--- title: 5 Surprising Things About Carly Fiorina description: Carly Fiorina won the GOP debate by a landslide. She challenged Donald Trump. She took a jab at Jeb Bush's marijuana record. She spoke powerfully about the loss of her daughter . The relatively unknown Fiorina launched herself into the national spotlight. Still, she's considered an outsider, best known in the business world as the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. canonical: https://time.com/4040791/carly-fiorina-5-surprising-things/ author: Joyce Lee article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-18T19:28:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:04:24.872Z article:section: Politics og:title: 5 Surprising Things About Carly Fiorina og:description: The GOP's only female candidate has an interesting past og:url: https://time.com/4040791/carly-fiorina-5-surprising-things/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt923e3ddc0d7959c5/69886445196cf4fe33038186/gettyimages-462089488.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Conservative Activists And Leaders Attend The Iowa Freedom Summit og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Surprising Things About Carly Fiorina twitter:description: The GOP's only female candidate has an interesting past twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt923e3ddc0d7959c5/69886445196cf4fe33038186/gettyimages-462089488.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Surprising Things About Carly Fiorina by [Joyce Lee](https://time.com/author/joyce-lee/) ## Joyce Lee Sep 18, 2015 7:28 PM UTC  Carly Fiorina, former chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Co., pauses while speaking during the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015\. The talent show that is a presidential campaign began in earnest Saturday as more than 1,200 Republican activists, who probably will vote in Iowa's caucuses, packed into a historic Des Moines theater to see and hear from a parade of their party's prospective entries. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images Carly Fiorina, former chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Co., pauses while speaking during the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015\. The talent show that is a presidential campaign began in earnest Saturday as more than 1,200 Republican activists, who probably will vote in Iowa's caucuses, packed into a historic Des Moines theater to see and hear from a parade of their party's prospective entries. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Joyce Lee](https://time.com/author/joyce-lee/) ## Joyce Lee Sep 18, 2015 7:28 PM UTC Carly Fiorina won the GOP debate by a landslide. She challenged Donald Trump. She took a jab at Jeb Bush’s marijuana record. She spoke powerfully about the loss of her daughter . The relatively unknown Fiorina launched herself into the national spotlight. Still, she’s considered an outsider, best known in the business world as the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. So just who is Carly Fiorina? 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