Making Their Mark on Business: Powerful Women

For decades, a notorious gender determined benchmark has been upheld to keep certain established norms set in place; however, through a variety of social and cultural movements, cracks are finally emerging in the glass ceiling.

Jermyn Street Design are at the forefront of tailoring bespoke uniforms for household names such as Pandora and Jet2, and here we are celebrating some of the most determined female figures in business.

Sheryl Sandberg

A regular feature on the Time 100 list, and retaining her position held since 2008 as Chief Operating Officer at the social media giant Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg remains dominant in her field. She is also the founder of Leanin.org, a non-profit organisation which sought success and achievement for women across the world.

Sandberg was headhunted by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2007 at a Christmas party, where he described her as a ‘’perfect fit’’ for the COO role, confirming her appointment in March the following year. Continuing her rise through the ranks, she was elected to Facebook’s board of directors. becoming the first woman to serve on its board, a huge revolutionary moment in the history of Facebook.

Angela Merkel

Since 2005 Angela Merkel has dominated the worldwide political scene, and with plans to end her time as Chancellor of Germany in 2021, her 16-year long career bears many prominent achievements. Merkel wields significant power within the European Union, influencing a lot of key decisions as well as leading on certain strategies. Being described as the ‘de facto’ leader, with rumours circulating that she is to replace Juncker as the next President at the May 2019 European Elections, leading a new "pro-Europe coalition".

For her successor, equaling her legacy will not be an easy task. Her strength in office was a force to be reckoned with coming through a global economic crisis better than any other leader and managing to fend off a lengthy recession and flourishing rather than squandering.

Indra Nooyi

Indra Nooyi is at helm of the worlds second largest food and beverage business in the world by net revenue, and she has taken PepsiCo from strength to strength, gaining numerous accreditations and awards along the way. Her status is not to be disputed, as Nooyi was voted second most powerful woman in the world in 2015. In fact, she’s been included in the top 20 of the World’s Most Powerful Women since 2006.

Nooyi was the directive of PepsiCo’s $2.7 billion to $6.5 billion profit surge, due to measures put in place which made the products healthier by reducing the acid, sugar and sweetener content. Categorising her products into three separate slogans; "fun for you", "better for you" and "good for you", the latter being items such as oats from the merger with Quaker Oats Company.

After having successfully held the position of CEO for 12 years, Nooyi has been chairwoman since August 2018 and her career in PepsiCo is set to end in early 2019.

Oprah Winfrey

As one of the most embellished, recognisable women in the country, Oprah Winfrey has maintained an unrivalled presence on American television and in the hearts of many adoring fans. Hailed as the "Queen of Media", the richest African American of the 20th century, North America’s first black multi-billionaire and the greatest black philanthropist in America, Winfrey has built an empire in the United States. Her own investments have financially saved otherwise spiraling businesses such as Weight Watchers.

The audience/interviewee dynamic has been revolutionized through Winfrey’s self-titled talk show, replicating the setting of the home and broadcasting it to millions of viewers, simulating an intimate environment whilst being watched by millions of people.

There has been criticism directed towards Winfrey’s emotionally charged confession culture, but she has helped to build a platform for LGBT which in turn promotes acceptance, and she has tackled many uncomfortable 20th century taboos. Amidst a catalytic nature of challenge towards the film and media industries, and the emergence of the ‘Me Too’ movement in early 2018, Oprah delivered an inspiring and influential speech at the Golden Globes to help bring these discourses forward.

Marissa Mayer

The youngest person on this list and the youngest woman to ever be listed in Fortune’s list of Most Powerful Women in Business, is Marissa Mayer. Google’s 20th employee, known to be prominent for the development of several of Google’s branches such as Images, News, Maps, Books and Gmail, she went on to become president and CEO of Yahoo.

Although she ended up resigning from Yahoo due to disagreements to changes to the company’s culture, she stated upon her last day that under her leadership, Yahoo’s stock tripled, significantly grew mobile users to over 650 million and a range of other achievements.

This piece was written by the copywriting team at Mediaworks Online Marketing.