LaLa Anthony

Actress-producer-author
The secret to Anthony’s stellar year? “I homed in on what I love to do, as opposed to trying to do everything,” says the Brooklyn native, whose recent career highlights include producing Broadway’s first all-female, all-black show, “Eclipsed.” “It’s history everywhere you turn with this project,” says the actress, who recently wrapped the movie “Double Play” and will reprise her role on Starz’s “Power” in September. She’s also an ardent advocate for the foundation launched by her husband, New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony. But the role she prizes most? “When my son tells me how great of a mom I am, that means more to me than anything,” says Anthony of 9-year-old Kiyan.

Betsy Berg

Senior VP, speakers & lecturers, APA
Despite the proliferation of Ted Talks on YouTube, personalities on podcasts and other digital means to access newsmakers, Berg’s speakers and lecturers business is booming. “There’s value in being in the same room with someone you admired your whole life,” she says. Her clients include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Pacino, Quincy Jones, Joy Behar, Richard Branson, Harry Belafonte, Sylvester Stallone, Jane Fonda and 50 Cent. She signed Jim Obergefell, whose lawsuit against the state of Ohio led to 2015’s landmark same-sex marriage Supreme Court decision. “He will be in every history book going forward. That’s why I signed him — I was so privileged and honored to get him. He’s a symbol of change.”

Jennifer Breithaupt

Senior VP, entertainment marketing, Citi
The Citi Private Pass program gives perks to Citi credit card holders when purchasing tickets for entertainment and sporting events and at the events themselves. Breithaupt conceived the fan-first strategy that last year linked up 1,400 artists and bands with consumers. The platform allows Citi to enable memories and experiences, Breithaupt says. Financial services and entertainment are still businesses where women are underrepresented at the top. “It’s slowly changing but takes time,” she says. “I create opportunities for the women on my team to build a network, have visibility. I coach and train them along the way; it was not something that was readily available when I was coming up the ranks.”

Candi Carter

Executive producer, “The View”
“As far as daytime television goes, it doesn’t get much better than this,” says Carter of transitioning from “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to “The View” as its first African-American exec producer. “The ratings have gone up, we’ve changed the conversation, we’ve put the show back on the map in this political season in a way that excites people beyond our wildest expectations,” says the 25-year talkshow veteran, whose other passion is the special-needs community. “I have a son who was born with a rare chromosome abnormality. He’s 12, and I say to people, ‘What does 21 look like for him?’ It’s not an institution, I can tell you that.”

Margie Cohn

Head of television, DreamWorks Animation
“It’s the time of girl power in animation,” says Cohn, who took on the daunting task of shepherding original content onto Netflix as part of the toon studio’s deal with the streamimg giant less than three years ago. “Right now, we have three shows being run by women, which is kind of unheard of.” DWA has eight series on Netflix with two more planned later this year: a reimagining of the classic “Voltron” cartoons and a brand-new fantasy concept from director Guillermo del Toro, “Trollhunters.” That’s in addition to putting fresh spins on DWA’s existing properties. “People have such affection for the IP that we want to deliver on their expectations, but also create something brand new that they can really wonder and delight in.”

Carole Cooper

Co-president, Bienstock, A United Talent Agency Company
As co-head of Bienstock, which merged with United Talent Agency in 2014, Cooper has been called the company’s “secret weapon” for access to talent and keen ability to negotiate innovative deals. With more than 600 clients on its roster, Bienstock’s talent includes Bill O’Reilly, Lara Logan and Kimberly Dozier. Since Cooper began in the business 35 years ago, she says there’s been a slow improvement with regard to gender equality. And she’s done her best to speed things. “I would like to think that I have helped reduce the inequalities in wages between women and men,” she says. One big change since she began? “The Iraq War has marked a significant increase in female journalists reporting from war zones.”

Barbara Corcoran

Founder, the Corcoran Group
Corcoran founded her real estate company in 1973, initially backed by a $1,000 loan from a friend, but she’s built it into one of Gotham’s biggest firms. She sold the company for $66 million in 2001, and has since embarked on another chapter that’s made her a household name: as one of the sharks on ABC’s hit “Shark Tank,” recently renewed for its eighth season. Corcoran couldn’t imagine not working. “It’s the most creative activity and it recharges my batteries,” says the self-professed people person. She hopes her stint on the show “influences people for the better. I like to think that it helps women by showing that women can succeed on the same level as men.”

Molly Crabapple

Artist-journalist-author
Crabapple is proof positive that a picture is worth a thousand words — but she’s equally adept at using both media to excavate hard truths about the human condition, reporting for Vice and drawing on the inequalities found in Guantanamo Bay, Syria, Gaza and our own backyard. The Occupy movement in 2011 “changed everything for me,” she says. “It was a time of massive, worldwide rebellion, solidarity and hope, that will fill me with love forever, no matter what failures or tragedies came out of it. In squares across the world … people sat down and called for the end of the corrupt machines that had constrained their lives. I lived in a fever to document it.”

Deborah Curtis

VP, entertainment marketing and sponsorships, American Express
“We want to plus-up the experience for our card members,” Curtis says. The 166-year-old financial services company stays relevant by constantly reinventing its offerings. Beyond ticket access and perks, American Express integrates into events via a multitude of ways from a 20,000-sq.-ft. fan experience at the U.S. Open to sponsored digital initiatives with musicians like Taylor Swift and the upcoming Coachella music fest. “I stress the importance of having a very diverse team,” Curtis says. “To me the richness that comes from a diverse team, talent and backgrounds always ends up with a better outcome.”

Nancy Daniels

President/general manager, TLC
Daniels recognizes that “it has been a tough year for cable and for women’s networks in particular,” but has risen above whatever obstacles lay in her way to launch two series this past year: “My Big Fat Fabulous Life,” which focuses on the weight and body issues of lead character Whitney Thore, and “I Am Jazz,” about transgender teen, Jazz Jennings. “I have to say that I consider myself very lucky that throughout my career I have come in contact with and been mentored by strong, successful women,” Daniels says. “I have rarely felt that my gender has hindered me, and in fact in my current role I feel like I connect with TLC’s core demo (women 25-54) in a very personal way that gives me an edge.”

Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi

Filmmakers, “Making a Murderer”
What with a JD from New York Law School, stints at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Federal Bureau of Prisons, and an MFA in film from Columbia, it’s no surprise that Ricciardi was fascinated by a 2005 article about wrongfully convicted Wisconsin man Steven Avery. The result — a 10-part docu-series she and partner Demos made for Netflix chronicling Avery’s subsequent 2007 trial in the murder of Teresa Halbach — shone a spotlight on the flaws and foibles of the American criminal justice system. Of Avery’s conviction, and that of his 16-year-old nephew Brendan Dassey, despite allegations of police misconduct, evidence tampering and witness coercion, Ricciardi has said, “There are now two people … behind bars, probably for life. Do our viewers feel satisfied with the process that led to those convictions?” Evidently not. Since the documentary debuted in December, two petitions — one on Whitehouse.gov and another on Change.org — have garnered hundreds of thousands of signatures.

Michelle Ebanks

President, Essence Communications
Since it began publishing in 1970, Essence Magazine has been one of the few longstanding premiere periodicals for women of color. Today, Essence brands reach nearly 14.2 million people. “Celebrating diversity and sharing the stories of women across all sectors is intrinsically a part of Essence’s DNA,” Ebanks says. She has been with Essence’s parent company Time Inc. for 15 years, starting at Money magazine before eventually leading the acquisition of Essence in 2005. Under her realm, Essence Communications has developed the Essence Festival and, most recently, Essence Beauty Box, a monthly subscription-based service featuring hair, cosmetic, skincare and fragrance products specifically for black women.

Amy Emmerich

Chief content officer, Refinery29
With a resume that includes stints at media heavyweights like HBO, MTV and Vice, Refinery29’s Emmerich prides herself on the variety of her experiences as a creator. “I always took the risk on a new endeavor at a time when people didn’t necessarily appreciate those risks,” Emmerich says. To women pursuing a career in digital media, she advises, “You can have an expertise in something, but your attitude drives results.” Refinery29 expanded its content horizons in 2016 with the debut of its first original series, “The Skinny,” a comedy about, among other things, eating disorders, from Jessie Kahnweiler that premiered at Sundance and, according to Emmerich, prompted a conversation around “digital media companies as well as risky topics.”  

Barbara Fedida

Senior VP, talent and business, ABC News
“GMA” continues as the most-watched morning show, and David Muir’s “World News” has remained competitive in the ratings, but perhaps the biggest recent change for ABC News has been the shifted oversight of “The View” from ABC’s daytime division. “One of the most exciting things for me was that when we got that assignment, we had the honor of being able to work with one of the greatest brands ever in television that included a table of really smart, accomplished, fierce, opinionated, fun, funny women that we got to fold into the arsenal of all the great women that work at ABC News,” says Fedida who runs talent for ABC News. The exec — who calls finding young, new reporters the favorite part of her job — says one of her biggest accomplishments is the diverse slate of talent she oversees. “We live in this unique country and when you look on-air to people who deliver the news, I could not be prouder of who we are and what we look like.”

Kathleen Finch

Chief programming, content & brand officer, Scripps Networks Interactive Brands
The surge of viewership of home-centered television programming may be thanks to Finch. Launching shows like “Ellen’s Design Challenge,” “Love It or List It” and “Property Brothers,” she firmly cemented HGTV as “No. 1 with upscale women 25-54 for 10 years in a row,” she says. What’s the secret? “I do think that our company’s early commitment to promote and mentor women has been invaluable to our growth. We are moms, wives, professionals, we run households, plan meals and family vacations, and in many ways we are the perfect focus group when it comes to what women who love food, home and travel want to watch on television,” Finch says.

Jill Furman

Producer
Furman worked with Lin-Manuel Miranda on “In the Heights,” and is back with him as one of the producers behind his smash hit “Hamilton,” sure to be a major player at this year’s Tony Awards. Other credits include “Sly Fox” and “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella”; she cites that show’s co-producer Robyn Goodman as an inspiration. “She’s got great talent relationships, incredible story sense, and is well-liked and respected,” Furman says. Furman is attached to produce an indie film and is talking to a cable network to produce a live musical. “As you can see, I’m eager to mix things up a bit.”

Ellen Gilbert

Agent, youth talent, Paradigm
“I feel like I’m everybody’s aunt,” says Gilbert of the bonds formed with her young clients, including Tony-nominated “Fun Home” actress Sydney Lucas and John Magaro, who appeared in “Carol” and “The Big Short.” “I am so proud of John Magaro. His year has been so incredible — between ‘Carol’ and ‘The Big Short,’ he just finished ‘War Machine’ with Brad Pitt and now he’s working on Woody Allen’s TV series which, as a New York actor, is just the cherry on the top. He’s 33 now and I literally signed him right out of college. It’s such a proud moment to see his talent recognized — there’s nothing more exciting.”

Lesli Linka Glatter

Director-producer
Glatter has been a highly sought-after director for years, with credits on series such as “Justified,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Mad Men” and, most recently, as executive producer and director for the critically acclaimed “Homeland.” “ ‘Homeland’ has at its core a powerful, complicated female character who is intensely human, brilliant and flawed, but always profoundly compelling, and working with the extraordinary Claire Danes has made me a more fearless director,” says Glatter. She continues this fearlessness by addressing issues of gender diversity in entertainment, much to her own disappointment. “Sadly, the statistics are the same as they were 20 years ago,” she says. But by serving as a mentor for Indigenous Media’s incubator Made by Women, she hopes that will change. “Made by Women is a prime example of grabbing the hand of the next generation and creating an opportunity.”

Randi Goldstein

Partner, The Gersh Agency
Goldstein client Adam Driver hit the jackpot when he was cast in blockbuster “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and Martin Scorsese’s “Silence.” Colin Donnell, whom she also reps, secured one of the lead roles in Dick Wolf’s “Chicago Med,” while Jon Bass landed a supporting role in the “Baywatch” film. Asked how she finds rising stars, Goldstein jokes, “If I tell you, I’d have to kill you.” What gives her an edge is that “anyone who knows me knows I have a hard time taking no for an answer,” she says.

Joann Grigioni

VP of talent & specials, Comedy Central
Though Grigioni oversees standup for the network, the seasoned scouter has no ambitions to grab a mic. “I love comedy, but being close to it fulfills my creative need,” says Grigioni, who has enormous “compassion” for the art form. “Bombing is excruciating. I’m not sure it’s a thick skin that gets you by — it’s creativity, passion and the need to do it.” Working with producer Robert Smigel, who has an autistic son, on the Jon Stewart-hosted special “Night of Too Many Stars,” has inspired an interest in the cause — and the healing power of humor: “Comedians can express what a collective group might not know how to, and it’s a relief to recognize these things, and still laugh at the end of it.”

Danai Gurira

Playwright-actress
The highlight of Gurira’s year? “That 10 astounding women of African descent were on two stages in New York City at the same time, playing complex, flawed, interesting women,” says the Zimbabwean-American writer of “Eclipsed” and “Familiar.” Gurira, who stars on AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” is developing a pilot for HBO, about which she’ll only tease, “All my works are about decimating the concept of the ‘other’ — the idea that there are those who matter and those who don’t.” Ambassador for the One campaign, co-founder of Almasi Arts and creator of LOGpledge.org, Gurira is passionate about the global plight of women and girls: “I’m always looking to give voice to the voiceless.”

Mariska Hargitay

Actress-producer-director-activist
“I had a year I was proud of on ‘(Law & Order:) SVU,’ not only as an actor, but as a producer and a director of two episodes,” says the Emmy-winning star, who has portrayed detective Olivia Benson for 17 seasons. “Between the two of us, we draw from a pool of strength, fierceness, protectiveness, a search for justice, balance, compassion, femininity, vulnerability, and so much more. And somehow, insofar as it’s possible for characters to teach actors and actors to teach characters, she has taught me much about lion-heartedness, and I have given her some valuable lessons in vulnerability,” says Hargitay, whose Joyful Heart Foundation advocates for victims of sexual and domestic violence. She’s also producing a doc on the backlog of untested rape kits.

Ellen Burstyn, Neve Campbell, Elizabeth Marvel, Molly Parker, Cicely Tyson, Robin Wright

The women of “House of Cards”
When it debuted on Netflix in 2013, “House of Cards” became an instant “must binge.” However, this season’s “must-binge” status continues largely due to the women in the show, female powerhouses led by Wright’s Claire Underwood, whose Shakespearean trajectory has changed the course of what could have been another testosterone-heavy political drama. Marvel as U.S. Solicitor General Heather Dunbar is also having an outstanding season. Parker hopes young women can watch and know that “They don’t have to be nice or pretty or good, they just need to be complicated humans.” “The characters express the shadow of the American psyche,” says Burstyn, who plays Elizabeth Hale, Claire’s mother. She joins another iconic actress this season, Cicely Tyson as Doris Johnson, a veteran congresswoman. Tyson says her character conveys the sentiment that women “can’t let the ‘m-e-n’ that follows the ‘w-o’ stop us.”As for the appeal of the show? New cast member Campbell says, “We witness characters commit true acts of evil and yet, because we are also witness to aspects of their humanity, we catch ourselves rooting for them in the end.”

Cait Hoyt

Literary agent, books dept., CAA
Hoyt’s main focus is to create publishing opportunties for CAA’s clients. Her passion and knack for knowing what’s going to work has resulted in the unit’s best year — from Caitlyn Jenner’s memoir to Megyn Kelly’s upcoming book debut, to Anna Kendrick’s tome of humorous essays. “If they have strong voices, real stories or a really important message to share — that’s what we look for,” says Hoyt. CAA was also first in recruiting its digital stars for book stalls. Tyler Oakley, Mamrie Hart and Michelle Phan are some of the YouTubers who’ve spent weeks on the bestseller list, thanks to Hoyt. “Having a book allows fans to spend a lot more time with them,” Hoyt says. “There’s a lot of takeaways in these books — I’m really proud of that.”

Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford

Hosts, “Today”
Eight years after the launch of their fourth hour on NBC’s “Today,” hosts Kotb and Gifford are still going strong. With their signature proclivity for day drinking and no-holds-barred comedic one-liners — there’s nothing off-limits during their frank on-air exchanges — Kotb and Gifford have an ease and chemistry between them you don’t see often on TV. “I think in terms of real spontaneity there’s nothing canned on our show — and by design,” says Kotb. “People are longing for authenticity,” says Gifford of their continued success in the mornings. “They may not like you but at least you have given them the real you.”

Jennifer Joel

Partner & board member, ICM Partners
For Joel, her work is all about the passion she has for her writers. The Harvard grad — who studied literature because of the opportunity to read great books — reps Shonda Rhimes, whose “Year of Yes” hit the New York Times bestseller list, along with authors such as Clinton Romesha (“Red Platoon”) and Jill Kargman, creator and star of Bravo’s “Odd Mom Out,” whose “Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave” debuts this year. “Agents in creative content will tell you it’s gut instinct,” she says regarding how she decides whom to rep. “I admired Shonda, so that was a very easy decision to make. I choose people who interest me, who have the same storytelling passion as me. I let my instinct guide me.”

Erin Junkin

Partner, WME Scripted Television
The only scripted TV agent in WME’s New York office, Junkin enables her clients to move easily from TV to film to theater or other platforms. Her client Sarah Treem moved from theater into TV with Showtime’s “The Affair,” while Lodge Kerrigan is shifting from film to TV in Starz’s “The Girlfriend Experience.” Julie Klausner has segued from standup to creating, writing and starring in Hulu series “Difficult People.” “For me, I look at each client as an individual brand — no two clients are alike, and I look at someone like Sarah or Julie and think about the best places to be seen — whether that’s TV, writing a play or a book.” Junkin gives credit as well to her WME colleagues. “I’ve worked with some of my clients for my entire career and their entire career, and it’s really rewarding to see someone grow.”

Lisa Kron

Playwright-performer
A writer and performer previously nominated for a Tony Award in 2006 for lead actress for her autobiographical “Well,” Kron wrote the book and lyrics (Jeanine Tesori composed the score) for Broadway’s current smash “Fun Home,” based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir of growing up lesbian with a closeted father. While not the most obvious source material for a Broadway musical, Kron’s sensitive and smart work helped the show go on to win five Tonys, including two for Kron. As she said in her acceptance speech for book of a musical, “We all live in this big house and we’ve all been sitting in the same one or two main rooms and thinking that this was the whole house. And this season, some lights got turned on in some other rooms. And we’re all like, ‘Oh my God, this house is so much bigger than I thought.’ ”

Padma Lakshmi

Exec Producer/Host, “Top Chef,” Author
As exec producer of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” Padma Lakshmi basked in the show’s reality competition nom for the second year in 2015. “We’ve been nominated every single year since I’ve been on the show,” she notes. Besides “Top Chef,” Padma Lakshmi recently released her second book, “Love, Loss and What We Ate,” which has received a tremendous response. “I’m first and foremost a writer, but I didn’t have the confidence to write beyond food and fashion,” she says of the project that took four years. The book also discusses her endometriosis. She set up the Endometriosis Foundation of America in 2009. “The womb is where every human being comes from,” she points out. 

Lori Landew

Partner, entertainment department, Fox Rothschild
Landew’s expertise is in drafting complex agreements involving production, distribution, licensing, sponsorship, merchandising, management, talent and development. From companies such as QVC and BMG to individuals like model Ashley Graham and chef-restaurateur Marc Murphy, Landew says she is “here when someone has an idea and they want to understand the legal and business aspects of a project.” She’s quickly become an expert on drone law, an area of expansion “particularly as filmmakers and others see what drones can do.” Being in practice for 25 years allows a certain confidence. “The nice thing about being a certain age is knowing what works, what doesn’t and having the experience.”

Judith Light

Actress
The multiple Emmy and Tony Award winner is at work on the third season of the groundbreaking Amazon Prime series “Transparent,” in which she plays the ex-wife of Jeffrey Tambor’s transgender Maura. “It is a powerful, exciting show that fuels the conversation generated by the transgender community — about gender, sexuality and perhaps most importantly, authenticity,” says Light, who received a Golden Globe nom for the role. So it’s no surprise she names the show’s creator Jill Soloway among the women who have inspired her, along with everyone from Harriet Tubman and Marie Curie to Eleanor Roosevelt to her mother and grandmothers.

Arlene Manos

President, national advertising sales, AMC Networks
As the woman who helped transition AMC, WeTV, SundanceTV and IFC from commercial-free to ad-supported networks, Manos played a large part in establishing AMC Networks’ portfolio as one of the most lucrative and sought-after brands in the biz. “It wasn’t like the world was clamoring for more cable networks,” she notes dryly. “They’re very desirable now. People stuck with us and it really paid off for them very nicely with where all the networks are now.” AMC Networks’ national networks revenues increased 22.4% to $2.135 billion in 2015, while full-year growth in revenues was led by a 23.6% increase in advertising revenues to $945 million. Manos says she finds fulfillment in “identifying people’s strengths” and building a team. “You can’t do everything yourself, you have to find people that balance one another and balance you too, and that are willing to tell you the truth.”

Julianna Margulies

Actress-producer
The three-time Emmy winner is about to bid adieu to “The Good Wife,” now in its final season on CBS. But she’s still bringing powerful women to the screen. Marguilies is producing “War Torn,” based on the 2002 book “War Torn: Stories of War from the Women Reporters Who Covered Vietnam.” She says it’s “about women journalists in Vietnam who reported on the front lines of the war” and she’s “producing it with other inspiring, powerful women — Nina Tassler, Stacy Mandelberg and Pamela Oas Williams.” As for the powerful women who’ve inspired her, she says there are “so many to choose from, but here’s a sample: Mary Pickford, Lucille Ball, Gloria Steinem, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.”

Andrea Martin

Actress-Author-Singer
Martin has had a busy year, from Broadway to film, TV and music. “I dial it down for film and TV and when I’m on stage all hell breaks loose,” she says. After winning a Tony for “Pippin,” Martin was in “Noises Off,” returned to “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” as sexy Aunt Voula, co-starred in Hulu’s “Difficult People” and recorded kiddie CD “Pop Goes the Easel,” which will be released this month at the Museum of Modern Art with proceeds going to charity. The paperback version of her “Lady Parts” is out now. She’s also working on Tina Fey’s untitled Tracey Wigfield pilot for NBC/Universal. “I’ve always worked, but I’m a late bloomer,” says the actress. “There are not many ethnic Armenian 69-year-olds, and I’m it.” She adds that she can do an “all-purpose Mediterranean accent: Ukrainian, Greek, Armenian.” Next up, Martin will get to meet her granddaughter who was born while she was busy with “Noises Off.”

Jane Meyer

Journalist
Mayer’s bestseller “Dark Money” chronicles how America’s billionaires have funneled cash into different organizations in American politics, essentially controlling them. The New Yorker staff writer, who has been covering politics since 1984, believes that although every election is interesting, none has been as compelling as this one. Although there may still be some gender barriers in her field, she points out that some of the best investigative journalists have been women, like Ida Tarbell. “The only limits are guts and accuracy, both of which women have in super-abundance. So my advice is go for it!” she says.

Judy McGrath

Founder-president, Astronauts Wanted
As one of the people who helped launch and make MTV Networks into a pop culture fixture, McGrath knows her way around content development. She left the iconic network in 2011, launching Astronauts Wanted: No Experience Necessary in 2013 with Sony Music, mining multimedia content and fresh ideas. “I think I have a relentless curiosity about the next generation of creators,” she says. “I am very focused on where things could be going.” Part of McGrath’s mass appeal is her enthusiasm for her clients — Kingsley, Tyler Oakley, Grace Helbig, Lilly Singh, Bernie Su, Mamrie Hart and Awkwafina (aka Nora Lum), among others. “It’s all about you and what have you done and what can we do to help you get there,” says McGrath.

Julie Menin

Commissioner, New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment
Only a month into her new assignment as head of the city agency covering film, TV, Broadway, music, advertising and digital content, Menin is already advancing fresh initiatives. She’s focused on supporting the upward trajectory of these economic drivers (filmed entertainment alone pumps $8.7 billion into Gotham’s economy), as well as programs intended to diversify the industry, bringing more women into media on all levels. A former corporate lawyer, founder of the nonprofit Wall Street Rising (advocating for the economic development of lower Manhattan after 9/11) and community board chair, Menin says, “For this job, one of the keys to success is someone who really knows city government and knows how to get things done.”

Cara Mertes

Director of JustFilms, Ford Foundation
After 25 years in the industry, Mertes has seen plenty of change, but one thing that has remained constant is “the chronic under-resourcing of artists and artists’ voices,” she says. As the director of JustFilms, Mertes seeks to support and fund storytellers in the social-justice arena, partnering with organizations like the Sundance Institute to use documentary filmmaking as a means of shedding light on inequality worldwide. JustFilms inked a two-year deal with the Cannes Film Market to boost social justice docu filmmaking. “I think nonfiction tells us about the world, but it also helps us imagine new worlds that we might want to live in,” she says.

Jaymee Messler

President, the Players’ Tribune
Last year, Messler and former New York Yankees great Derek Jeter launched the Players’ Tribune, a sports-oriented digital platform driven by the contributions of professional athletes. She had spent most of her career in the male-dominated sports marketing and agenting fields. “I learned it was important to work incredibly hard, and be confident and vocal in my role,” she says. She’s incredibly proud of the content on TPT and hopes to one day move toward eliminating gender qualifiers and simply refer to female and male athletes as “athletes.” Until then she believes that media and brands can do a better job of investing more resources into women’s sports and increasing their visibility. “It’s so important to empower and support women — all women — in your industry, and help them advance,” she says.

Bette Midler

Singer-actress-producer
At 70 years old, the Divine Miss M is as iconic and relevant as ever. In 2015, the Golden Globe-, Emmy- and Grammy-winning Midler embarked on her globalwide “Divine Intervention Tour,” the 10th of her career, promoting the release of her 2014 studio album, “It’s the Girls!” A champion of liberal politics — her robust Twitter feed is teeming with anti-Trump barbs — she’s also passionately involved in philanthropic causes, Midler’s New York Restoration Project, a conservancy that she founded in 1995, continues to protect community gardens and green spaces in New York City. Midler also remains a staunch advocate of gun-reform laws. Showing no signs of slowing down, in early 2017, Midler will be tackling one of Broadway’s most iconic roles, Dolly Levi, in the much-anticipated “Hello Dolly” revival.

Courtney Monroe

CEO, National Geographic Global Networks
Monroe has made a world’s difference this past year, as the former HBO marketing exec was upped from CEO of National Geographic Channels U.S. to head the company’s global networks. “The learning curve is steep, but quite energizing … as I get to expand my thinking beyond our borders,” Monroe says of her new global responsibilities. She’s made it her mission to focus on quality vs. quantity, which means bringing on big-budget projects and A-list talent, including an outer space series with Darren Aronofsky and projects from Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, 2015’s “Breakthrough” and the upcoming “Red Planet.” “Although we haven’t historically been a port of call for A-list talent,” she says, “the response in the creative community to our new strategy has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Amy Nauiokas and Anne Carey

Founder-chair, Archer Gray; President, production, Archer Gray

Diversity is the No. 1 rule of portfolio management. The same imperative should apply to building a company and creating content, says Nauiokas. The Soho-based media finance, production and venture investment company has a diverse team, which takes a highly commercial approach to all its projects — whether with films such as “Diary of a Teenage Girl” and Mike Mills’ upcoming “20th Century Women,” Broadway productions like “Elephant Man” or start-ups. The team’s adherence to hard work, creativity and integrity has yielded impressive results, says Nauiokas, and has made Archer Gray a force to be reckoned with. “Independent doesn’t mean alone, it means independent-minded,” says Carey (indie stalwart and ex-Good Machine exec) of the firm’s on-point ethos.

Dao Nguyen

Publisher, BuzzFeed
In the two years following Nguyen’s 2012 appointment as BuzzFeed’s publisher, traffic — particularly unique monthly visitors — to the news and entertainment outlet has more than quintupled. For a woman who’s been coding since grade school, guiding a digital media company to success proved an achievable task, especially when thinking about digital platforms as the new newsstands. Nguyen’s media sensibility was honed in France, where she moved as the dot-com bubble was bursting. She joined the website of newspaper Le Monde and became the Internet’s subsidiary’s CEO. 

Kelli O’Hara

Actress
One of Broadway’s most beloved leading ladies, O’Hara won her first Tony Award last year, for her starring role as Anna in “The King and I,” after six nominations. So how did it feel? “It was pretty obvious how I felt about the Tony win as I tapped-danced off the stage,” O’Hara says. She’ll remain in “The King and I” through April 17, then onto the anniversary reunion concert of “The Light in the Piazza,” for which she earned her first Tony nod. She’ll also perform in a concert version of the opera “Dido and Aeneas.” As she says, “My voice is a little confused, but my heart is happy.”

Sarah Jessica Parker

Actress-producer
Apart from an acting career that has spanned more than three decades, Parker has racked up numerous producer credits. “I think the success I have achieved has been the sum total of enormous hard work,” she says. As a businesswoman, she has been inspired by women both “known and unknown that carved a space for themselves with little assurance of success.” Parker is working on the HBO series “Divorce,” which she executive produces and stars in. “I am proud of the stories we got to tell this season and to be back at HBO working with talented people,” says an excited Parker.

Sarah Paulson

Actress
From playing Cate Blanchett’s old flame in “Carol” to starring as prosecuting attorney Marcia Clark on FX’s limited series “American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson,” Paulson has had perhaps one of the most spectacular years of any actress working in Hollywood today. “I would say it might go down as one of my most proud moments as an actor,” says Paulson of her experience in the Clark role, for which she has received rave reviews. “But even more, it’s about the impact it had on me as a woman, playing this woman who was sort of forgotten about, unsung and who was held to medium or very low esteem. It was a great honor to sort of delve a little bit deeper there and shed a little bit of light on who this woman actually was.”

Krysten Ritter

Actress-producer
A master of both drama (“Breaking Bad”) and comedy (“Don’t Trust the B- in Apartment 23”), Ritter is the perfect choice to play damaged superheroine Jessica Jones in the namesake Netflix/Marvel hit. “I am inspired by passionate confident women who take up a lot of space and support other women,” she notes. Among them are co-star Carrie Anne Moss, director S.J. Clarkson and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, “for her integrity, for being a fearless writer, and for being a champion of Jessica Jones — flaws and imperfections and all.” Ritter is at work on season two along with “The Defenders” crossover miniseries and developing projects through her Silent Machine shingle.

Jane Rosenthal and Paula Weinstein

Executive chair, Tribeca Enterprises/producer; Exec VP, Tribeca Enterprises/producer
Rosenthal co-founded Tribeca Prods. with Robert De Niro in 1988 and hasn’t stopped since. “I have always hired and supported women. Tribeca is over 75% women,” Rosenthal says. Weinstein joined Tribeca Enterprises in 2013, overseeing the company’s content and programming of the Tribeca Film Festival, introducing the newest feature, Tribeca Talks, this year. Both women are distinguished producers, and committed to social causes. “It is the obligation to no longer be satisfied about the jobs we get, but to reach back and bring other women along with us,” says Weinstein.

Mona Scott Young

Founder, Monami Entertainment
The founder of talent management and production company Monami Entertainment, which is behind VH1’s successful “Love & Hip Hop” franchise and represents rapper Missy Elliott, Scott-Young recently expanded her business to include physical production for future series. One of the few black females to run an unscripted TV production company, the exec wants to keep expanding. Having served as an exec producer on “Love & Hip Hop’s” flagship show and its seven spinoffs — which she says are hits thanks to “incredible storytelling and the crazy relationship dynamics” — Scott-Young wants to spin the brand into Paris and London iterations. Plus she has projects in development in the dating, competition, gameshow and talkshow genres, in addition to scripted fare.

Molly Stern

Senior VP/publisher, Crown Publishers, Crown Archetype, Broadway Books, Three Rivers Press, Hogarth
“Book publishing has always been a place for women to rise, compete and achieve, at least in my generation,” says Stern, the guiding force from acquisition to publication behind these imprints and numerous bestsellers such as Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl,” Erik Larson’s “Dead Wake,” Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One” (announced as Steven Spielberg’s next pic) and performance artist Marina Abramovic, whose memoir will be published in 2016. While conventional wisdom assumes that books are endangered, in reality, says Stern, “it’s a steady robust business, and year-after-year there are serious engaged readers, who spend a lot of their dollars on good content.”

Bonita Stewart

VP, global partnerships, Google
As one of the highest-ranking women in Google’s New York operation — the company’s second-largest office outside its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters — Stewart feels she has a lot more to accomplish. Stewart is especially ready to guide her entertainment publisher clients, including CBS Interactive and ESPN, to expand their business with younger audiences. “I am most excited about connecting our entertainment partners with the new journey millennials are taking as it relates to their consumption and engagement with content,” Stewart says. “We are building the platform and strategic insight to aid content discovery, distribution and monetization.” She notes that Google’s marketing/advertising efforts delivered over $10 billion in revenue to its publisher clients worldwide in 2015.

Deborah Turness

President, NBC News
“I brought the team together, but the actual work was done by the spectacular teams at NBC News,” Turness says of the division’s upswing. Turness came in with ideas, but first she did a lot of listening: to her teams and viewers. “We had to remember how to work hard to get to the No. 1 position,” she says. “Today” is “a beautiful symphony of popular TV, journalism and consumerable exclusives. If you missed it, you missed out.” Meanwhile, under anchor Lester Holt, “NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt” is putting out “great journalism well told.” As for “Meet the Press,” she credits host Chuck Todd’s passion. Turness is always planning ahead. “We have to think about what the world will look like past the election.” 

Marni Walden

Executive VP/president of product innovation and new businesses, Verizon
Walden drives development and growth for Verizon’s emerging businesses, including Internet of Things, digital media, mobile video and telematics, guiding the company’s strategy development and planning group to innovate in the rapidly changing technological world. In 2015, under Walden’s leadership, Verizon acquired AOL for $4.4 billion; launched go90, a free mobile-first video entertainment app; introduced hum, a direct-to-consumer connected car solution; and ThingSpace, a platform that allows small, medium and large business worldwide to build and consume applications.

Carrie Mae Weems

Artist
After working “quietly” for 35 years, Weems was “suddenly” noticed. “I received the BET Honors Visual Artist Award with Aretha Franklin and the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal of Honor with Muhammed Ali — it doesn’t get much better than that,” says Weems. Known to employ photographs, text, fabric, audio, digital images and video in her work, her next “performance” — “Grace Notes: Reflections for Now” at the Spoleto Festival, opening in June — will see her adding singers, dancers, poets and musicians to the mix. “I’m loving every minute of the process,” says Weems, who’s passionate about inspiring social change. “Something new is in the air. I can feel it!”

Sara Weinstein

Co-founder, Weinstein Carnegie Philanthropic Group
“There’s incredible power in a charity, a celebrity and a brand,” says Weinstein, whose philanthropic company leverages all three. Case in point: days before the Academy Awards, she organized the Dinner for Equality co-hosted by Patricia Arquette, who used her 2015 Oscar acceptance speech to call attention to the wage equity gap, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. “Patricia and Mark invited business leaders, equal rights advocates and the entertainment community for a dialogue on pay equity issues for women in and outside of Hollywood,” says Weinstein, whose clients include Alicia Keys’ Keep a Child Alive and Sean Penn’s J/P HRO. “It’s a great example of how we were able to take a high-profile moment and create a full circle campaign around it.” This year, Revlon brought Weinstein on to be a key partner in shaping their new crowdfunding philanthropic campaign, the Love Is on Million Dollar Challenge.

Olivia Wilde

Actress-activist-producer-writer
Between producing “Meadowland,” starring in HBO’s “Vinyl,” and directing the music video for Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros’ “No Love Like Yours,” it’s been a fruitful year for Wilde, whose next venture is her own production company. “I’ve grown up in this industry and the benefit of that is the relationships I’ve formed,” says Wilde. “What’s great is folding in so many things I’ve been working on, like Conscious Commerce,” she adds of her philanthropic start-up. “I’ve now learned how to incorporate consciousness into a for-profit entity.” Notes Wilde, an advocate for Save the Children and Artists for Peace and Justice, “The single most positive thing about the notion of celebrity is your ability to focus people on worthy subjects.”

Shelley Zalis

CEO, the Female Quotient; founder, the Girls’ Lounge
Already successful in the tech business area — Zalis founded online research firm OTX, which she sold in 2010 to IPSOS — she noticed another gap in the market, this having to do with female voices in the tech industry. She founded the Girls’ Lounge three years ago and recently helped launch the Female Quotient, giving women in all walks of business a voice and a place to talk, collaborate and mentor a younger generation. “Gender equality is not a female issue, it’s an economic issue,” says Zalis, who’s got 4,500 participants in the Girls Lounge. “It’s important to set the conversation now.” She’s working with the Assn. of National Advertisers and others to increase the visibility of women as powerful professionals onscreen. “You can’t be what you can’t see,” says Zalis, who recently bowed Girls’ Lounges at SXSW and Davos. “One of the objectives is to harness the power of women in the workplace and connect tomorrow’s leaders with today’s.”

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Michele Anthony

Exec VP, Universal Music Group
Anthony is expanding UMG’s push into film and television. UMG was a force behind Oscar-winning doc “Amy,” and has films on the Beatles and John Coltrane on deck.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Samantha Bee

Host, “Full Frontal,” TBS
Bee delivers funny, sharp, insightful looks into the wacky zeitgeist of America. Critics and audiences are raving, and she looks like she may inherit the Jon Stewart mantle.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Frances Berwick

President, Lifestyle Networks, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment
Under Berwick, Bravo’s had success in scripted series with “Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce” and “Odd Mom Out.”

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Beyonce

Singer-songwriter
Queen Bey unleashed “Formation” at the Super Bowl Halftime show and her black power, feminist message wowed fans and irritated some in authority. Her U.S. tour starts soon. Beyonce Knowles TIDAL X: 1020 Amplified by HTC event, New York, America – 20 Oct 2015

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Nancy Dubuc

President and CEO, A+E Networks
Dubuc added Viceland to her portfolio in 2016. Lifetime’s scripted series “UnReal” is a hit and A+E Studio’s “Roots” reboot is ready to wow.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Tina Fey

Producer-writer-actress
Fey’s Netflix hit “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” readies for season two after earning Emmy noms, while Fey continues her indefatigable pace of acting and producing.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Sutton Foster

Actress
The “Younger” star is a hit for TV Land. She will be in the highly anticipated “Gilmore Girls” reboot on Netflix, in between tour dates and other live performances.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson

“Broad City” creators, stars
Their critically acclaimed series has captured even more fans this year, and even Hillary Clinton, who appeared in a season three episode.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Bonnie Hammer

Chairman, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group
The networks under her innovative eye continue to grow revenues, audiences and pop cultural cred, including E!’s series “I Am Cait.”

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Courtney Kemp

Exec producer, “Power”
“Power” is Starz’s biggest franchise, averaging 5.8 million multiplatform viewers across both seasons, with the season two premiere doubling in audience size vs. season one.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Jacki Kelley

COO, Bloomberg Media Group
Since joining Bloomberg Media Group in 2014, she helped grow the group’s revenue last year, including raising the organization’s licensing and distribution revenue by double digits.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Gayle King

Anchor, “CBS This Morning”
With Charlie Rose and Women’s Impact alum Norah O’Donnell, King continues to help CBS’ breakfastcast draw more viewers to its entertaining way of delivering serious news.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Lady Gaga

Singer-songwriter-actress
She proved her acting chops on “American Horror Story: Hotel” with a Golden Globes win, while nabbing an Oscar nom for song “Till It Happens to You.”

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Julia C. Levy

Senior VP/publisher, Crown Publishers, Crown Archetype, Broadway Books, Three Rivers Press, Hogarth
“Book publishing has always been a place for women to rise, compete and achieve, at least in my generation,” says Stern, the guiding force from acquisition to publication behind these imprints and numerous bestsellers such as Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl,” Erik Larson’s “Dead Wake,” Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One” (announced as Steven Spielberg’s next pic) and performance artist Marina Abramovic, whose memoir will be published in 2016. While conventional wisdom assumes that books are endangered, in reality, says Stern, “it’s a steady robust business, and year-after-year there are serious engaged readers, who spend a lot of their dollars on good content.”

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Audra McDonald

Actress
She won her sixth Tony in 2015, this time for playing Billie Holiday in “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” and is readying another Broadway star turn in “Shuffle Along.”

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Olivia Metzger

Television agent, CAA
Metzger has seen client Ainsley Earhardt join “Fox & Friends,” Don Lemon move into the 10 p.m. slot at CNN; and Craig Melvin take the reins as “Today’s” national correspondent. 

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Natalia Nataskin

Head of U.S. music operations, UTA
Over the past year, she has forged alliances with companies like Bandsintown, boosting the marketing of UTA’s artists’ shows and tours.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Sheila Nevins and Pamela Levine

CEO, HBO Documentaries; CMO, HBO
The premium cabler continues to bow hit series, while its docs remain the gold standard for nonfiction film.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Ester Newberg

Partner/co-head, publications, ICM Partners
The New York lit superstar was behind Prince’s memoir deal and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s upcoming collection.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Rhonda Price

Partner, Gersh
Price’s client Tom McCarthy’s “Spotlight” won the best pic Oscar, while others such as Taylor Schilling and Elizabeth Olsen continue to create memorable characters.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Tonia O’Connor

Chief commercial officer, Univision
In her newly created position, O’Connor will help Univision launch products and businesses under the new Enterprise Development unit. 

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Norah O’Donnell

Morning anchor, “CBS This Morning”
CBS is quietly earning kudos, and viewers, with its anchor team of O’Donnell, Variety Women’s Impact alum Gayle King and Charlie Rose.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Jo Ann Ross

President, network sales, CBS
The Eye continues to draw huge audiences, with new hits like “Supergirl,” and was bullish on its 2015 ad sales, while the NFL continues to draw upmarket advertisers to CBS.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Lucy Stille

Book to film literary agent, APA
Stille’s recent deals include “Away” by Chris Jones, optioned to NBCUniversal, and Ethan Michaeli’s “The Defender” optioned to Morgan Freeman’s company for a limited event series.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Taylor Swift

Singer-songwriter
Pop’s high priestess saw a blockbuster “1989” tour, supporting her top-selling album, grossing some $250 million worldwide and landing as the highest-grossing tour of 2015.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Geri Wang

President, sales, ABC
The Thursday night Shonda Rhimes block is a driving force, as is its Wednesday night dfamily comedy block, and ABC saw its ad revs rise in 2015 and a hot upfront market.

ALUMNAE UPDATE: Wendy Williams

Talk show host/author
Williams launched her “Sit Down Tour — Too Real for Stand Up” while keeping up her TV duties on “Wendy Williams Show,” launching a clothing line and “Wendy’s Style Squad” for BET.

Linda Yaccarino

Chairman, advertising sales and client partnerships, NBCUniversal
She merged the linear and digital ad sales teams, while sales for the Summer Olympics may top $1 billion.