In 1994 Judith Seitz Rodin became the first permanent woman president of an Ivy League school when she took the helm of the University of Pennsylvania.
In her wildly popular 1958 debut novel, The Best of Everything, Rona Jaffe captured the struggle of women working in New York before the women’s liberation movement.
Marjorie Switow Fisher found inventive ways to improve children’s lives, from funding mobile dental clinics to using summer jobs as an opportunity for career training. Fisher majored in art at Marjorie Webster Junior College and graduated at the top of her class.
Ellen Odette Cuffe, Lady Desart, was celebrated as the most important Jewish woman in Irish history for her boundless philanthropy and political acumen.
Mary Loeb Gendler has helped shape social justice movements in indirect but effective ways, from crafting new rituals for Jewish feminists to helping Tibetan exiles leverage the tools of nonviolent protest.
Alice Hoffman spent years crafting novels that explored relationships and magical realism before the “overnight” success of 1995’s Practical Magic catapulted her to success.
As part of her lifelong devotion to Wellesley College, Nicki Newman Tanner chaired a record-breaking capital campaign for the college in 1993, raising $168 million from alumnae and disproving the assumption that women give less than men.
Suzanne Priebatsch has focused her career in investment management on helping people become more “financially literate” so they can manage their wealth during their lifetimes and pass on legacies that reflect their values.
Beyond her work as the current chair of her family’s charitable foundation, Lee M. Hendler has continued her parents’ legacy by becoming a philanthropist and teaching her children and grandchildren the importance of service to others.
In 1979, Ilene Epstein brought a new style to the streets of Boston when she and her identical twin sister opened The Studio, a women’s clothing store that offered stylish clothing in a welcoming atmosphere.
Josephine Stern Weiner’s lifetime of community service culminated in her creation of Women in Community Services (WICS), an umbrella organization that coordinated efforts between Jews and Christians, blacks and whites, at the height of the civil rights movement.
Helen Lowentritt DeRoy’s business savvy in the auto industry was matched only by her generosity as a philanthropist through the worst years of the Depression.
Opera singer Emma Lazaroff Schaver was profoundly affected by giving concerts to Holocaust survivors in displaced persons camps, an experience that shaped the rest of her life.
The first singer to have a Number One single in the US without a recording contract, Lisa Loeb has since proven that she is no one-hit wonder with a dozen albums to her credit.
Hailed as the “Scream Queen” for her 1978 film debut in Halloween and her work in other slasher films, Jamie Lee Curtis defied expectations through her roles in A Fish Called Wanda and The Heidi Chronicles.
A passionate supporter of Israel with decades of experience in fundraising for others, Donna Sternberg helped raise almost half a million dollars in aid to help her own community recover from Hurricane Katrina.
Bertha Rayner Frank became the epicenter of a national debate on anti-Semitism when she forced an Atlantic City hotel to publicly apologize for refusing to serve Jews.
Inspired by the youth villages that allowed Israel to welcome staggering numbers of orphans after the Holocaust, Anne Heyman created the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village to shelter orphans of the Rwandan genocide.
A longtime star of the Broadway stage, Idina Menzel became the first person ever to claim both a Billboard Top 10 slot (for Holiday Wishes in 2014) and a Tony Award (for Wicked in 2003).
