Michaëlle Jean was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 1957.
She immigrated to Canada with her family in 1968, fleeing the dictatorial regime of the time.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Italian and Hispanic languages and literature at the University of Montréal.
Dorothy Parker (August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles.
From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary output in such venues as The New Yorker and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table.
Phoolan Devi (10 August 1963 – 25 July 2001), popularly known as "The Bandit Queen", was an Indian dacoit (bandit) and later a politician. She was notorious across India during her time as a bandit.
Phoolan was born into the lower mallha (boatmen) caste, in the small village of Gorha ka Purwa in Uttar Pradesh, India. She was the second child in a family of four girls and a boy.
Mona Eltahawy is a freelance Egyptian journalist based in America who for a long period wrote a weekly column for the Saudi-owned international Arab publication Asharq Al-Awsat.
Her articles were discontinued for being 'too critical' of the Egyptian regime, she claimed in an article she wrote for the International Herald Tribune.
Mary Harris "Mother" Jones (August 1, 1837 – November 30, 1930), born in Cork, Ireland, was a prominent American labor and community organizer.
She helped co-ordinate major strikes and co-founded the Industrial Workers of the World.