Articles in Category: Profiles & Bios

Martha Stewart (Business Magnate/Television Host/Author/Magazine Publisher)

martha-stewart.jpgMartha Helen Stewart (née Kostyra; born August 3, 1941) is an American business magnate, television host, author, and magazine publisher. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she has gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, and merchandising. Stewart's syndicated talk show, Martha, is broadcast throughout the world, she has written numerous bestselling books, and she is the publisher of Martha Stewart Living magazine.

In 2001, Stewart was named the third most powerful woman in America by Ladies Home Journal. In 2004, she was convicted of lying to investigators about a stock sale and served five months in prison. Stewart began a comeback campaign in 2005, with her company returning to profitability in 2006.

Martha Matilda Harper (Businesswoman/Entrepreneur/Inventor)

martha-matilda-harper.jpgMartha Matilda Harper (September 10, 1857 – 1950) was a Canadian-American businesswoman, entrepreneur, and inventor who built an international network of franchised  hair salons that emphasized healthy hair care.

Born in Canada, Harper was sent away from home by her father when she was seven to work as a domestic servant. (For more information and links to an excellent autobiography of this amazing women see www.MarthaMatildaHarper.com)

She worked in that profession for 25 years before she saved enough money to start working full time producing a hair care product she had invented.

She saved enough money to begin producing the hair tonic full time, and, upon leaving domestic service three years after her immigration to the United States, opened the first public hair salon in the region in order to help market it.

Mary Kay Ash (Businesswoman/Founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics)

mary-kay-ash.jpgMary Kay Ash (May 12, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American businesswoman and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc.

She was born Mary Kathlyn Wagner in Hot Wells, Harris County, Texas, the daughter of Edward Alexander and Lula Vember Hastings Wagner. She attended Reagan High School in Houston, graduating in 1934.

Ash attended the University of Houston until 1943 when she married, but despite having three children, the marriage did not last, and after her divorce Ash went to work for Stanley Home Products, a direct sales firm out of Houston. In 1963, Ash left Stanley. Frustrated when passed over for a promotion in favor of a man that she had trained, Ash retired in 1963 and intended to write a book to assist women in business.

Soong Ching-ling (Former Vice Chairman of China/Former Honorary President of China)

soong-ching-ling.jpgSoong Ch'ing-ling (simplified Chinese: 宋庆龄; traditional Chinese: 宋慶齡; pinyin: Sòng Qìnglíng; Wade-Giles: Sung Ch'ing-ling) (27 January 1893 – 29 May 1981), also known as Madame Sun Yat-sen, was one of the three Soong sisters—who, along with their husbands, were amongst China's most significant political figures of the early 20th century.

She was the Vice Chairman of the People's Republic of China. She was the first non-royal woman to officially become head of state of China, acting as Co-Chairman of the Republic  from 1968 until 1972. She again became head of state in 1981, briefly before her death, as the Honorary President of the People's Republic of China. Soong is sometimes regarded as Asia's first female non-monarchial head of state, although her title of Honorary President of the People's Republic of China was purely ceremonial.

Tanya Davis (Singer/Songwriter/Poet)

tanya-davis.jpgTanya Davis is a Canadian singer-songwriter and poet, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her style is marked primarily by spoken word poetry set to music.

Born in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, she moved to Ottawa for a time after high school to attend university, and then hitchhiked to British Columbia, where she worked in community development before moving to Halifax in 2005.