Articles in Category: Profiles & Bios

Elsa Schiaparelli (Iconic Fashion Designer)

elsa-schiaparelli.jpgElsa Schiaparelli (10 September 1890 — 13 November 1973) was an Italian fashion designer. Along with Coco Chanel, her greatest rival, she is regarded as one of the most prominent figures in fashion between the two World Wars. Starting with knitwear, Schiaparelli's designs were heavily influenced by Surrealists like her collaborators Salvador Dalí and Alberto Giacometti. Her clients included the heiress Daisy Fellowes and actress Mae West.

Schiaparelli did not adapt to the changes in fashion following World War II and her business closed in 1954.

In Paris, Schiaparelli - known as "Schiap" to her friends - began making her own clothes. With some encouragement from Paul Poiret, she started her own business but it closed in 1926 despite favourable reviews.

Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim (Writer/Deputy in Sudanese Parliament/Human Rights Campaigner)

fatima-ahmed-mohamed-ibrahim.jpgFatima was born in Khartoum, her family one of educated family at that time,her grandfather was a headmaster to the first Sudanese School for boys and as the same time Imam in his neighborhood's mosque.

Fatima's father graduated from Gordon Memorial College  and works as a teacher, and Fatima's mother among the earlier generation of girls whom tended the school. Fatima grew up during the time of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan  colonial in Sudan, when her father expelled from teaching in a government school when he refused to teaching lessons by English, then her father moved to teach in a popular school.

Fatima joined Omdurman Girls' Secondary School, and her activities towards women rights started from that time, she published a wall newspaper called Elra'edda, or by Arabic الرائدة or by English Vanguard or The Pioneer girls, her newspaper focuses on the women rights and also she wrote in newspapers at that time by code name.

Barbara Masekela (ANC Activist)

barbara-masekela.jpgBarbara Masekela was born on 18 July 1941 in Johannesburg. She completed her primary education at St. Michael's Anglican School inAlexandra township. Later she attended Inanda Girls Seminary between 1956 and1960, where she was exposed to leading lights of the African National Congress (ANC) such as Chief Albert Luthuli and MB Yengwa, who were some of the distinguished invited speakers tothe girls’ college.

Here, she also came into contact with Johnny Makatini, a leading ANC activist who recruited her into the ANC and became her mentor. After matriculation, Barbara worked in a textile factory in Johannesburg and through a family friend found employment in the subscriptiondepartment of New Age.

Her supervisor was Wolfie Kodesh and here she was introduced to activists of the ANC Youth League, the South African Communist Party and the ANC. In 1962, she attended Roma University in Lesotho and subsequently left South Africa in 1963 togo to Ghana.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Actress/Model/Miss World)

aishwarya-rai.jpgAishwarya Rai Bachchan (born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress and former Miss World. Before starting her acting career, she worked as a model and gained fame after winning the Miss World title in 1994. During her career, Rai has acted in over 40 movies in Hindi, English, Tamil and Bengali, which include a number of international productions.

Often cited by the media as the most beautiful woman in the world, Rai made her movie debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film Iruvar (1997) and had her first commercial success in the Tamil movie Jeans (1998). She came to the attention of Bollywood in the movie Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Her performance in the film won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award. In 2002 she appeared in Bhansali's next project, Devdas (2002), for which she won her second Filmfare Best Actress Award.

Tammy Tibbetts (Activist/Leader)

tammy-tibbetts-headshot.jpgTammy Tibbetts is the Founder and President of She’s the First, a media campaign that promotes the importance of educating girls who would otherwise not have the opportunity to go to school.

The organization empowers young women to tap into their social networks and creatively fundraise in order to afford young girls in developing countries the tools to “be the first” and achieve their individual goals.

Last spring, she co-founded and produced the GIRLS WHO ROCK NY! Concert, featuring Kat DeLuna, Lenka, MoZella, and Shontelle. The evening’s beneficiary was AfricAid, a She’s the First partner school, and specifically, The Kisa Project, an AfricAid initiative that provides school scholarships and leadership training to some of the brightest young women in Africa.