Inspirational women

Condoleezza Rice

The first black woman to become United States Secretary of State, Rice overcame widespread racial discrimination to rise to one of the most powerful and influential positions in world politics.

She counts her childhood experiences of discrimination and violence - including seeing a classmate killed in a racist bomb attack on their Sunday School - as teaching her 'determination against adversity'.

A graduate in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame, Rice worked on European affairs as part of George Bush Senior's government and played a key role in the process of German reunification.

In 2001, she was appointed National Security Advisor before becoming Secretary of State in 2005.

- Who inspires you?

Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi has devoted her life to the non-violent struggle for democracy in Burma.

She spent much of her childhood attending English-speaking Catholic schools and studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford before gaining a Phd from the University of London.

In 1988 she returned to Burma to care for her ill mother and, prompted by a violent supression of demonstrations calling for democracy, founded the National League for Democracy later that year.

In 1990 her party won a landslide victory in the general election but she was denied power by the military junta and placed under house arrest, where she remained until 1995.

Upon her release, she was told she would be denied entry to Burma if she visited Britain to see her family. Her British husband, Michael Aris, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997. She never saw him again, and he died in 1999.

In 2000 she was again placed under house arrest and having been temporarily released in 2003, during which she survived an assassination attempt, was returned to custody where she remains to this day.

A winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, she continues to campaign for democratic elections.

'It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it' - Aung San Suu Kyi

- Who inspires you?

Benazir Bhutto

Born into the Bhutto political dynasty, she became the first female leader of a Muslim state when she was appointed Prime Minister of Pakistan aged just 35.

Educated at Harvard and Oxford, her father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was executed in 1977 after being overthrown in a military coup.

She subsequently spent some time under house arrest but emerged to lead the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), sweeping to election victory - the first open election in over a decade - in 1988.

Her tenure was dogged by allegations of corruption and she was dismissed in 1990 only to return triumphantly after being voted back into government three years later.

In 1996, she was again accused of corruption and her government dissolved. She entered self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia in 1998.

After reaching agreement with President Pervez Musharraf, she returned to Pakistan in October 2007 to contest the general election but, on December 27, she was assassinated during a political rally in Rawalpindi.

- Who inspires you?

Dame Judi Dench

Regarded as one of the greatest actresses of the post-war period, Dame Judi has enjoyed a glittering career.

A star of stage and screen, she has enjoyed regular stints with the Royal Shakespeare Company and starred in films such as Ladies in Lavender, Mrs Brown (for which she gained six Oscar nominations) and Mrs Henderson Presents.

An Academy Award, Golden Globe, Tony, three-time BAFTA, and six-time Laurence Olivier Award-winning actress, Dame Judi is a true icon of the modern age.

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Dame Helen Mirren

A darling of British cinema, television and stage, Dame Helen has remained at the top of her profession since making her first film, Herostratus, in 1967.

Caligula, The Long Good Friday and, more recently, Gosford Park and Calendar Girls are among her most memorable film appearances.

She also shot to prominence as a TV actress following her portrayal of detective Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect.

Unflinchingly outspoken and superbly versatile, Dame Helen has won an Oscar, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes and four Emmy Awards during her fine career.

- Who inspires you?

Reese Witherspoon

One of Hollywood's new generation of acting superstars, Witherspooon has been lauded for her ability to play diverse roles having burst onto the scene with Legally Blonde while, more recently, earning acclaim for her portrayal of June Carter Cash in Walk the Line.

She now owns her own production company, Type A Films, and is actively involved in charities supporting victims of domestic violence and breast cancer research.

An Academy Award winner, Witherspoon is reportedly one of Hollywood's highest paid actresses.

- Who inspires you?

JK Rowling

In 1995, having been rejected by 12 publishing houses, Rowling was offered a £1500 advance by Bloomsbury after presenting them with the manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Two years later an initial print run of 1000 copies was released. Those are now said to be worth between £16,000 and £25,000 each.

Rowling has since written six more books in the Harry Potter saga and, following worldwide acclaim and successful film adaptations of her work, she presides over a reported £545 million fortune, putting her among the top 150 richest people in Britain.

As well as her remarkable success and subsequent wealth, Rowling is credited by many with sparking an interest in reading among children at a time when television and computer games battle for supremacy.

- Who inspires you?

Zadie Smith

A former jazz singer and journalist, Smith emerged from a working class upbringing in the inner London Borough of Brent to become one of Britain's most highly-acclaimed young authors.

Her first novel, White Teeth was the subject of an intense bidding war among publishers long before it had even been completed and, when eventually released in 2000, was an instant bestseller.

Smith's second book, The Autograph Man, was similarly successful while her third offering, On Beauty, published in 2005, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction.

- Who inspires you?

Dame Kelly Holmes

A promising athlete as a girl, Holmes turned her back on athletics at the age of 18 to join the army, where she reached the rank of Seargent.

However, after seeing an athlete she had competed against and beaten running in the 1992 Olympics, Holmes decided to return to athletics.

She quickly established herself as one of Britain's leading women athletes, winning Commonwealth, European and World Championship medals.

However, what she craved most, an Olympic Gold Medal, continued to elude her and it appeared she may retire having never achieved her dream.

Her final stab at Olympic glory, at the Athens Games in 2004, proved to be a life-changing event as she won Gold for the 800m and 1500m, becoming only the third woman in history to claim the prestigious double.

Following her retirement, Holmes revealed how she had battled with depression and self harming in the lead-up to her Olympic victories while admitting that, in the immediate aftermath of her success, she would put on her medals every morning and cry.

Later named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, she was made a Dame in 2005.

- Who inspires you?

Nina Barough

Despite having never been directly affected by breast cancer, Nina Barough, a stylist and business woman, woke one morning in 1996 with an idea that would end up raising millions of pounds for breast cancer research.

Later that year, Barough and 11 other women power-walked the New York marathon in their bras, raising £25,000 for Breathrough, and the Walk the Walk charity was born.

What Barough was unaware of at the time, but found out eight months later, was that she was suffering from breast cancer.

However, undeterred and amid growing interest, she continued to build the Walk the Walk phenomenon, with the flagship Moonwalk event growing into a major annual event.

Today, Barough, who is cancer-free, regularly persuades 15,000 women to walk 26 miles through London in their bras and has helped raise in excess of £35 million for vital breast cancer research.

- Walk the Walk
- Who inspires you?

Rosie Stancer

In 1997, Rosie Stancer was one of 20 amateur enthusiasts selected to take part in the first all-women's expedition to the North Pole.

It proved to be a life-changing experience for Stancer, who has since become one of the most accomplished and highly-respected polar explorers of her generation.

Two years after her journey to the North Pole, she organised her own expedition to the South Pole. Without guides and with just one re-supply of provisions, her party completed the 700-mile route from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole in 61 days.

But Stancer's most testing challenge came in 2004 when she walked alone, without re-supply to the South Pole.

Hauling a sledge more than twice her body weight for 700 miles, she reached the Pole in 43 days and 23 hours, breaking the previous record by seven days. She even found time to collect important meteorological and physiological data along the way.

She was forced to abandon her attempt to become the first ever woman to conquer both Poles solo when severe weather conditions prevailed 84 days and 326 miles into her trek to the North Pole in 2007.

Described by one journalist as 'a cross between Tinkerbell and the Terminator', the married mother of two and director of the charity Special Olympics GB, also travels the world as a motivational speaker at after-dinner events and corporate seminars.

- Who inspires you?

Karen Brady

Still one of the few prominent female figures in the male-dominated world of professional football, Brady became the first managing director of a major football club when she assumed the position at Birmingham City in 1993, aged just 23.

She was was responsible for Birmingham City's flotation in 1997, becoming the youngest managing director of a UK plc in the process.

Now a married mother of two, Brady boasts the Business Woman of the Year title among her many achievements.

She was diagnosed with a cerebral aneurysm in 2006 and was admitted for emergency neurosurgery.

Approximately one month later, she was back at work and continues to combine her role at Birmingham City with non-executive director positions at Channel 4 and Mothercare.

- Who inspires you?