Taraji P. Henson

Taraji P. Henson (1970 -     )

American actor in television and movies;

best known roles include Queenie in The Curious Case of

Benjamin Button (2008), Cookie Lyon in Empire (2015-2020),

mathematician Katherine Johnson in Hidden Figures (2016)

and Shug Avery in The Color Purple (2023);

nominated for an Oscar, a Tony, and many Emmies,

she has won one Golden Globe for her Empire role;

an outspoken advocate about ongoing pay disparities

between white and black actors in Hollywood.

Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson (1918 - 2020)

American mathematician;

her complex manual calculations of orbital mechanics

as a NASA employee were critical to the success

of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights;

with little recognition at the time, she was known as

a "human computer" for her tremendous mathematical capability;

after the book and movie Hidden Figures made her

accomplishments known, she received many long-overdue

honours, including a Presidential Medal of Freedom (2015),

Congressional Gold Medal (2019) and posthumous

induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame (2021).

Mary Jane Rathbun

Mary Jane Rathbun (1922 - 1999)

an American medical cannabis rights activist known as "Brownie Mary";

as a hospital volunteer in San Francisco during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s,

she baked and delivered her "magical" marijuana brownies to hundreds of

patients in order to ease their symptoms of pain and nausea;

despite being arrested 3 times over the years, she lobbied to make

medical cannabis legal in 1996, and also helped establish the first

medical cannabis dispensary in the USA.

Notable quotation --

"If the narcs think I'm gonna stop baking brownies for

my kids with AIDS, they can go fuck themselves."

Tessa Thompson

Tessa Thompson (1983 -     )

American actor of stage, television, and film;

known for her roles in Veronica Mars (2005–2006),

Men in Black: International (2019),

as Valkyrie in the Marvel Thor movies (2017 & 2022),

and in the sci-fi series Westworld (2016–2022).

Gloria Estefan

Gloria Estefan (1957 -     )

Cuban singer, songwriter, actor, and businesswoman;

lead singer of Miami Sound Machine

from 1975 until going solo in 1989;

hailed as the "Queen of Latin Pop;"

the 1985 hit Conga became her signature song;

a 1990 tour bus crash caused life-threatening injuries

to Gloria's spine from which she fully recovered

and returned to recording and touring;

currently re-recording her music catalogue with Brazilian rhythms;

recipient of 8 Grammy Awards and the 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

M.J. Bassett

M.J. Bassett (1968 -     )

British film and television writer, director, and producer

known for cult horror and dark fantasy films/series;

one of only a few openly transgender directors working in Hollywood;

her forthcoming movie is the digital streaming remake of Red Sonja.

Lorna Crozier

Lorna Crozier (1948 -     )

Canadian poet, author, and former chair of the

Writing Department at the University of Victoria;

one of Canada's pre-eminent poets, her writings often 

deal with themes of human relationships, the natural world,

language, memory, and perception;

this video is a good introduction to her life, interests, and poetry

for those who may want to know more.

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones (1954 -     )

American singer-songwriter and musician;

an artist dedicated to experimentation and change,

her style encompasses jazz, folk, and R&B

with a distinct pop sensibility;

winner of 2 Grammy Awards;

her memoir Last Chance Texaco was published in 2021.

Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth (1797 - 1883)

American abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights,

women's rights, and alcohol temperance;

born into slavery on a Dutch plantation in New York,

she was repeatedly beaten, raped, and sold to new masters;

she escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826;

in 1828, she went to court to recover her son and became the

first black woman to win such a case against a white man.

Her most famous speech, delivered extemporaneously in 1851,

became widely known during the Civil War by the title "Ain't I a Woman?"

But that later 1863 version changed Sojourner Truth’s northern

Dutch-accented English to the dialect of a “stereotypical southern slave”

to make it more palatable to white readers;

please see both versions of the speech at the

Sojourner Truth Project website here.

Jen Pawol

Jen Pawol (1976 -     )

American professional baseball umpire and former art teacher;

first woman to umpire a Major League Baseball game

on August 9, 2025 (on the field) and

on August 10, 2025 (behind the plate).

Rachel Brosnahan

Rachel Brosnahan (1990 -     )

American actor of stage, television and movies;

best known for portraying Midge Maisel,

an aspiring 1950s-era stand-up comedian, in the

streaming comedy series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–2023),

for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award and

two consecutive Golden Globe Awards;

currently starring as Lois Lane in the film Superman (2025).

Marie Tharp

Marie Tharp (1920 - 2006)

American geologist and oceanographic cartographer;

her 1952 discovery and mapping of the 10,000-mile-long

Mid-Atlantic Ridge proved that the sea floor was spreading and

caused a paradigm shift in earth science, vindicating

the then-controversial theories of plate tectonics and continental drift;

many scientists infamously dismissed her explanation as "girl talk."

Victoria Mboko

Victoria Mboko (2006 -     )

Canadian professional tennis player;

just won her first WTA Tour singles title at the 2025 Canadian Open;

currently ranked No. 1 WTA singles player in Canada

and No. 24 in the world.

Niki de Saint Phalle

[Blue Nana, 2000]

Niki de Saint Phalle (1930 - 2002)

French sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author/illustrator;

with no formal art training, she was a noted "outsider" artist

and a rare female monumental sculptor;

one of her most famous creations is the Tarot Garden in Tuscany,

a large sculpture garden of huge, tarot-themed works;

her other most famous creations are "Nanas," a series of

light-hearted, whimsical, colourful, large-scale sculptures

of animals, monsters, and female figures;

she is now acknowledged as "one of the most significant 

female and feminist artists of the 20th century,

and one of the few to receive recognition in the

male-dominated art world during her lifetime."

Woman With Sore Feet

Salma Hayek

Salma Hayek (1966 -     )

Mexican and American actor, director and producer

in both Mexican and American TV and films;

notable movies include Desperado (1995), 

Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), and two

movies in the Puss in Boots franchise (2011, 2022);

for her breakout performance in the biopic Frida (2002),

she became the first Mexican nominatee for an Academy Award for Best Actress;

her charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women

and discrimination against immigrants.

Jane Lynch

Jane Lynch (1960 -     )

American actor, comedian, and singer;

rose to prominence in such films and series as

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Glee (2009–2015),

and Only Murders in the Building (2021–2024);

also host of the game shows Hollywood Game Night (2013–2020)

and the American version of The Weakest Link (2020 onwards);

winner of a Golden Globe, 5 Primetime Emmys

and 2 Screen Actors Guild Awards;

an openly lesbian icon of the LGBTQ+ community.

Danai Gurira

Danai Gurira (1978 -     )

Zimbabwean-American actor, playwright, producer and activist;

dedicated to portraying and writing roles for strong black women;

recipient of an Obie Award and several Tony nominations for her plays;

her best known acting roles are Michonne in The Walking Dead and

General Okoye of Wakanda in the Marvel Cinematic Universe;

she is an advocate for women, the end of poverty, and HIV/AIDS awareness.

Dame Diana Rigg

Dame Diana Rigg (1938 - 2020)

English actor of stage and screen;

played innumerable iconic roles from

Emma Peel (The Avengers) in the 1960s

to Olenna Tyrell (Game of Thrones)

near the end of her life

Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace (1815 - 1852)

English mathematician and writer;

daughter of the poet Lord Byron and

reformer Anne Isabella Milbanke;

chiefly known for her work with Charles Babbage and his

proposed mechanical general-purpose computer which

anticipated the essential features of modern electronic computers;

she was the first to point out the possibility of encoding information

besides mere arithmetical figures for pure calculation.

Bette Midler

Bette Midler (1945 -     )

American actor, comedian, singer, and author;

multi-award winner for her long recording career

as a singer with many iconic hit songs;

multi-award winner for her acting career

in many comedic and dramatic films on stage,

television and movies;

long history of charity work and philanthropy

focused on community assistance.

Sun and Stars