Celebrating International Women's Day, 2025
International Women's Day has come back round, so once again I'm celebrating some more of the women I've been admiring of late, as well as some more of those I've been a fan of for a good while already. Here's to some more incredible women!
DOLLY PARTON. First up needs NO introduction, she's an absolute bloody ICON and one of the hardest working famous women in the world! Not to menton one of the sweetest and most adorably self-deprecating.
THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT. AKA the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, this incredible 855-strong all-black battalion of the US Women's Army Corps revolutionaised the hopelessly crippled army postal system during World War II, battling racial prejudice and institutonalised misogyny to help win the War through restoring flagging morale from American forces who hadn't heard from their families in YEARS ...
IDINA MENZEL & KRISTIN CHENOWETH. Yeah, they're both best known for originating the roles of Elphaba, the "Wicked" Witch of the West, and Galinda, the "Good" Witch of the East, in the stage musical of Wicked, the reinvention of The Wizard of Oz, but these two incredible actresses have both played some other pretty iconic roles over the years, both on stage and on big and small screens. Menzel, of course, is also rightly beloved as the voice of Elsa in the Frozen movies, while I first came across Chenoweth through her truly adorable role as Annabeth Schott in The West Wing.
MARJANE SATRAPI, the incredibly talented French-Iranian graphic novelist, writer-director and children's author. Most people (rightly) know her best through her breakthrough work Persepolis, an autobiographical account of her experiences growing up as a young woman in Iran after the Islamic Revolution (which she subsequently turned into a FUCKING AMAZING animated feature), but she's also responsible for one of the weirdest and most wonderfully baffling Ryan Reynolds film's I've ever seen, The Voices ...
AVA DUVERNAY, the rightly critically acclaimed writer-director of incredibly important films like Selma, Origin and the documentary feature 13th. Okay, so she also made the decidedly meh adaptation of A Wrinkle In Time, but we can't have everything ...
CHAPPELL ROAN. Hot damn, what an incredible few years this incredible former up-and-coming, now very much BREAKOUT young musical STAR has had. The massive success of her debut album The Rise & Fall of a Midwest Princess, followed by her runaway MEGAHIT single Good Luck Babe have really put this genuine LGBT+ ICON on the map in a MAJOR WAY, and I foresee great things in her future.
ELLEN MacARTHUR, the powerfully inspiring English yachtswoman who won the hearts of entire nations when she broke the World Speed Record for circumnavigating the globe when she sailed solo around the world at just 29 years old.
BECKETT MARINER & D'VANA TENDI, voiced by Tawny Newsome and Noël Wells in Paramount's best "new" Star Trek series Lower Decks. Gods, I love these two. They're among my absolute favourit Trek characters, like, EVER, and they're both such wonderfully positive role models for nerdy girls of all kinds the world over.
NICHELLE NICHOLS. Speaking of Trek, how can we forget the women who not only started it all, but also went so far in making a black women appearing on screen in a STARRING ROLE where she's regarded as an EQUAL not only to men but WHITE MEN something that could actually be SO NORMAL. Okay, so there was a still a long road ahead (one wh haven't REALLY seen the end of quite yet), but she really made one hell of a start. Rest in Power, queen. You're sorely missed ...
RHEA RIPLEY, essentially THE most well known and most incredibly iconic female wrestler of the WWE, if not the entire SPORT. I simply ADORE her take-no-shit attitude, her truly BADASS none-more-GOTH sense of style and her seriously intimidating but also absolutely BEAUTIFUL muscles. She's amazing.
SALT-N-PEPA. Cheryl James (Salt), Sandra Denton (Pepa) and Deidra Roper (DJ Spinderella) are, quite simply, THE MOST IMPORTANT female hip hop group of all time. Their runaway hit Push It is simply the pinnacle of their massive platinum selling, era defining musical career.
CASSANDRA PETERSON, better known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the actress, comedian and bona fide horror icon who pretty much DEFINED the 80s. That being said, she's STILL going strong, and she's just as awesome now as she ever was ...
VIVIENNE MEDRANO aka VIVZIEPOP, the YouTuber, animator, writer-director, producer AND voice actress responsible for creating not one but TWO of my current favourite animated shows, Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss. Not only is she an incredibly talented creative person, but she's also a total sweeheart, and a true LGBT+ ICON.
... and last, but by no means least ... TINA TURNER, quite simply one of the most important and amazing singer-songwriters of all time. Even more famous for the hardships she endured and the incredible comeback she achieved than her awesome music, she became a powerful inspiration for survivors of spousal and domestic abuse the world over. She was, quite simply, The Best.
