50 Over 50 2021

For these dynamic women, growing older is about getting wiser—and bolder. Meet the inaugural class of entrepreneurs, leaders and creators who are part of an exhilarating movement redefining life’s second half and proving that success has no age limit.

When Pamela Winn was released from prison in 2013, after serving time for bank fraud, she found herself mourning the loss of time: time for herself, time to build on her career and, above all, time with her family. “You can always make money back,” she has said, “but you can’t get your time …

Meet our inaugural class of entrepreneurs, leaders, scientists and creators who, after the age of 50, are achieving their greatest accomplishments and making their biggest impact. Together, they embody a new movement of women who reject the idea that the most dynamic part of life is the first …

The inaugural Forbes 50 Over 50 list, produced in collaboration with Mika Brzezinski and her “Know Your Value” initiative, shines a spotlight on women who started businesses or supercharged their careers after age 50. They have broken barriers in male-dominated industries, founded million or …

Shonda Rhimes spent the first 12 years of her TV career contributing to Disney’s empire. Now she’s building her own. Last Christmas, as millions of people were watching Bridgerton for the first time, Shonda Rhimes was at home in Los Angeles with her three daughters, unwrapping gifts. Her first hints …

Which women on our 50 Over 50 list are making their mark in the worlds of beauty and fashion? Read on to find out. At 52, Dunaway co-founded gender-neutral intimates and loungewear maker TomboyX with her wife. • They’ve gone from working out of their garage to running a fast gro... [+] Ginsburg was a …

Which women on our 50 Over 50 list immigrated to The United States to pursue the American dream? Read on to find out. *This slideshow represents a selection... [+] In 2008, Bakhshi was working at Washington Mutual when it became the biggest bank in American history to fail. She returned to her native …

For these dynamic women, growing older is about getting wiser—and bolder. What advice would they give their high-school selves? Read on to find out. "Every little thing is going to be all right." - Fran Dunaway, cofounder, TomboyX "Prioritize people over tasks, and have courage to ask for what you …

Guest post by Robyn Selman, Photo Director, Forbes There’s more to portrait photography than meets the eye. In journalism, it has always been the product of an intense collaboration between the photo and art desks, editorial, the person pointing the lens and the subject. How to represent …

A longtime OB-GYN whose clinical career was ended by a devastating back injury, 50 Over 50 listee Dr. Laura Stachel reconfigured herself as a social entrepreneur—one whose nonprofit, We Care Solar, is using solar electricity to make births safer around the world. In March of 2008, …

The 50 Over 50 honoree spoke to Forbes about how not getting a patent for her now-iconic makeup sponge didn’t stop her from disrupting the multi-billion beauty industry. When Rea Ann Silva used to do makeup for magazine cover stars in the late 1990s and early 2000s, editors would call her, begging …

The 50 Over 50 is back, and it’s bigger than ever. In 2021, we launched this first-of-its-kind Forbes list dedicated to spotlighting women over the age of 50 who are shattering age and gender norms across every sector of business, politics, the sciences and society.

The United States has officially distributed more than 200 million Covid vaccines; globally, more than a billion doses have been administered. While there is still a long way to go until the American population is inoculated to the point of achieving herd immunity—and an even longer way to go to …

From the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, to the 2020 presidential election—in which one very powerful woman helped 800,000 people register to vote—women have been at the forefront of the fight to expand voting rights to all American citizens. Between the ratification of the …

Teacher Appreciation Week is typically observed during the first week in May. However, like so many moments of recognition dedicated to people, issues and professions that are too often taken for granted for the rest of the year (see also: Mother’s Day), a week of discounts and gratitude for …

It’s been 25 years since then First Lady Hillary Clinton stood up at the U.N.’s World Conference on Women and declared, “If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all.” Though …

Mika Brzezinski once believed that a woman’s value was almost always linked to her youth and appearance. She knows, now, that’s not true. Here’s how she overcame the “age trap” and found more success, power and fulfillment with each passing year of her career. When I turned 50 four years ago, I …

When Bettie J. Parker was born in 1948 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, the state was segregated. Growing up, Parker was not allowed to use the city’s public swimming pools, drinking fountains, bowling alleys, or certain public restrooms. Sixty-nine years later in 2017—and after a 33-year career …

As the dust settles from the Trump presidency, there’s much about the so-called Resistance to his term that will fade over time: the memes, the hashtags, even the pink knit pussy hats. The resistance that will endure, however, is work that has been spearheaded by women on the “inspiring” side of …