In honor of the end of Asian Heritage Month in May, here is a compilation of 8 Badass Female Asian Women everyone should know!
1) Tammy Duckworth
Tammy Duckworth is an American politician born in Bangkok, Thailand. She was a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, and currently serves as junior United States Senator for Illinois. She represented Illinois’s 8th district in the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party. Her father, who passed away in 2005, was a US Army veteran with his heritage reaching back to the Revolutionary War.
Duckworth graduated from the University of Hawaii with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She went on to receive a masters degree in international affairs from George Washington University and a PhD in Human Services at Capella University.
In 1990, Duckworth joined the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and eventually became a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1992. She chose one of the only combat jobs available to women, flying helicopters. After attending flight school, she transferred to the Army National Guard and joined the Illinois Army National Guard in 1996.
While working on a PhD in political science at Northern Illinois University in 2004, she was deployed to Iraq. When fighting, the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting was hit by a grenade fired by Iraqi rebels. Consequently, Duckworth lost her right leg near the hip and her left leg below the knee. Her right arm was also severely broken from the explosions and required major surgery. She was awarded with a Purple Heart, promoted to Major, and presented with an Air Medal and Army Commendation Medal for her efforts in the military. In 2014, she retired from her position as a lieutenant colonel from the Illinois Army National Guard.
Following her time in the military, Duckworth started a program to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and was elected to Illinois’s 8th district representative. Currently, she lives with her husband and two daughters, Abigail and Maile.
2) Vera Wang
Starting off this list with a bang! Vera Wang is a Chinese-American fashion designer from NYC. She was born and raised in New York City. Originally a figure skater, Vera shifted her sights to fashion after failing to qualify for the 1968 Olympics.
Upon graduating from college, she was hired by Vogue as an editor making her the youngest editor there. After working for Vogue for 17 years, she began working for Ralph Lauren where she stayed for 2 years.
Following her resignation from Ralph Lauren, Vera began building her career as an independent designer for bridal gowns. Her designs have been worn by numerous influential women, including Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Victoria Beckham, Mariah Carey, Avril Lavigne, Sophia Vergara, Hillary Duff, and more.
Wang was also able to use her fashion expertise and utilize her skills for a unique field: figure skating. Previous experience with the sport inspired her to design costumes for world renowned figure skaters such as Michelle Kwan, Evan Lysacek, and Nathan Chen. Her costumes were worn at multiple Olympics and she was inducted to the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2009 for her efforts.
In 2018, she was named 34th in the Forbes list of America’s Richest Self-Made women with earnings at around $630 million that year. At 70 years old, her label is thriving more than ever.
3) Indra Nooyi
Indra Nooyi, born in Madras (now Chennai), India, is an Indian American businesswoman and the former CEO of PepsiCo. Indra received a bachelor’s degree in physics, chemistry, and mathematics from the University of Madras in 1974 and a Post Graduate Programme Diploma from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in 1976. She went on to attend the Yale School of Management where she earned a master’s degree in Public and Private Management in 1980.
Nooyi started her career in India by holding manager positions at Johnson & Johnson and Mettur Beardsell. While attending Yale School of Management, she completed a summer internship with Booz Allen Hamilton, and went on to join Boston Consulting Group as a strategy consultant. Nooyi also worked at Motorola as their Vice President and Director of Corporate Strategy and Planning.
In 1994, Indra joined PepsiCo and was eventually declared CEO in 2006. Her influence at Pepsi consisted of selling Tricon which consisted of companies like Pizza Hut, KFC, and TacoBell, buying Tropicana, merging with Quaker Oats Company and Gatorade, and more. These changes allowed PepsiCo’s annual net profit to rise from $2.7 billion to $6.5 billion.
Nooyi was named on Wall Street Journal’s list of 50 women to watch in 2007 and 2008, listed in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2007 and 2008, and named the 3rd most powerful woman by Forbes in 2008. In 2014, Nooyi was ranked 13th on Forbes list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women and in 2017, she was named to be the 2nd most powerful woman in Forbes list of The 19 Most Powerful Women in Business. In 2015, Nooyi was ranked the 2nd most powerful woman on the Fortune list. In 2018, she was named one of the “Best CEOs in the World by CEOWORLD magazine. In addition to these awards, Nooyi has received many more titles and recognitions.
4) Gemma Chan
Gemma Chan is a British Chinese actress born in London, England. She studied jurisprudence and law in Oxford University's Worcester College. After graduation, Chan was offered a training contract at the Slaughter and May law firm, but deferred the opportunity to pursue an acting career at the Drama Centre London.
Gemma made her theatre debut in the British premiere of Turandot. She has also acted in plays including The Sugar-Coated Bullets of Bourgeoisie, Yellow Face, and Our Ajax. Since then, she has appeared in television shows including reality series Project Catwalk, BBC’s Doctor Who, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, BBC One’s Sherlock, a supernatural drama Bedlam, BBC One’s crime drama Shetland, and AMC’s science-fiction drama Humans. As for movies, she has been casted in Shanghai, Exam, Submarine, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, The Double, London Fields, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and more.
Chan is probably best known for her roles as Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel and Astrid Leong-Teo in Crazy Rich Asians. Following her success in Crazy Rich Asians as a member of modern Hollywood’s first full Asian cast film, Gemma was featured as one of fifteen women chosen to appear on the cover of the 2019 issue of British Vogue.
5) Toni Ko
Toni Ko is a Korean-American businesswoman and founder of NYX Cosmetics. Originally born in Daegu, South Korea, she moved to the United States at the age of 13. Throughout her teenage years, she mostly worked for her parents, who were also heavily involved in the cosmetic industry. She initially attended Glendale Community College but eventually dropped out to devote all of her time to working for her parents.
In 1999, using $250,000 of startup money from her parents, Ko founded NYX Cosmetics. In just the first year, the company garnered $4 million dollars in revenue. 15 years later in 2014, L’Oreal bought NYX Cosmetics from Ko for a deal of $500 million.
After she sold her cosmetics company, Ko shifted her sights to other projects. In March of 2016, she started an affordable yet fashionable sunglasses company called Thomas James LA. This business became the eyewear sponsor of Coachella that same year. She also founded a firm called Butter Ventures specifically focused on investing in women-owned businesses. In 2019, she was listed as 75th on Forbes 2019 America’s Richest Self-Made Women list with a net worth of $270 million.
6) Chriselle Lim
Chriselle Lim, is a Korean-American fashion Stylist, lifestyle and beauty blogger, digital influencer, and the founder of The Chriselle Factor. She was born in Texas and raised in Texas and Seoul, Korea. Currently, she resides in Los Angeles, California with her husband and two daughters.
Following in her mother’s fashion background, Chriselle attended the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. After her graduation in 2008, she started her YouTube channel after appearing on Michelle Phan’s channel. Since then, she has done collaborations with major influencers such as MOlly Sims, Jenn Im, Rachel Zoe, Amy Phan, and Teni Panosian.
In 2011, Lim joined GENLUX Magazine where she worked as an editor in chief. In 2016, she was featured in an ad campaign for Keds and also appeared in a panel interviewing Hillary Clinton in Lifetime’s show The Conversation. Chriselle has been attending New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week for years.
The Chriselle Factor, was started in 2011 as a project documenting all of her jobs and projects. After garnering a large following on YouTube, her followers began requesting OOTD posts. Since then, The Chriselle Factor has evolved into a blog show outfits styles requested by her viewers. The project can now be defined as a fashion, beauty, and lifestyle network with a wide variety of content from brands to skincare routines to self love.
7) Jen Rubio
Jen Rubio is a Philippean-American businesswoman. She was born in the Philippines and moved to New Jersey at seven years old. Traveling frequently as a young child, Rubio lived in seven cities on three continents.
After attending Penn State University and majoring in supply-chain management, She was selected to join Johnson & Johnson with Penn State’s co-op program. After finding her love for business, Rubio dropped out of Penn State shortly before graduation in order to work at Neutrogena where she participated in another co-op.
In 2011, Rubio was recruited by Warby Parker and led their content and partnership work as its Head of Social Media. There, she met her future business partner Stephanie Korey. In 2013, she left Warby Parker to work in London for the brand AllSaints. In addition to work, Rubio was also a guest lecturer at NYU, Wharton School of UPenn, Northwestern University, and Harvard University.
Eventually, along with Stephanie Korey, Rubio co-founded the company Away, a travel and luggage company. By 2017, her company had raised $31 million, naming it one of the largest seed financed female founded startups. That same year, she was listed on the Inc. 30 under 30 list. In 2018, she received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of the Year Award and by 2019, Away had expanded its shipping to 40 countries. The business is now valued at $2 billion.
8) Michelle Yeoh
Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng is a Malaysian actress. Born in Ipoh, Malaysia, she originally pursued dance after beginning ballet at the mere age of 4. At the age of 15, she moved to the United Kingdom and enrolled in boarding school. She went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dance in London with a major in ballet. Eventually, her dance career was prematurely terminated due to a spinal injury. She ended up switching to other forms of art and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Arts and a minor in Drama.
Yeoh won the 1983 Miss Malaysia pageant at age 20 and won the Queen of the Pacific 1983 pageant title. She first began her film career in action movies such as Yes, Madam in 1985 and performed her own stunts. She went on to act in movies including Police Story 3: Supercop (1992), Holy Weapon (1993), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Reign of Assassins (2010), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016), Star Trek: Discovery (2017), and The Lady (2011). In 2018, she was also casted as Eleanor Young in Crazy Rich Asians (2018).
In 2001, Yeoh was awarded the Darjah Datuk Paduka Mahkota Perak (DPMP) with the title of Dato by the Sultan of Perak, Azlan Shah. In 2002, she was named as The Outstanding Young People of the World by the Junior Chamber International. In 2007, Yeoh was awarded with a Knight of the Legion of Honor by French President Jacques Chirac. She also received the Excellence in Asian Cinema award during the Asian Film Awards in March of 2013. She also holds the title of Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia and Knight Commander of the Order of the Perak State Crown.
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