25 Inspirational and Amazing Women: Inspiring Women of 2025
Ava DuVernay
Shaking up a business that has been around as long as the film industry may seem like an intimidating thing to do, but filmmaker Ava DuVernay is one of the most amazing women doing it. With her powerful projects that focus on fighting for justice (like her feature film Selma), she is doing more than just entertaining—she is educating.
In an interview with Smithsonian Magazine, DuVernay shed some light on the way she works, and why it works: “I try to be a shapeshifter and do a lot of things. A: Because I can. B: Because the traditional walls collapsed, so there’s more flexibility. And C: Because you can’t hit a moving target.” Her documentary 13th is one of the documentaries about race everyone should see.
Kamala Harris
As the former vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris is a woman who holds many firsts: the first Black American woman to hold that office, the first South Asian woman to hold that office and the first woman to hold that office. She also became the first woman with presidential power when President Joe Biden temporarily power to her during his routine colonoscopy (which lasted just under an hour and a half), though she lost her bid for the presidency in 2024.
Before becoming vice president, Harris served in the Senate and as attorney general of California. She has said that she attributes her strong sense of justice and activism to her parents: “My mother would look at me and she’d say, ‘Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last.’”
Harris also has a large, loving, nontraditional family. In 2014, she married Doug Emhoff (who held the position of second gentleman) and became a stepmom, or “Momala,” to Emhoff’s two children, Cole and Ella, as well as becoming close friends with their mother. She is a truly modern woman and an inspiration to women everywhere: the first, but not the last.
Halima Aden
The words model and activist may not often describe the same person, but they do for Halima Aden. The 27-year-old first showed courage and pride in her culture for being the first contestant to wear a hijab (a head covering worn by Muslim women) in the Miss Minnesota USA pageant. She then became the first woman to wear a hijab in Sports Illustrated‘s annual Swimsuit Issue, advocating for greater diversity and inclusivity.
“It’s important for me to be visible and to do whatever I can to let girls know that they don’t have to change who they are,” she said in an interview with Essence. “I want them to know the world will meet them exactly where they stand.”
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