own entryway. I’m definitely in the latter category.”
But a thick skin can disrupt sensitivity; what’s remarkable about many of these women is their ability to remain empathic and accessible in the face of resistance and ridicule. Many of them discussed moments of failure, of rebuke, and how the criticism was often a fuel. “Raising hackles means you’re not being ignored,” says former U.S. poet laureate Rita Dove. “You’re pushing the conversation forward.”
Our goal with this extraordinary project— which encompasses a magazine, the multimedia project at TIME.com/firsts and a book coming out September 19—is for every woman and girl to find someone who moves her, to find someone whose presence in the highest reaches of success says to her that it is safe to climb, come on up, the view is spectacular. They were candid about their challenges, aware of their responsibilities, eager to tell the stories that will surprise and inspire. We hope everyone, at every life stage, will encounter an insight here that will open a door to new ambitions. As former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright always says, “There is a special place in hell for women who do not help each other.” But the reverse is also true and more uplifting: there is a special place in heaven for women who shine the light and share it with others.
The Diplomat: Madeleine Albright
First woman to become U.S. Secretary of State
The Boss: Mary Barra
First woman to become CEO of a major car company
The Inventor: Patricia Bath
First person to invent and demonstrate laserphaco cataract surgery
The Scientist: Elizabeth Blackburn
First woman to become president of the Salk Institute
The Executive: Ursula Burns
First black woman to run a Fortune 500 company
The Performer: Candis Cayne
First transgender woman with a major role on prime-time TV
The Nominee: Hillary Rodham Clinton
First woman to win a major party’s nomination for President of the United States
The Pilot: Eileen Collins
First woman to command a space shuttle
The Adviser: Kellyanne Conway
First woman to run a winning presidential campaign
The Pitcher: Mo’ne Davis
First girl to pitch a shutout and win a game in a Little League World Series
The Comedian: Ellen DeGeneres
First person to star as an openly gay character on prime-time TV
The Gymnast: Gabby Douglas
First American gymnast to win solo and team all-around gold medals at one Olympics
The Poet: Rita Dove
First black U.S. poet laureate
The Director: Ava DuVernay
First black woman to direct a film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar
The General: Ann Dunwoody
First woman to rise to four-star general in the U.S. military
The Oceanographer: Sylvia Earle
First woman to become chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The Singer: Aretha Franklin
First woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Philanthropist: Melinda Gates
First woman to give away more than $40 billion
The Tastemaker: Selena Gomez
First person to reach 100 million followers on Instagram
The Leader: Nikki Haley
First Indian-American woman to be elected governor
The Librarian: Carla Hayden
First woman and first African American to be Librarian of Congress
The Senator: Mazie Hirono
First Asian-American woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate
The Bishop: Katharine Jefferts Schori
First woman to be elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church
The Astronaut: Mae Jemison
First woman of color in space
The Sculptor: Maya Lin
First woman to design a memorial on the national mall
The Lawyer: Loretta Lynch
First black woman to become U.S. Attorney General
The Anchor: Rachel Maddow
First openly gay anchor to host a prime-time news program
The Actor: Rita Moreno
First Latina to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony
The Animator: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
First woman to solo-direct a major Hollywood animated feature
The Legislator: Ilhan Omar
First Somali-American Muslim woman to become a legislator
The Driver: Danica Patrick
First woman to lead in the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500
The Speaker: Nancy Pelosi
First woman to become Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
The Entrepreneur: Michelle Phan
First woman to build a $500 million company from a web series
The Auteur: Issa Rae
First black woman to create and star in a premium cable series
The Showrunner: Shonda Rhimes
First woman to create three hit shows with more than 100 episodes each
The Commander: Lori Robinson
First woman to lead a top-tier U.S. Combat Command
The Mogul: Sheryl Sandberg
First woman to become a social-media billionaire
The Artist: Cindy Sherman
First woman to break $1 million in a photography sale
The Coach: Kathryn Smith
First woman to become a full-time coach in the NFL
The Explorer: Kathryn Sullivan
First American woman to walk in space
The Journalist: Barbara Walters
First woman to co-anchor a network evening news program
The Chef: Alice Waters
First woman to win the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef
The Engineer: Geisha Williams
First Latina CEO of a Fortune 500 company
The Pro: Serena Williams
First tennis player to win 23 Grand Slam singles titles in the open era
The Chair: Janet Yellen
First woman to chair the Federal Reserve
The Titan: Oprah Winfrey
First woman in history to own and produce her own talk show
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Contact us at letters@time.com