The 2016 Awesome Women Awards

Saving babies' lives, bringing home-cooked meals to families in distress, helping cancer patients feel beautiful again — these selfless women have truly earned their wings.

Cofounder, Take Them a Meal

On a December night in 2007, Rachel Beery, a mother of four, collapsed from a rare and potentially fatal heart condition. During her long recovery in bed, Rachel's best friend, Adina Bailey, began coordinating meal deliveries to the family from friends and coworkers. "I thought I'd lose my mind," says Adina. "I was constantly giving out instructions." She asked Scott Rogers, a Web-savvy friend, to post a map to Rachel's house and a sign-up sheet online, and Take Them a Meal was launched. The free site has helped facilitate the delivery of more than 6 million meals, even offering prepared dishes for sale to earn enough to cover Web fees.

CEO and cofounder, Embrace Innovations

Every year, nearly 3 million newborns worldwide die within their first 28 days of life, most from lack of access to simple interventions such as incubators to keep them warm. In 2008, when Jane Chen was a student at Stanford's business school, she set out to solve this problem for a class assignment and, with her team, invented Embrace, a low-cost infant warmer made with a waxlike substance that maintains a constant temperature for up to eight hours without electricity. Jane spent four years in India developing the product; by 2014, she was distributing the blankets in India, Afghanistan and Africa, attracting a $125,000 donation from Beyoncé along the way. More than 200,000 babies have been saved, and Jane hasn't let up: Last year, she launched Little Lotus, a retail line of swaddlers made with NASA spacesuit material; each Lotus item sold helps save a baby's life with an Embrace warmer. She's definitely earned an A-plus.

Founder and CEO, Thrive Causemetics

Karissa Bodnar's life changed when her best friend died of a sarcoma in 2013. She sat by her friend's side throughout treatment and during her final hours. "Kristy thrived through it all," she says. "On the day she passed away, she was still so positive." A month later, Karissa, then a product developer at L'Oréal, decided to use her expertise to launch a new kind of beauty company, one that also offers a give-back promise. Since 2015, Thrive Cosmetics has donated over 40,000 products to women.

Tune in! Karissa gets interviewed by fellow honoree Luvvie Ajayi at Youtube.com/awestruck.

Owner and CEO, Halton Pardee + Partners

Need to sell your house? Call Tami Halton Pardee. Since launching her L.A. business in 2005, the mother of four has sold $2.3 billion in real estate, including homes for celebs like Robert Downey Jr. But Tami and her clients aren't the only ones who benefit from her sales skills: In 2009, she began donating 10% of the net profits (more than $800,000 so far) to local charities of her clients' choice. "I don't need to be the richest person," she shrugs. "I'd rather help someone than spend money on a designer bag."

Tune in! Tami chats with fellow honoree GloZell Green at Youtube.com/awestruck.

CEO, The Shade Room

When Angie Nwandu was 6, her father murdered her mother as Angie and her four sisters slept. Today, he's serving a life sentence, and she's running one of the most successful new media start-ups in history: The Shade Room, an Instagram-based black celebrity gossip site that has attracted 8 million followers to its unique interactive mix. Angie and her staff of five scan the social media accounts of black celebs to craft posts, and the stars take notice, commenting and engaging directly with fans. When she's not online, Angie mentors foster kids (she once was one). Nothing shady about that.

Brave storytellers and change makers, these strong women are empowering others to find their voices and connecting them to the resources they need for success.

Founder, Black Girls Rock!

Ten years ago, DJ Beverly Bond came up with a T-shirt slogan: Black Girls Rock! "I made a list of women who rocked throughout history — Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Marian Wright Edelman — and it dawned on me that this was bigger than a T-shirt," she says. "Black girls were not hearing enough about role models. The message they were getting in media and music was that they were objects, there for the pleasure of men." To change the narrative, Beverly began an awards show to honor inspiring black women, which debuted on BET in 2010 and had nearly 3 million viewers. This year's Black Girls Rock! show featured powerhouses like Rihanna and triggered 215,000 tweets — proof that Beverly is indeed changing the conversation.

Best-selling novelist

Jessica Knoll's debut thriller, Luckiest Girl Alive, sold more than 500,000 copies and was optioned by Reese Witherspoon to become a movie. The book includes many harrowing scenes, but none as raw as the one in which the teen protagonist, TifAni FaNelli, is gang-raped at a party by three boys in her class. Readers wondered how Jessica wrote the scene with such clarity, and for months she dodged their questions. But with a paperback tour looming last March, she knew the question would come up until she addressed it. In an essay for Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter, Jessica revealed that she had been gang-raped just like TifAni. Her essay made news worldwide and landed her on the Today show.

Entrepreneur

"I can't tell you how many meetings I've been to in Silicon Valley where I was the only woman," says former Facebook exec Randi Zuckerberg. "There is no pipeline for women." Randi, who now runs her own media company, decided to use pop culture to show girls they belonged in tech: This fall marks the debut of Dot, Randi's animated series on Sprout about an adventurous, tech-savvy girl. (It's based on her best-selling book.) She's also mentoring female entrepreneurs on Oxygen's Quit Your Day Job. "The more women support one another," she says, "the more room there is for all of us to succeed."

Lifestyle expert and YouTube personality

Ingrid Nilsen built a huge YouTube following and snagged a CoverGirl contract and a judging spot on Project Runway: Threads by posting adorable fashion and beauty videos with titles like "My Nail Polish Collection and Storage!" Then, last year, she posted a video called "Something I Want You to Know." In it, she broke the news that she was gay. "I didn't want to hide who I was anymore," says Ingrid, who was terrified to open herself up. The video has garnered over 15 million views so far, and what she wrote underneath it has become her life motto: "We all deserve our best chance."

Founders, TheLi.st

Journalists Glynnis MacNicol (left) and Rachel Sklar supported each other as they built their careers in the booming Internet world (at Huffington Post and Business Insider, among other places), but they knew many women suffered from "professional loneliness," a lack of connection to other women who could help take their careers to the next level. Their solution: The two reached out to accomplished women and formed TheLi.st, a worldwide online community of influential women. They also host open-to-all conferences and published an Amazon best seller, The 10 Habits of Highly Successful Women. "Powerful women need support," says Glynnis. "They struggle with the same insecurities and fears as everyone else." Confirms GH guest editor and TheLi.st member Shonda Rhimes, "It's a lifeline when I have questions about how to lead. We're helping one another get where we want to go."

Founder, Empowered by You

Renata Black was traveling when the 2004 tsunami struck. Wanting to help, she flew to India and joined an aid group in a fishing village. There she saw firsthand how good intentions can go awry: "The villagers were eating rats while people around the world were sending them things like lotion," she says. After a local woman told her, "I don't want your money — teach me how to make my own," Renata established a micro-loan program. "I told that same woman to meet me with her friends," says Renata. "She brought 800 to the town square."

Renata spent several years in India, making micro-loans to help women start businesses selling saris, baskets and incense. "They told me they felt sorry that in the U.S. you have to show your cleavage to get a man," says Renata. She had an epiphany: "What if we used our sensuality to empower rather than seduce?" Back in the States, she launched Empowered by You, an underwear company, to help fund her program. Sales of her high-tech seamless panties have provided micro-loans to more than 1,700 women.

Writer; executive director and cofounder, The Red Pump Project

When she learned that a friend had literally 20 cousins whose parents had died of AIDS, Luvvie Ajayi realized she was perfectly positioned to raise awareness of the disease's impact on women, thanks to the growing reach of her hilarious culture blog, awesomelyluvvie.com. "Women are always affected by HIV and AIDS, even if we're not living with the disease," she says. "We're the caregivers, the moms, the aunts." In 2009, Luvvie cofounded The Red Pump Project, a nonprofit that educates women and girls about HIV and AIDS with workshops around the country — an effort that has earned kudos from the U.S. House of Representatives. That's some serious success for a funny lady.

Tune in! Luvvie interviews fellow honoree Karissa Bodnar at Youtube.com/awestruck.

Runway fashion can seem so out of reach — and what's a girl to do if she wants a cute Star Wars stormtrooper tee that actually fits? These visionaries are taking center stage, putting style power in our hands, and sometimes making us crack up in the process.

Founder and creative director, Rodin Olio Lusso

Ask young fashion editors to name their idols and a certain gray-haired, nearsighted, makeup-shunning 68-year-old makes everyone's list: Linda Rodin, a former model, stylist and boutique owner who launched a successful skincare line when she was 59. She had been brewing and using her own oil for years, with glowing results. When her nephew suggested her oil could become something more, she began sharing it with models and makeup artists at photo shoots. In 2015, Rodin was acquired by Estée Lauder, and she continues her role as creative director for her brand.

Fashion designer

The fashion industry is built on three core rules, but don't expect Rebecca Minkoff to follow them. Rule one: The industry is invitation-only, with a select group that deems you worthy of joining its ranks. Rebecca, who learned to sew in her high school's costume department, crashed the scene at age 20 when Jenna Elfman, a family friend, wore her design on The Tonight Show. Rule two: Be aloof. "When we started on social media, our retail partners told us we'd 'dirty ourselves,'" says Rebecca. But she built one of the most loyal fan bases in the business. Rule three: Always show clothing a season ahead. Last spring, Rebecca disrupted Fashion Week with her #seebuywear campaign, showing clothes that could be ordered online immediately. The gutsy move doubled sales. "When you go your own way," says Rebecca, "you win."

Online comedian

When GloZell was a struggling stand-up comic in Los Angeles, she'd often see her time onstage get bumped when big names like Jamie Foxx would drop in. "It'd be 2 a.m. by the time I left, and I'd be lucky if my car was still there," she says. Then she discovered she could deliver her material on her own schedule, from home, with no one to steal her spotlight, on YouTube. "Suddenly I was reaching millions of people without putting on pants," she says — and fans could get a dose of her funny any time they wanted to. Her videos, in which she channels characters and takes on challenges, such as eating a ladleful of cinnamon, have garnered more than 725 million views. She's gained so much clout that last year she interviewed President Obama at the White House.

Tune in! GloZell chats with fellow honoree Tami Halton Pardee at Youtube.com/awestruck.

President, Her Universe

When actress and Star Wars fan Ashley Eckstein was cast in 2008 as the voice of Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano in the animated Stars Wars: The Clone Wars, it was a true pinch-me moment. But when she went to buy a Star Wars T-shirt, she discovered that sci-fi merch designed for women didn't exist. So she made her own. In 2010, she partnered with a manufacturer, secured a license from Lucasfilm — being one of their actors helped her get her lightsaber in the door — and launched Her Universe to fill the clothing and jewelry needs of female fans everywhere. "Star Wars is a story of good overcoming evil, and you can't put a gender on that," says Ashley. The Force is clearly with her: She's partnered with Kohl's and Hot Topic and grown her business into a multimillion-dollar venture.

Tune in! See Ashley Eckstein talk to fellow honorees Wendi Levy and Kim Etheredge at Youtube.com/awestruck.

CEO and Chief Creative Officer, Stella Valle

Nothing quite prepares you for a career in fashion like being at war in Afghanistan. West Point grad Ashley Jung was an Army captain there in a unit that cleared roads of explosives. "I learned that failure is not an option," she says. So when her sister Paige, also a West Point grad, said she wanted to go into fashion, Ashley told her she'd have her back. They borrowed $2,000 and launched Stella Valle, a jewelry line fusing masculine and feminine detailing. Armed with prototypes, they held home shows for a year and reinvested the profits in the company. Today, Stella Valle is in 450 stores nationwide on track to top $5 million in revenue this year.