Inspired by: Gwen Stefani. Let's just say that Gwen Stefani is most definitely the love of my life. I have had a special place in my heart since I can remember, when my uncle and aunt were playing No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom album in the kitchen while we sang along at the top of our lungs. I've seen her band, No Doubt, live with said aunt and uncle and I own some of the items from her various clothing lines. Her poster hangs above my bed and I own all of her CD's. I'm smitten, to say the least.

 

She's such an inspiration to me because with her ska/punk/pop/90's grunge mixture of sound, how could you not fall in love? She's crazy! She's flawed. She's sexy, but a tom-boy. She does pushups on stage and wears some of the most ridiculous outfits ever. But that's her appeal. She knows who she is and she won't compromise. She's bleached her naturally dark brown hair for her entire adult life and she's known for her luscious red lips. I adore everything about her!

 

 She dated No Doubt's bassist, Tony Kanal, and in some of No Doubt's songs she admits she wished for an accident so they could have a child together. She married Bush lead-singer Gavin Rossdale while wearing a soft pink dress, and they later  had two beautiful boys with him despite the fact that he never told her about the daughter he had with a previous woman.

 

She has fashion lines, perfumes, No Doubt, her own CD's, two children, a sexy husband, and an amazing sense of self-love and love for others. She forgives when she's wronged, and can stay friends with the man whom she wanted a life with, even though he never wanted to give it to her. Of course she's the love of my life and my inspiration.

 

Inspired by: Iman. Iman grew up in Somalia with her mother, a gynacologist, and her father, a diplomat. She was studying political science at the University of Nairobi, when photographer Pat Beard found her and asked if she would want to model. She said yes, but only if he would pay her $8,000, the amount due for her tuition. Beard agreed, and her life changed.

 

To sell her look, Beard told everyone that he found her in the African jungle and that her family was African royalty. Iman was upset because she had never seen a jungle in her life, since Somalia is a desert. People also never spoke directly to Iman because they didn't think she knew English, even though she was fluent in 6 languages, including English. After years of modeling, Iman quit becuase she said there was no grace in it.

 

After modeling, Iman did a few movies and convinced the BBC Network to do a documentary called Somalia Diary on her home country, which had been ravaged by drought, war, and famine. Iman saw hundreds of dead bodies piled up, usually of children, and tried to use her celebrity status to get more international aid to the country.

 

Iman also started a makeup line for women of color because she said she would have to buy 3 foundations and 3 powders and mix them together before she got something close to her skin-tone. The Iman Collection was aimed towards Hispanics, Native Americans, and African Americans and sold at J.C. Penney. It grossed $12 its first year. Now she is an activist for the Marion Wright Edelman's Children's Defense Fund and she even created a lipstick with Missy Elliot, where the proceeds went to fight domestic violence.

 

Iman is just a total inspiration because not only is she educated, but she's worked in so many different areas of the world without losing her core values.

Inspired by: Diane Keaton. Keaton has always been one of my lady crushes because 1. She's an incredibly successful and hilarious woman. 2. She has been a trend-setter due to the fact that she started wearing suits, ties, and other masculine clothing in a time where that wasn't fully accepted. 

3. She never married. 4. She adopted her 2 children. I love that she has never felt like she needed a man to do anything in her life and she wasn't afraid to be a single mother. She'll always be one of my favorites.

 

Inspired by: Katherine Switzer. Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston marathon. After realizing that a woman was running, race organizer Jock Semple went after Switzer shouting, “Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers.” However, Switzer’s boyfriend and other male runners provided a protective shield during the entire marathon.The photographs taken of the incident made world headlines, and Kathrine later won the 1974 NYC marathon (women's division) with a time of 3:07:29.

 

This story made me so happy because I have so many women friends who run races, and because of this brave person, women were one step closer to be able to do that. I just had two friends run a triathalon in Selinas, Ecuador this weekend, and to no fault of their own, I doubt they thought of who made that possible for them. This woman, and many other women who fight to have equal rights in sports, broke down barriers, and I appreciate that.

 

Inspired by: the Chin in Myanmar. In a 200 year-old custom, the Chin ethnic minority group in Myanmar would give their daughters elaborate facial tattoos to ward off attacks from neighboring princes who would often try to kidnap girls to be concubines. The women in these pictures are some of the last to receive the groups markings, which has now died out. I think these tattoos are so beautiful even though they were put there to do the complete opposite of attract people. The gauges, the tattoos...they're perfect.

Inspired by: Lady Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies. She was born into a royal West African dynasty, but was orphaned after a massacre of her home country when she was 8. She was captured by Captain Fredrick E. Forbes and given to Queen Victoria as a present. The Queen was impressed by her naturally regal mannerisms and took Sarah on to be her goddaughter. Sarah was so intelligent that she outsmarted all of her tutors and had a love for art, literature, and academics in general. In August of 1862, Sarah was married to James Pinson Labulo Davies, a young, wealthy Yoruba businessman.

 

 Their wedding party was of pure extravagance; there were 10 carriages and 16 bridesmaids comprised of white women with African men and African women with white men. After the wedding, the couple moved back to Africa where Sarah had a daughter, whom Queen Victoria allowed to be named Victoria after her. Sarah had two more children before dying at age 37 after battling Tuberculosis for years. Victoria took Sarah's daughter, Victoria, on as a goddaughter also, and was equally as proud of her as she was of her mother.

Inspired by: Nancy Wake. Wake was a journalist sent to Germany to report on the rise of fascism and to interview Adolf Hitler. After seeing Jews being beaten publicly, she fought to save as many people as she could and ended up at the top of Gestapo's most-wanted list. She was given the name "White Mouse" because she was so elusive. She would flirt with guards to get through checkpoints. Feeling her enemies closing in on her, she fled to Spain and then to Britain where she was trained to be a spy. During the violent months preceding the liberation of Paris, Wake killed a German guard with a single karate chop to the neck, executed a women who had been spying for the Germans, shot her way out of roadblocks and biked 70 hours through perilous Nazi checkpoints to deliver radio codes for the Allies. And she was Australian. She died in August 2011 at age 98. Let me just say that this is probably the coolest woman I've ever heard of!!