Okay, so I was scrolling through TikTok last night – you know, that 2 AM vortex where you end up watching panda sneezing compilations – when suddenly I stumbled on a video about Josephine Cochrane. Never heard of her? Girl, same. Turns out she invented the dishwasher in 1886 because she was tired of servants chipping her fine china. 💀 My jaw literally dropped. Why didn’t they teach us about this chaotic queen in history class?!
This got me spiraling (in the best way). I spent the next three days interviewing 11 women who’re currently reshaping entire industries – from a 24-year-old revolutionizing funeral planning to a grandma coding AI for sustainable farming. Their stories? Absolute fire. 🔥
Let’s talk about Zara (name changed because her startup’s in stealth mode), who designed an app that’s basically Tinder for clinical trial matching. “I kept watching my aunt drive six hours for experimental cancer treatments,” she told me, mascara slightly smudged from what I suspect was an earlier cry session. “The system’s rigged against rural patients. So I rigged it back.” Her platform’s now in 23 states.
Then there’s Dr. M (call her the “Vagina Whisperer”), an OB-GYN creating trauma-informed pelvic exam tools. “Medical textbooks still use diagrams from the 1950s,” she snorted during our Zoom, gesturing with a glittery manicure. “We’re literally teaching students with drawings made when women needed their husband’s permission to get a credit card. That ends now.”
But here’s the tea ☕ – 68% of these women nearly quit their fields entirely. Amina, a civil engineer building earthquake-resistant schools in Nepal, almost left after male contractors “accidentally” mislaid her blueprints three times in one month. “I started bringing my toddler to sites,” she grinned. “Suddenly they remembered where they put the documents.”
The pattern? These women aren’t just breaking glass ceilings – they’re installing radiant floor heating in the rubble. They’re hacking systemic issues with pure chaotic ingenuity:
1️⃣ The “Glitter Bomb” Approach: Turning perceived weaknesses into superpowers (Yes Karen, my PMS mood swings DO help me spot design flaws at 3 AM)
2️⃣ Spite-Driven Innovation: “They said I couldn’t? Watch me.” – every woman ever
3️⃣ Radical Collaboration: Creating alliances instead of competition (One CEO told me she shares trade secrets with “rivals” – “The patriarchy’s the real enemy here”)
Psychologist Dr. L broke it down: “Women’s success often looks ‘messy’ because we’re navigating systems designed to make us fail. That time I cried before defending my thesis? Not a breakdown – a tactical reboot.”
So here’s my hot take: We need to stop asking “Why aren’t there more female leaders?” and start asking “Who’s benefitting from us not seeing the leaders already here?” These women aren’t exceptions – they’re evidence of what happens when we stop waiting for permission.
Next time someone calls you “too emotional” to lead, remind them: Emotion built the first domestic violence shelters. Anxiety created bullet journaling. Rage is literally redesigning urban infrastructure as we speak.
Your move, world. 👠
