Woman on Top: Gloria de Piero

Gloria de Piero

Member of Parliament (Labour Party)

Ashfield, Nottinghamshire,UK

• Political correspondent for GMDV from 2003-2010.
• Elected to Parliament in 2010.
• Became Shadow Minister for Gender and Equalities in 2013.

Woman on Top: Marissa Ann Mayer

Marissa Ann Mayer

President and Chief Executive Officer

Yahoo! Inc.

• Born in in 1975 in Wisconsin.
• Obtained her BS in Symbolic Systems and MS in Computer Science from Stanford University; specialised in artificial intelligence.
• Awarded the Centennial Teaching Award and Forsythe Award by Stanford for her contribution to undergraduate education.
• Worked at the Union Bank of Switzerland research lab and the Stanford Research Institute prior to joining Google.
• Was Google's 20th employee and first female engineer when she was hired in 1999.
• Was one of the three-person team that developed the Ad Words, which is the cornerstone of Google's business model.
• Was crucial in developing Google's search, email, news, and maps products.
• Oversaw the efficient look-and-feel of the Google experience. 
• Awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the Illinois Institute of Technology for her work in the development of search engines.
• Among Fortune magazine's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business in 2008-2011.
• Was Google's vice president for search before being moved to local and location services in 2010. 
• Appointed President and CEO of Yahoo! on 16 July 2012.

Woman on Top: Liaena Hernández Martínez

Liaena Hernández Martínez

Member of Parliament
Republic of Cuba

• Born in 1990 in Manuel Tames, Cuba, in the country's Guantamo Province.
• Volunteered for active military service under the Servicio Militar Voluntario Femenino.
• Served for seven months in the Brigada de la Frontera, an all-female brigade guarding the border with America's Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
• Elected to the Cuban Parliament in March 2008 to represent her home town of Manuel Tames, making her the youngest member of parliament.
• Touted as the future of Cuba's communist revolution, representing women and youth empowerment. ¡A las armas, valientes, corred!
• Read more about her here (BBC), here, and here.
  

Woman on Top: Lisa Randall

Lisa Randall

Professor of Physics

Department of Physics, Harvard University

• Born on 18 June 1962.
• Obtained her BA in Physics from Harvard University in June 1983 and immediately proceeded to the PhD programme.
• First taught classes at the Harvard University Physics Department as a Teaching Assistant in 1984.
• Obtained her PhD in Physics from Harvard University in June 1987, specialising in particle physics.
• Named Associate Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1995, being the first tenured female theoretical physicist in MIT. 
• Transferred to Princeton University in 1998 as Professor of Physics, becoming the first tenured woman in the university's Physics Department.
• Returned to Harvard University in 2001 as Professor of Physics, making her the first tenured female theoretical phycisist in Harvard.
• Received the Premio Caterina Tomassoni e Felice Pietro Chisesi Award from the University of Rome, La Sapienza in 2003. 
• Published Warped Passages: Unraveling The Mysteries Of The Universe's Hidden Dimensions in 2005, which was cited by the New York Times as one of the 100 most notable books in 2005.
• Won the Julius Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society in 2007 for her work in particle physics.
• Named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2007.
• Her image dispersion has been known to cause the momentary collapse of heartwave functions.

Woman on Top

Sarah Louise Palin
Governor of the State of Alaska
United States of America

• Born Sarah Louise Heath on 11 February 1964 in Sandpoint, Idaho; moved to Alaska soon after.
• Studied high school in Wasilla, Alaska, where she earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" for her basketball prowess.
• Was crowned Miss Wasilla in 1984 and won second place in the Miss Alaska pageant the same year.
• Majored in Journalism and minored in Politics at the University of Idaho.
• Married Todd Palin, a commercial fisherman, in 1988; they have five children.
• Served on the Wasilla City Council from 1992 to 1996.
• Appointed Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in 2002.
• Elected governor of Alaska in 2006; the first woman and, at 42, the youngest person elected to the post.
• Selected by John McCain to be the Republican vice-presidential candidate for the 2008 US presidential elections, making her the second woman to be nominated to the position.
• Is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association.

Woman on Top (part 2)

Dana Perino has been featured on this blog previously (4 September 2007, to be exact), under the Woman on Top heading. She is the current White House Press Secretary, whose job description includes obfuscating and spinning her way in defending the Bush administration. She might tell you that Iraq is a sunny summer afternoon, but, with a smile like that, how can you stay angry at her?

Here she is on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart:



At least the Bush administration got one thing right-- if you have nothing but bad news, at least send a cute messenger. Hmmm, now who should we get to replace Ignacio Bunye?

Woman on Top

Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko
Former Prime Minister
Ukraine

• Born in 1960 in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.
• Married Olexandr Tymoshenko in 1979. Gave birth to daughter Yevhenia in 1980.
• Obtained her degree in Economics in 1984 from the Dnepropetrovsk State University, after which she worked as an economics engineer in a Soviet machine-building plant.
• Opened a video rental chain in 1991 after perestroika.
• Became the Managing Director of the State-owned Ukranian Oil Company (UOC) in 1991, which was eventually privatised and became the United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU).
• Became President of UESU in 1995, during which she amassed a huge personal wealth and was nicknamed the "gas princess".
• Elected Member of Parliament in 1996, representing the Kirovograd Oblast.
• Became Deputy Prime Minister for fuel and energy issues in 1999 under then-Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko, a post she held until 2001.
• Arrested in February 2001 over forgery and smuggling charges during her presidency of UESU; the charges were eventually dismissed.
• Led protests against then-President Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yanukovich, eventually culminating in the Orange Revolution in 2005.
• Appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine by President Viktor Yushchenko on 24 January 2005.
• Dismissed as Prime Minister on 8 Septembr 2005 amid in-fighting and resignations among her ministers.
• Her Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYT)-- a coalition of three parties-- remains a formidable power in parliament, winning 31% of seats during the 2007 parliamentary elections.
• Probably the only Head of Government to be on the cover of a fashion magazine; her hair was recently featured on BBC.
• Has a personal website.

Woman on Top

Due to insistent public demand (you know who you are)...

Dana Marie Perino
Deputy Press Secretary
United States of America

• Born in 1972 in Evanston, Wyoming
• Graduated in 1994 from the University of Southern Colorado with a bachelor's degree in mass communications, minor in politics and Spanish.
• Obtained her master's degree in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Illinois in Springfield.
• Began her career in Washington, DC, by working in Capitol Hill, first for Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colorado) then Rep. Daniel Schaefer (R-Colorado).
• Served as the spokesperson for the Deprtment of Justice in 2001, then as Director of the Council on Environmental Quality in the White House.
• Appointed by President George W. Bush as Deputy Press Secretary on 31 March 2006.
• Less irritating, less condescending, and less obfuscating than Tony Snow.
• The only good thing to come out of the White House press room these days.

Woman on Top

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

• Born Rania Al-Yassin in 1970 in Kuwait where she also completed her primary and secondary education.
• Is of Palestinian heritage like the late Queen Alia Al-Hussein of Jordan (1948-1977).
• Received her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the American University of Cairo in 1991.
• Married HM King Abdullah II on 10 June 1993, who was a prince at the time.
• Has four children: HRH Prince Hussein, HRH Princess Iman, HRH Princess Salma, and HRH Prince Hashem.
• Actively involved in various international organisations such as the World Economic Forum, UNICEF, The Vaccine Fund, the International Youth Foundation, the Foundation for International Community Assistance, and the International Osteoporosis Foundation.
• Initiated a number of scholarships, fellowships, and educational prizes. Among them is the Queen Rania Scholarship for Women Business Leaders, which is awarded annually to two Jordanian women business leaders, and the Queen Rania Award for Excellence in Education, which rewards achievements in teaching.
• Has an official website.

Woman on Top

According to my (few) avid readers, my past few posts have been rather serious. So, in honour of Women's Month in March, I'm starting a new column: Woman on Top. It will feature profiles of various women in positions of power, mostly from the world of politics, economics, or foreign affairs.

Maria Consuelo Araujo
Former Foreign Relations Minister
Republic of Colombia

• Has been in the government of President Alvaro Uribe since 2002.
• First served as Culture Minister from 2002-2006, then as Foreign Relations Minister from 2006-2007.
• Studied Finance and International Relations at Externado University of Colombia
• Specialised in Government, Management and Public Affairs at Columbia University in New York and in International Relations at the University of Milan.
• Resigned from the Uribe government on 19 February 2007 after her brother, Senator Alvaro Araujo, was arrested over allegations that he is involved with Colombian paramilitary groups.
• Described on BBC News as "the glamourous Maria Consuelo Araujo". Infinitely hotter than Henry Kissinger, in my opinion.