The list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women is out. The list includes women from diverse backgrounds and races who have made an impact in the year 2023. The profile of the women on the list shows them gradually shattering glass ceilings and occupying positions hitherto occupied by men.
This year’s 100 Most Powerful Women in the World includes financial experts, philanthropists, businesswomen, politicians, and technologists. The list also includes black women dominating various fields.
The 2023 list was determined by four main factors, including money, media, impact and spheres of influence the women have. “For political leaders, we weighed gross domestic products and populations; for corporate chiefs, revenues, valuations and employee counts were critical. Media mentions and social reach were analysed for all. The result: 100 women who are shaping the policies, products and political fights that define our world,” Forbes said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was named the world’s most powerful woman for the second year in a row.
Below is the list of the top six Black women featured on the list.
Kamala Harris
The most powerful black woman per Forbes’ list is Kamala Harris. She is the Vice President of the United States of America. Harris made history as the first woman and first Black person as well as Indian-American woman to be elected Vice President of the United States of America after running with Joe Biden in 2020. Prior to becoming the VPOTUS, she served as a Senator for California from January 2017 to January 2021.
She first ran for office in 2003 and was elected to become the district attorney of San Francisco. In 2010, she ran for the attorney general post in the state of California, which she won, making her the first Black woman to hold the position.
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey follows Kamala Harris as the second most powerful black woman in 2023. She is one of the most renowned media personalities, not only in the U.S. but across the globe. She started her career in media as a teenager and eventually cemented her position as the queen of talk shows.
Her journey has been quite a roller coaster, nonetheless, she overcame challenges and trauma to reach a height where she became a global idol, icon, and entrepreneur with a net worth of over a billion dollars.
In 2018, she hit a record net worth of $4 billion courtesy of the performance of Weight Watchers International Inc., with which she partnered in 2015. The weight-loss company increased her fortune by $427 million that year.
Thasunda Duckett
Thasunda Duckett became the CEO of TIAA in May 2021, making her the fourth Black American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. She became a member of the Board of Directors of Nike in 2019 and also the Chair of the Otis and Rosie Brown Foundation. She also became a board member of several companies, including Brex, Sesame Workshop, Medal of Honor Museum, and the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation. She was the CEO of Chase Bank and CEO of Chase Auto Finance.
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Knowles, popularly, known as Beyoncé, is an American singer and entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of $540 million, according to Forbes. Together with her husband Jay-Z, the power couple has a net worth of $2 billion.
The singer first rose to fame as the lead singer in the girl group Destiny’s Child but has now become a larger-than-life icon; her influence cuts across music and entrepreneurship. Forbes once named her the 76th most powerful woman in the world and the 7th most powerful Black woman. Today, she is the third most powerful black woman.
Rihanna
In 2020, Rihanna debuted on Forbes’ list of richest self-made women in America. The list, compiled annually by Forbes, details the worth of America’s most successful women entrepreneurs and executives.
Following her hit song “Work” in 2016, the famous musician has evolved into a serial entrepreneur. Her source of wealth, according to Forbes, comes from music, cosmetics and her clothing lines. Rihanna has sold more than 60 million albums and 215 million digital tracks, according to her label, Roc Nation. This placed her as the second best-selling digital artiste globally.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a former Nigerian Finance Minister. She was appointed as the World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General in 2021. The position made her the first black woman and African to hold the position.
Before her current position, she was the managing director at the World Bank, where she had oversight responsibility for the World Bank’s operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia.
Okonjo-Iweala spearheaded several World Bank initiatives to assist low-income countries during both the food and later financial crisis. She has chaired the replenishment of over $40 billion for the International Development Association (IDA), the grant, and the soft credit arm of the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation wrote.
