In the Fall of 2019, Forbes released its list of100 Most Innovative Leaders, on which, only one woman was mentioned: Ross Stores CEO Barbara Rentler.
Naturally, women in business, tech, and beyond began protesting the list all over social media. Media coverage has long lacked proper representation, and oftentimes that stems from a lack of diversity within newsrooms themselves. In fact, aPew Report foundthatnewsroom employees are less diverse than U.S. workers overall.
While Forbes has sinceresponded to the listby saying that they employ technology to build the list rather than having people brainstorm and discuss... the fact remains that upon the list being drafted, not a single person questioned it before publishing. Forbes itself is run by a C-Suite dominated by men.
Clearly, there's work to be done. For now, we wanted to pause and appreciate the diversity that does exist. We tapped into our networks of women-oriented Facebook and WhatsApp groups to crowdsource female journalists.Within two hours, our list was more than half full with incredible reporters, writers, producers, authors, and more who are admired for their work.
Sometimes ensuring representation is as simple as just asking. The complete list is below, shared in alphabetical order by first name. We also built a Twitter list of them allhere, so you can easily subscribe and follow their work.
1.Akilah Johnson,Propublica
With over 15 years as a practicing journalist under her belt, Akilah finds herself atPropublicaafter working at publications such asThe LA Times,Sun Sentinel, andThe Boston Globe.From interviewing presidential candidates in New Hampshire and protestors in Ferguson, MO to moderating mayoral debates and forums, Akilah has been passionate about telling untold stories. She was also one of the core reporters working on Spotlight, a 7-part series shedding light on how Boston's reputation for racism plays out in the lives of people who live in the city.
2.Amanda Maarcotte,Salon
Amanda has written for several publications includingSlate,The Guardian, and nowSalonas a politics writer.Timemagazine describes her as "an outspoken voice of the left." An active voice on all topics feminism, she authored "It's a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments" in 2008. She's also the author of the books "Troll Nation" and "Get Opinionated."
3.Amy Goodman,Zulily
Amy began her career in women's magazines, working in various editor roles at magazines such asIn Style,All You, andSouthern Living.She's now a lifestyle correspondent covering everything from interviewing celebs to cleaning out closets and crafting home decor for outlets such as theToday Show,Live with Kelly & Ryan,Good Morning Americaand more. She's also the author of "WEAR THIS, TOSS THAT."
4.Amy Kaufman,LA Times
For over a decade, Amy has been covering film, celebrity news, and pop culture since 2009. Her beat includes reporting on industry events such as the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, and the Sundance Film Festival. She's been an active player in covering important topics in media, including breaking major investigative stories on sexual harassment in Hollywood. She's also the author of "Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America's Favorite Guilty Pleasure."
5.Ann Curry,NBC News
With 30 years of reporting under her belt, Ann's work has covered human suffering in war zones and natural disasters such as Syria, Darfur, Congo, Afghanistan, and more. While she has numerous noteworthy stories, her coverage of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti on Twitter is credited for helping humanitarians plan their arrival in such a speedy manner. She delivered a TEDx Talk in Portland on, "How to restore trust in journalism" in April 2018.
6.Anna Erelle, French Journalist
Anna Erelle is the pseudonym used by a French journalist who went undercover as a Jihadi. The name is to protect herself after pretending to be a 20-year-old girl who recently converted to Islam and showed willingness to marry an ISIS leader. Her book, "In The Skin of a Jihadist," exposes the world to how ISIS uses social media and technology to recruit disaffected youth.
7.April Ryan,CNN
Since the Clinton era, April has been a White House Correspondent with a unique vantage point as the only black female reporter covering urban issues from the White House. She can be heard almost daily onOutfront with Erin Burnett,CNN Tonight with Don Lemon,The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and more. She authored three books: "The Presidency in Black and White," "AT Mama's Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White," and "Under Fire: Reporting From The Front Lines of The Trump White House."
8.Asma Khalid,NPR
Asma got her start in journalism in Indiana before moving to Boston where she's reported on a range of stories at NPR from the 2016 presidential campaign to the Boston Marathon Bombings to the trial of James "Whitey" Bulger. She helped launch NPR's station WBUR where she reported on business, tech, and the future of work. She's now on NPR's political team as a correspondent covering the 2020 presidential election and as a co-host of their political podcast.
9.Aura Bogado,Reveal
As an investigative immigration reporter, Aura covers heart-wrenching stories that serve as a reminder to pay attention and ask critical questions. She's been actively covering the U.S. immigration crisis from the secret opening of shelters to the detaining of immigrant children, including first-hand accounts such as her two-part series called "When they took my son."Her work has appeared inThe Guardian,The American Prospect, andMother Jones.
10.Avery Trufelman,99piorg
Avery is a producer who makes audio stories about design and has given talks all over the world about podcasting, design, and storytelling. In September 2018, she made a 6-part series about clothing and fashion called "Articles of Interest," which was later declared one of the best podcasts of 2018 byThe New Yorker. She currently makes radio stories about design and architecture for the podcast99% Invisible.
11.Barbara Demick,LA Times
In 2001, Barabara moved to Seoul forThe Los Angeles Timeswhere she has been interviewing North Koreans about their lives ever since. Her human rights reporting has won awards and led to her book, "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea." She was previously atThe Philadelphia Inquireras a foreign correspondent in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. She previously authored, "Logavina Street," a book about her daily life while living in Bosnia during the war.
12.Benet Wilson,Aviation Queen
As an ONA Board member, those who know Benet know her for how much she gives to uplift other journalists of color. As a writer, she's known as the Aviation Queen for her work as an Air Travel Expert forAbout.comand Senior Business Editor forAirport Businessmagazine. Her range of clients includeUSA Today'sToday in the Sky blog,Airport Worldmagazine, andNewsCred.
13.Bethany McLean,Vanity Fair
Known for her writing on the Enron scandal and the 2008 financial crisis, Bethany is a contributing editor forVanity Fair. With a former career as an investment banking analyst for Goldman Sachs, Bethany came into the media world with knowledge that helped her navigate her beat. She co-authored two books: "The Smartest Guys in the Room," which detailed the corrupt business practices of Enron officials, and "All the Devils are Here," on the 2008 financial crisis.
14.Carole Cadwalladr,The Guardian
Carole is best known for her coverage of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal, which almost won her this year's Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Since 2016, her beat has focused on what she calls "the right-wing fake news ecosystem," covering Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and in Brexit. Earlier this year, she gave a TED talk, titled "Facebook's role in Brexit—and the threat to democracy," directly calling out the "God's of Silicon Valley" (some of whom were in the room at the time), which was met with rambunctious applause from the audience.
15.Carole Simpson,ABC News
Carole became the first woman of color to moderate a presidential debate in 1992 and that same year won the Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. She's also the first African-American woman to anchor a news broadcast (atNBC) and first African-American to solo-anchor a network evening newscast (weekend edition ofWorld News Tonight). She leftABC Newsin 2006 and in 2010 wrote her autobiography "News Lady."
(In full disclosure, Carole also edited my broadcast scripts while I was a student at Emerson College, where Carole taught from 2006 to 2019).
16.Celeste LeCompte,ProPublica
An award-winning journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit, Celeste has worked on product development, content strategy, and editorial management for numerous media companies, nonprofits, and corporate clients. While she's now the VP of biz dev atProPublica, she previously worked as a journalist covering technology, innovation, and environmental issues. Her stories have taken her from rural farms in Illinois to factory floors in China, with her work appearing in a number of publications such asBloomberg Businessweek,Smithsonian,Neiman Reports, and more.
17.Christiane Amanpour,CNN & PBS
No such list can be complete without Christiane Amanpour. Christiane's career began at CNN in 1983 with her first major assignment later becoming the coverage of the Iran-Iraq war, ultimately leading her to transfer to Eastern Europe in 1986 to report on the fall of European communism. She continued to report on critical international issues such as the Bosnian war to becoming the first international correspondent to interview major political figures such as British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. She is now the Chief International Anchor forCNNand hosts her own nightly programAmanpouras well asAmanpour & CompanyonPBS.
18.Christina Farr,CNBC
Christina is a technology and health reporter who, prior toCNBC, has worked as a senior writer forFast Companyand an Apple reporter atReuter News. She's covered topics across digital and print, covering the intersection of health and tech while exploring how policy changes have opened up both opportunities and risks for Silicon Valley. She's contributed pieces to various publications such asMashable,USA Today, andThe Telegraph.
19.Christina Pascucci,KTLA
Christina's work has taken her across the world from the Dalai Lama's palace in India to the president of Palau's office. Her investigative work has exposed human-rights violations, sex-trafficking, and environmental issues. Outside of her work withKTLA,Christina serves as the Director of Communications for the Children of War Foundation, and is an ambassador to 88 Bikes, a non-profit focusing on ending child sex-trafficking worldwide.
20.Dahlia Lithwick,Newsweek & Slate
Once a regular guest onThe AI Franken Showand guest columnist forThe New York TimesOp-Ed page, Dahlia writes primarily about law and politics in the United States. She's currently a contributing editor atNewsweekand senior editor atSlate. Some of her more well-known work includes her Supreme Court dispatches, jurisprudence, and coverage of the Microsoft trial. Her published work has appeared inThe Washington Post,The Ottawa Citizen, andThe New Republic.
21.Darsha Philips,NBC
With more than 10 years of experience reporting, producing, and managing live news segments for television and digital platforms, Darsha prides herself in consistently taking complex assignments and meeting tight deadlines. Aware of the lacking representation in journalism as a Sri Lankan herself, Darsha has also taken on mentoring roles through speaking engagements and volunteering at underprivileged schools. She was a broadcast reporter forKABC-TVbefore her current role atNBC News.
22.Davey Alba,The New York Times
Davey is a technology reporter forThe New York Timescovering the disinformation beat. She previously covered topics in tech, such as artificial intelligence and tech's effects on people and communities, and publications such asBuzzFeed NewsandWired. She recently won a Livingston Award for her international reporting on how Duerte used Facebook to fuel the Philippine drug war.
23.Diane Sawyer,ABC News
Diane was the first female correspondent for60 Minutes,beginning her career at local news stations and the White House press house at a time when very few female journalists were there. She's been the anchor forABC World Newsand co-anchor of the morning news programGood Morning America.She's frequented the Forbes list of the world's most powerful women since 2004.
24.Deeyah Khan,Fuuse
Deeyah is the woman response for the powerful documentary "White Right Meeting the Enemy," where she sat down with a White Supremacist to confront him about his beliefs, even reading aloud some of the death threats she had received as a Muslim woman of color. The craziest twist of the documentary? One of the White Supremacist she interviewed went through an emotional change, and left his Neo-Nazi/White Supremacist communities.
25.Dolly Li,AJ+
Dolly is an investigative cultural journalist who won a regionalEmmyfor her documentary about San Francisco's Chinatown, a series examining Chinese-American communities. After three years inAl Jazeera's digital channel as a creative and video producer, she beganGoldthread, a digital publication from theSouth China Morning Postabout culture in Greater China and beyond. Her stories have included everything from the underground reggae scene in Shanghai to the original b-boy dance crew in Beijing to China's obsession with 666.
26.Elaine Welteroth,Author
In 2012, Elaine became the first African American to ever become the beauty and health director atConde Nastand in 2017 became the youngest every appointed editor-in-chief atTeen Vogue. She's previously held editor roles at publications such asGlamour, andEbony. She's now a judge on the newProject Runwayand has written for the hit showGrown-ish. She also wrote the book "More Than Enough."
27.Elise Hu,NPR
Elise isNPR's "future" correspondent where she works on "Future You," a monthly video series exploring how today's emerging science and technology could change what it means to be a human by the year 2050. She was previously the founding bureau chief and international correspondent for NPR's Seoul office, where she was based for three years and responsible for covering the Koreas and Japan.
28.Ellen Nakashima,The Washington Post
Ellen has been atThe Washington Postsince 1995, working now as a national security reporter and covering topics relating to cybersecurity, surveillance, counterterrorism, and intelligence. Ellen and her team won the Pulitzer Prize in 2014 for reporting on the hidden scope of government surveillance and its policy implications. She has also probed Russia's efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election and has served as a Southeast Asia correspondent.
29.Erika A. Aguilar,KQED News
Reporting for public media for more than ten years, Erika has covered law enforcement, breaking news in LA, and Orange County issues forKPCCpublic radio. She's now editor ofThe Bay, a local news and storytelling podcast for KQED after a stint in their news department. She also previously wrote stories about the environment forKUTpublic radio in Austin.
30.Errin Haines,The 19th*
As editor-at-large atthe 19th*,Errin's work covers political news related to women-centric stories. Previously working as theAssociatedPress's national writer on race and ethnicity, Errin focused on the intersection of race, politics, and culture — including civil and voting rights, the black electorate, and the emerging modern protest movement. She has also written forThe Washington Post,The Orlando Sentinel, andThe Los Angeles Times.
31.Farnaz Fassihi,The New York Times
After 14 years covering wars and uprisings in the middle east, Farnaz focused her writing on diplomacy and the United Nations. She's an Iranian-American journalist who has been recognized for her "distinguished contribution" to America's society. She was a senior writer forThe Wall Street Journalbefore joiningThe New York Times, and authored the book "Waiting for an Ordinary Day," a memoir of her four years covering the Iraq War.
32.Gwen Ifill,PBS
In 1999, Gwen became the first woman of African descent to host a nationally televised U.S. public affair program withWashington Week in Review. She moderated the vice presidential debates in 2004 and 2008 and authored the book "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama." She is currently the moderator and managing editor ofWashington Weekand the co-anchor and co-managing editor ofPBS NewsHour.
33.Hannah Allam,NPR
After spending a decade overseas as bureau chief in Baghdad during the Iraq war and in Cairo during the Arab Spring rebellions, Hannah moved to Washington to cover foreign policy. In 2015, she began a year-long series documenting hostility toward Islam in America, which earned her three national religion reporting awards. She covered U.S. Muslim issues atBuzzFeed Newsbefore becominga national security correspondent atNPRfocusing on homegrown extremism.
34.Hind Hassan,Vice
Hind is a news reporter with a focus on international news and the Middle East. Her work began as a news producer atAl Jazeerabefore taking on a variety of roles atSky News, where she produced international news reports and was heavily involved in the coverage of the Arab Spring. She's now onVice News Tonightas anHBOcorrespondent.
Hu is a Chinese journalist who is the founder and editor-in-chief ofCaixin Media,a Beijing-based media group providing financial and business news. She was formerly the international editor ofChina Business Timesand founder ofCaijing, a business and finance magazine. She's considered one of the most respected reporters in such a media-restrained country, leading to her being listed as the 87th most powerful woman in the world byForbesand in the top 100 most influential people byTime, both in 2011.
36.Jane Ferguson,PBS
With over a decade of experience living in the Middle East and reporting from the Arab world, Africa, and South Asia, Jane is a foreign-correspondent forPBS NewsHour. Her work focuses on conflict, diplomacy, and human stories with an emphasis on in-depth, magazine length-broadcasting. She's also a Pulitzer Center grantee and contributes toThe New Yorker.
37.Jane Mayer,New Yorker
Jane became the first woman atThe Wall Street Journalto be named White House correspondent. She's served as a war and foreign correspondent atThe Journal, where she reported on the bombing of the American barracks in Beirut, the Persian Gulf War, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. She remains a staff writer atThe New Yorkerand has co-authored two books: "Strange Justice" and "Landslide."
38.Jenna Wortham,New York Times Magazine
Jenna has been quoted as "one of those rare writers who is able to explain the shapeshifting culture of the younger and newer internet." Beginning her career at a variety of publications in San Francisco, she became a technology and culture reporter atWiredbefore joiningThe New York Times. She's now a staff writer for the magazine and host of the podcast, "Still Processing."
39.Jessi Hempel,Wired
As a senior writer forWired, Jessi covers business technology. She previously wrote cover stories on Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn atFortuneand stories on design and technology forBusinessWeek. Her prior work has dug deep on the structural problems that threatened to hinder Twitter's growth and emerging competition between Facebook and Google.
40.Jia Tolentino,The New Yorker
Jia is a staff writer atThe New Yorkerand the author of an essay collection "Trick Mirror." Her recent work explores youth vaping while her authored work explores the ongoing reckoning about sexual assault.She was formerly the deputy editor atJezebeland a contributing editor atThe Hairpin.Her work has appeared inTimes Magazine,The Fader,Time,Slate, among others.
41.Jodi Kantor,The New York Times
Jodi is a Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporter most-known for breaking the Weinstein story along with Megan Twohey (mentioned below).As the arts and leisure editor, she chronicled Barack and Michelle Obama's transformation into president and first lady over two presidential campaigns, ultimately authoring the book, "The Obamas." She and Megan more recently published "She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story that helped Ignite a Movement."
42.Josie Duffy Rice,The Appeal
Josie is a journalist and lawyer focused on prosecutors, prisons, and other criminal justice issues. She's currently the president ofThe Appeal, a news publication publishing original journalism about the criminal justice system. She is also the co-host of the podcastJustice in America. Her other work has been featured inThe New York Times,The New Yorker,The Atlantic, and more.
43.Joy Reid,MSNBC
Joy has had a long-standing career in broadcast journalism, now at MSNBC where she hostsAM Joy, a political weekend-morning talk show. At the forefront of cable election news coverage, she wrote a book called, "Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons, and the Racial Divide." She also wrote, "The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story."
44.Judy Woodruff,PBS
Working in broadcast journalism since 1976, Judy has covered every presidential election and convention since the win by 39th U.S. president Jimmy Carter. She's interviewed several heads of state, moderated U.S. presidential debates, and is now an anchor and managing editor ofPBS NewsHour.
45.Julie Snyder,This American Life
The co-creator and producer for podcasts such asSerial, Julie plays a huge role in helping reporters tell meaningful stories. Early on atThis American Life, she found that many valuable pitches were getting overlooked and implemented a better system for getting pitches reviewed. She also co-created and producedS-Town.
46.Kara Swisher,Recode
The most-mentioned name during our open call for contributions, Kara is a business journalist and co-founder ofRecode. Regarded as Silicon Valley's "premier journalist," Kara has written forThe Wall Street Journal,The New York Times, and more. She's the author of "aol.com: How Steve Case Beat Bill Gates" and "There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere." She intends to run for mayor of San Francisco in 2023.
47.Kat Chow,NPR
Currently on sabbatical to write a memoir digging into the questions of grief, race, and identity that triggered her mother's death when she was young, Kat is a reporter forNPRand a founding member of the Code Switch team. She's reported on what defines Native American identity, gentrification in New York City's Chinatown, and the aftermath of violent hate crimes.
48.Kate Adie,BBC News
Kate was chief news correspondent atBBC Newswhere she reported from war zones around the world. Her big break came when she famously reported live and unscripted on the London Iranian Embassy siege in 1908 while crouched behind a door among exploding smoke bombs and soldiers. She's the author of "The Kindness of Strangers," "Nobody's Child," and "Fighting on the Home Front."
49.Kate Clark,TechCrunch
Previously covering the venture capital ecosystem forPitchBook News, Kate is a reporter forTechCrunchwhere she covers diversity and inclusion, consumer technology, mobility, and more. She's known by some VCs for "calling out a lot of BS" in the valley. She's also the co-host of Equity.
50.Katie Couric,CNN
With an early career as an assignment editor forCNN, Katie has been a television host on all big three television networks in the U.S. She also hosted her own daytime talk show produced byDisney-ABCand recently served asYahoo's global news anchor. She wrote the book, "The Best Advice I Ever Got" and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2004. She currently has a daily newsletter, Wake-Up Call.
51.Kia Kokalitcheva,Axios
Often found at demo days or meeting tiny startups, Kia has been covering startups and VC forVentureBeat,Fortune, and nowAxios. She covers major tech companies such as Uber, Airbnb, and Twitter. She also writes features on the crypto space and other fintech topics like funding and diversity in finance.
52.Kirsten West Savali,Essence
Now a senior editor for news and politics atEssence, Kristen has been writing about the intersectionality of race, religion, gender, politics, and culture in articles forHuffington Post,Vibe Vixen,The Root, and more. She's held editor roles previously atYourBlackWorld.comandNewsone.com.
53.Kitty Eisele,Demented
Previously on NPR's morning news magazine,Morning Edition, Kitty formerly edited and producedNPR's flagship daily news program. She created the award-winning series on "The Changing Lives of Women" among others. She's since produced "Jim Wallis in ConversationatAudible, has been teaching journalism at Georgetown University for 20 years, and is currently the executive producer forDemented: When You Become Your Parents' Parent.
54.Laila Al-Arian,Al Jazeera
Laila is an Emmy-award winning broadcast journalist atAl Jazeerawhere she broadcasts their documentary seriesFault Lines. Her work has included producing the special on Palestine Papers, raising national attention onHomeland, and producing several documentaries such asThe Abortion WarandMade in Bangladesh.
55.Lauren Christensen,The New York Times
The youngest ever editor atThe New York TimesBook Review, Lauren both writes and edits. She's worked previously atCNNandVanity Fairbefore joining the books desk atThe New York Times.Her most recent piece was on how writers and thinkers remembered Toni Morrison.
56.Lauren Duca,Author
Beginning her career as a reporter forThe Huffington Post, Lauren gained attention while atTeen Vogue. There, she wrote an op-ed titled, "Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America" and maintained a column called "Thigh-High Politics." She released a book on young people and the future of American politics titled, "How to Start a Revolution."
57.Leigh Cuen,CoinDesk
While she jokes her own cryptocurrency holdings are worth less than a pair of leather boots, Leigh is a tech reporter covering blockchain technology for publications such asNewsweek Japan,International Business Times, andRacked. Her prior work has also been published byTeen Vogue,Al Jazeera English,The JerusalemPost,Mic, andSalon.
58.Lisa Ling,CNN
With a longstanding journalism career under her belt, Lisa has been a co-host ofABC'sdaytime showThe View, a field correspondent forThe Oprah Winfrey Show, an explorer forNationalGeographic, and more. She's reported from dozens of countries including stories about gang rape in the Congo, bride burning in India, and the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda. She most recently went on a breathtaking journey to the far corners of America in herCNNoriginal series, "This is Life." She's also the co-author of "Mother, Daughter, Sister, Bride" and "Somewhere Inside."
59.Lisa Stone,BlogHer
Beginning her career as a journalist forCNN, Lisa began developing new social media business models when she became the first internet journalist to be granted a Neiman Fellowship from Harvard. She co-foundedBlogHerin 2005 until it was acquired byShe Knows Media. She then went on to C-suite roles atEllevest, was an entrepreneur in residence at Trinity Ventures, and now sits on the advisory board for a number of startups.
60.Louisa Loveluck,The Washington Post
Known for her coverage on Syria, Louisa is a reporter forThe Washington Post'sBeirut bureau. She focuses on not only Syria but the wider Middle East. She was previously stationed in Cairo while a correspondent forThe Daily Telegraph.
61.Lux Alptraum,OneZero
Lux is a writer offering thoughtful criticisms to the sex-positivity movement with bylines appearing inThe New York Times,TheGuardian,Cosmo,and others. She has a weekly newsletter calledThe Lux Letterfor her commentary on sex, feminism, and pop culture. She also wrote the book "Faking It: The Lies Women Tell About Sex."
Maria is an award-winning journalist who has helped tell America's untold stories for over 25 years. She's amplified the voices of the Latinx community in the U.S. and is the founder ofFuturo Media Groupand host of the long-running weeklyNPRshow Latino USA. She is the author of two books including a motherhood memoir, "Raising Raul: Adventures Raising Myself and My Son."
63.Maureen Dowd,New York Times Opinion
Maureen began her journalism career in 1974 as an editorial assistant forThe Washington Star, where she later became a sports columnist, metropolitan writer, and feature writer. Her career continued through various roles atThe New York Times, where she's currently an op-ed columnist focused on American politics, pop culture, and international affairs. She's written three books: "On Washington," "Bushworld," and "Are Men Necessary?"
64.Megan Twohey,TheNew York Times
Megan is an investigative journalist focused on drawing attention to the treatment of women and children. She told the stories of the women who accused Donald J. Trump of sexual misconduct before his presidency, alongside Jodi Kantor (mentioned above), she broke the Weinstein story that led to the #MeToo movement.She and Jodi recently published "She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story that helped Ignite a Movement."
65.Melissa Lee,CNBC
Melissa is a reporter and anchor forCNBCwhere she's the host, alongside a roundtable of top traders, of "Fast Money," which brings actionable news that matters to investors. She's hosted a variety ofCNBCshows previously, and also hosted sixCNBCdocumentaries including "Made in China," "Coca-Cola," and "The $50M Con."
66.Michelle Goldberg,TheNew York Times
Previously a columnist forSlateand a frequent commentator on radio and television, Michelle has appeared inThe New Yorker,Newsweek, andThe Guardian, among others. She's now an op-ed columnist forThe New York Timesand has written three books: "Kingdom Coming," "The Means of Reproduction," and "The Goddess Pose."
67.Natalie Kitroeff,TheNew York Times
With an early career as an editorial assistant forNicholas Kristof, Natalie then reported on business education atBloomberg Businessweekand California's economy forThe Los Angeles Times. She's now an economy reporter atThe New York Times.
68.Natasha Bertrand,POLITICO
Natasha began her career as a politics reporter forBusiness Insiderbefore becoming a staff writer forThe Atlanticcovering national security and politics. She's nowPOLITCO's national security correspondent and contributes toNBS NewsandMSNBC.
69.Natasha Mascarenhas,TechCrunch
Natasha is a venture capital and tech reporter for TechCrunch and formerlyCrunchbase News, where she writes about underserved regions with blossoming tech scenes. She has a soft spot for early-stage startups looking to renovate boring, monopolized industries. She's previously been atThe San Francisco ChronicleandThe Boston Globe. She also has a daily newsletter.
70.Nikole Hannah-Jones,New York Times Magazine
Nikole is an award-winning investigative reporter covering racial injustice forThe New York Times Magazine. She's also the creator of the landmark 1619 Project, which commemorates the 400th year of slavery in what would become the U.S. by examining slavery's modern legacy. She has written extensively about school resegregation across the country and chronicled decades-long failure of the federal government to enforce the 1968 Fair Housing Act.
71.Neena Satija,The Washington Post
Neena is an investigative reporter forThe Washington Postand was previously such forThe Texas Tribune. While in Texas she was also a producer forReveal,a national radio show and podcast. Her stories have covered Houston's vulnerability to hurricanes and torrential rainfall. She has also investigated corruption in Border Patrol, the failures of Texas foster care, and the state's broken indigent defense system.
72.Patricia Wen,The Boston Globe
Patricia is the editor of the Spotlight Team,The Boston Globe'sinvestigative unit that includes six reporters. She took over as editor after working as a reporter on the team for more than two decades. Over the years, she's specialized in covering social service, legal, and medical issues. She's most recently known for serving as a Spotlight editor overseeing the seven-part series on race issues in Boston.
73.Peggy Noonan,The Wall Street Journal
Formerly a speechwriter and special assistant to President Ronald Reagan from 1984 to 1986, Peggy has since written five books which have all becomeNew York Timesbestsellers. She's now a weekly columnist forThe Wall Street Journaland a contributor toNBC NewsandABC News.
74.Priya Anand,Bloomberg
Priya is a reporter forBloomberg Businessafter a nearly 3-year journey atThe Informationwhere her beat was covering Amazon (the company). She previously covered tech and transportation atBuzzFeed News, where she broke stories on Uber's finances, self-driving car program, and cultural crisis. Before that, she covered cybersecurity in the finance industry forMarketWatch. Her work has appeared inThe Wall Street Journal,POLITICO,Bloomberg, andThe Houston Chronicle.
75.Rachel Maddow,MSNBC
Rachel is a political commentator who hosts a nightly television show forMSNBCcalledThe Rachel Maddow Showand serves as the cable network's special event co-anchor.She is the first openly lesbian anchor to host a major prime-time news program in the U.S. Her talk radio program, also calledThe Rachel Maddow Show, has also aired onAir America Radio.
76.Rega Jha,BuzzFeed India
Starting as a writer forBuzzFeedin 2013 before moving to Mumbai to launchBuzzFeed India, where she was editor-in-chief until June 2018, Rega dug into a number of topics for the South Asian experience. Her work included an episode on Indian beauty standards framed in the context of "Bollywood Beauty," where she managed to showcase the hypocrisy behind these beauty standards. She's remained an active voice for South Asian women.
77.Rosemary Donahue,Allure
Rosemary is the digital wellness editor atAllurewith a passion for writing about mental health, editing reported features and essays, and helping writers craft thoughtful pitches. She's previously worked as the news editor forBrit + Coand as an assistant editor atHelloGiggles.
78.Roxane Gay,Author
Roxane is a feminist, queer, and black award-winning journalist and author currently hosting theHear to Slaypodcast at Luminary. Her writing has appeared inBest American Mystery Stories,Best American Short Stories,Best Sex Writing, among others. She's a contributing opinion writer forThe New York Timesand author of the books "Ayiti, An Untamed State," Bad Feminist, and "Hunger." She's also the author of "World of Wakanda" for Marvel.
79.Robin Roberts,Good Morning America
Robin is an anchor forABC'sGood Morning America. She's previously been a sports anchor for local TV and radio stations before becoming a sportscaster forESPNfor 15 years. Her battle against myelodysplastic syndrome and breast cancer was chronicled on her show, later earning a Peabody award for the coverage.
80.Rukmini Callimachi,The New York Times
Rukmini has been a foreign correspondent for theTimessince 2014, covering Al Qaeda and ISIS. She's an ex-refugee and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, including in 2014 for her series of stories based on cache of internal Qaeda documents she discovered in Mali.
81.Sabrina Siddiqui,The Wall Street Journal
Sabrina was a political reporter forThe Guardianbefore joiningThe Wall Street Journalas a White House correspondent covering the 2020 election. She has previously written forThe Huffington PostandBloomberg News. She's also aCNNpolitical analyst and frequent commentator on cable TV and radio.
82.Sacha Pfeiffer,NPR
Sacha is a correspondent forNPR's investigations team and an occasional guest on some of their shows. She was previously on the Spotlight team atThe Boston Globe, where she played a huge role in exposing the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. She was also a senior reporter and host ofAll Thing ConsideredandRadio BostonatWBUR Boston.
83.Sara O'Brien,CNN
Sara is a writer atCNN Businesscovering tech and tech culture. She frequently writes about "unicorn" companies and their societal impact, as well as online cultural issues such as harassment and revenge p*rn. She's done deep dives on issues ranging from sexual assault by ride-hailing drivers to the rise of deep fakes.
84.Sarah Khan,Travel Journalist
Sarah is a travel journalist who has lived in five countries: Canada, Saudi Arabia, India, the U.S., and South Africa. Her bylines have appeared in publications such asThe New York Times,The Wall Street Journal,Conde Nast Traveler,Vogue, and more. She's won awards for features including, "A Muslim American's Homecoming," "Eating Bunny Chow in Durban," and "Once a Land of Princes and Palaces."
85.Sarah Koenig,This American Life
Most known for producing the award-winning podcastSerial, Sarah is a producer forThis American Lifetackling a number of investigative segments. She began her career as a reporter forThe East Hampton Starand then worked in Russia as a reporter forABC Newsand laterThe New York Times.
86.Scaachi Koul,BuzzFeed
Scaachi is a Canadian culture writer forBuzzFeed Canadaand the author of the book of essays, "One Day We'll All Be Dead and None Of This Will Matter." She was one of the reporters inBuzzFeed's Netflix documentary series,Follow This. Her journalism work has appeared inFlare,HuffPost Canada,The Thought Catalog,The Guardian,and others.
87.Seema Mody,CNBC
Seema is a global markets reporter forCNBC, focusing on the intersection of foreign policy and Wall Street. She hosts their digital show, "Futures Now," and a daily segment, "European Close." She first joined the network in 2011 as a reporter covering tech and the IPO market from NASDAQ. She previously was an anchor and reporter atCNBC-TV18in Mumbai, India where she covered the country's economic boom.
88.Seung Min Kim,The Washington Post
Seung is a White House correspondent forThe Washington Postand a political analyst forCNN. She kickstarted her journalism career as a reporter at a number of newspapers includingThe Des Moines Register,The St. Petersburg Times, andThe Star-Ledger. She was formerly atUSA TodayandPOLITICO, where she covered the Senate and immigration policy.
89.Shereen Marisol Meraji,NPR
Shereen reports on race forNPR'sCode Switch, where her stories center on real people affected by the issues. This work includes everything from a look at why a historically black college in West Virginia is 90% white to a profile of the Latina consumer group in America. She previously worked for the national business and economics radio program,Marketplace.
90.Shirley Leung,The Boston Globe
Shirley is known for her award-winning coverage of the 2008 financial crisis, which occurred while she was a business editor atThe Boston Globe. She's now there as a business columnist writing on everything from the intersection of business and politics to gender issues in the workplace. She's also aWGBHcontributor forBoston Public RadioandGreater Boston.
91.Sonali Kolhatkar,Rising Up
Sonali is the founder and host ofUprising with Sonali, a morning drive time program onKPFKandKPFA. She's also a weekly columnist atTruthdigand writes forteleSUR English. She's authored "Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence."
92.Sophia Jones,Fuller Project
Sophia is an award-winning journalist and editor focused on gender and global security. Through her reporting on women's role in peace and conflict, she explores how gender dynamics shape our world today. She leads a team of global reporters atThe Fuller Project, a journalism nonprofit. Her work has been seen inThe New York Times Magazine,Elle,POLITICO,The Christian Science Monitor, among many others.
93.Stacey Dooley,BBC
Sophia is a journalist and documentary filmmaker who has made social-issue-themed documentaries forBBC Threeon topics such as child labor and women in developing countries. She's presented on variousBBCshows includingStacey Dooley Investigates,Show Me What You're Made Of, andStacey Dooley in the USA. She also authored her book, "Stacey Dooley, On the Front Line with Women Who Fight Back."
94.Stephanie Ruhle,MSNBC
Stephanie spent 14 years in the finance industry before joiningBloombergfor a variety of roles including managing editor, news anchor, and editor-at-large. She was one of threeBloombergreporters who broke the story of the London Whale, identifying the trader behind the 2012 JPMorgan Chase trading loss. She's now anNBC Newscorrespondent and anchor ofMSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle.
95.Tanya Bustos,Inverse
Tanya began her career as a reporter forDow Jones, then producer forSirius XMwhere she produced countless national talk shows and live radio events. As of December 2019, she was a supervising producer and host atThe Wall Street Journal,where she was part of the two-person team that createdWSJ Podcasts, launching the entire network from the ground up. She is now a supervising producer and host forInversepodcasts.
96.Tanzina Vega,The Takeaway
Tanzina is the host ofThe Takeaway, where she reports and speaks on issues of race, media, and inequality in the U.S. and author of the forthcoming book "Uppity." She's contributed toCNN,CNNMoney,Reuters Television, among others. She was listed inHuffington Post's40 top Latinos in American media.
97.Taylor Lorenz,The New York Times
Taylor is an internet culture reporter forThe New York Timesand previously covered these topics atThe Atlantic. She writes about the ways technology helps people communicate and connect, which turn into stories about social media, influencers, memes, YouTubers, and communities and norms that exist on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and other emerging platforms.
98.Terry Gross,NPR
Terry has been the host ofFresh Airsince 1975, back when it was only broadcasted in Philadelphia. She's known for asking tough questions and being an intelligent interviewer with a roster of guests thatThe Chicago Tribunedubbed as prized by any talk show. She began her career in 1973 at the public radio stationWBFO.She's won a number of awards and authored "All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists."
99.Tina Vasquez,Prism
Tina was an immigration reporter atRewire.News, a journalism nonprofit that specializes in reporting on reproductive rights and social justice issues. She formerly contributed toThe Guardian,Jezebel, andAl Jazeera. She's now an assistant research director atP.R.A.
100.Virginia Heffernan,Wired
Virginia is a journalist and cultural critic who worked as a staff writer atThe New York Timesbefore becoming a contributing editor atWiredand columnist atThe LA Times Opinion. She was previously a founding editor atTalkand a TV critic forSlate. She authored "Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art."
101.Yamiche Alcindor,PBS
Yamiche is currently a White House correspondent forPBS NewsHourand a political contributor toNBC NewsandMSNBC.She previously worked as a reporter forUSA TodayandThe New York Times, writing primarily about politics and social issues.
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