Skip to content

Top Navigation

PEOPLE.com PEOPLE.com
    • All News
    • Coronavirus
    • Crime
    • Human Interest
    • Politics
    • Heroes
    • Stories to Make You Smile
    • All Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Country
    • Awards
    • Sports
    • Theater
    • Books
  • Royals
    • All Lifestyle
    • Style
    • Fashion
    • Beauty
    • Health
    • Parents
    • Home
    • Pets
    • Food
    • Tech
    • Travel
  • PeopleTV
    • All Shopping
    • People Tested
    • All Podcasts
    • Me Becoming Mom
    • People Every Day
    • PEOPLE in the '90s

Profile Menu

Join Now

Account

  • Join Now
  • My Profile
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Premium
My Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • My Profile
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Premium
Login
Subscribe

Explore PEOPLE.com

PEOPLE.com PEOPLE.com
  • Explore

    Explore

    • Rita Moreno Says She Dated Elvis as Revenge Against Cheating Ex Marlon Brando: 'It Was Wonderful'

      Rita Moreno Says She Dated Elvis as Revenge Against Cheating Ex Marlon Brando: 'It Was Wonderful'

      Rita Moreno revealed she dated Elvis Presley to get back at her ex-boyfriend Marlon Brando for cheating on her Read More
    • Machine Gun Kelly Poses with Daughter Casie at the 2021 American Music Awards

      Machine Gun Kelly Poses with Daughter Casie at the 2021 American Music Awards

      The American Music Awards, hosted by Cardi B, are broadcasting live from Los Angeles on Sunday Read More
    • Jennifer Lopez Sings from the Heart in New 'On My Way' Music Video

      Jennifer Lopez Sings from the Heart in New 'On My Way' Music Video

      Jennifer Lopez released the official music video for her song "On My Way," which is featured in her upcoming rom-com Marry Me Read More
  • News

    News

    See All News
    Stars Who Opened Up About Their Sexuality and Gender Identity in 2021

    Stars Who Opened Up About Their Sexuality and Gender Identity in 2021

    • Coronavirus
    • Crime
    • Human Interest
    • Politics
    • Heroes
    • Stories to Make You Smile
  • Entertainment

    Entertainment

    See All Entertainment
    The Best (& Worst) Jeopardy! Celebrity Guest Host Show Moments

    The Best (& Worst) Jeopardy! Celebrity Guest Host Show Moments

    • Celebrity
    • TV
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Country
    • Awards
    • Sports
    • Theater
    • Books
  • Royals
  • Lifestyle

    Lifestyle

    See All Lifestyle
    Billie Eilish Ditches Her Blonde Hair for Brunette Tresses: 'Miss Me?'

    Billie Eilish Ditches Her Blonde Hair for Brunette Tresses: 'Miss Me?'

    The singer revealed that she dyed her hair dark brown after debuting her blonde look earlier this year
    • Style
    • Fashion
    • Beauty
    • Health
    • Parents
    • Home
    • Pets
    • Food
    • Tech
    • Travel
  • PeopleTV
  • Shopping

    Shopping

    See All Shopping
    • People Tested
  • Podcasts

    Podcasts

    See All Podcasts
    Sen. Tammy Duckworth Calls Going Back to Work After Having a Miscarriage 'Inhumane'

    Sen. Tammy Duckworth Calls Going Back to Work After Having a Miscarriage 'Inhumane'

    "Even though we cleared my calendar for the day, I was still on the phone. There was no resting, you just kept on going," Tammy Duckworth says on an episode of PEOPLE's podcast Me Becoming Mom
    • Me Becoming Mom
    • People Every Day
    • PEOPLE in the '90s

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Join Now

Account

  • Join Now
  • My Profile
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Premium
My Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • My Profile
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Premium
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. People.com
  2. Human Interest
  3. Meet PEOPLE's Women Changing the World in 2020

Meet PEOPLE's Women Changing the World in 2020

Saluting the actors and activists who are making a difference

By People Staff March 04, 2020 08:30 AM
Skip gallery slides
FB Tweet

1 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Mariska Hargitay

Mariska Hargitay
Credit: Cliff Watts

The Law & Order: SVU star trained as a rape crisis counselor and in 2004 started her own nonprofit organization, the Joyful Heart Foundation, to support survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. In 2010 Joyful Heart moved beyond its initial goal of providing therapeutic resources to tackle a problem that outraged 56-year-old Hargitay: the backlog of rape kits that sit untested in practically every state, wasting evidence that could put predators behind bars. "These women … need to be respected, and seen and heard," she tells PEOPLE.

1 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Eva Longoria

eva longoria
Credit: Ramona Rosales

While working on her master's degree in Chicano studies from California State University, Longoria, 44, commissioned a study from UCLA, and the research showed a lack of Latinas in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields. So she launched the Eva Longoria Foundation in 2012 to help provide Latinas with entrepreneurial training and education support, specifically in STEM. "Now that I'm a mom, I feel more urgency," she tells PEOPLE. "I'm making sure that this world is a good place for [my son] to grow up."

2 of 10

3 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Christina Koch

Christina Koch
Credit: NASA

After spending 328 days aboard the International Space Station, she landed back on Earth in February, setting a new record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman. "I feel incredibly privileged to have been a part of this," says the 41-year-old, who passed the previous record held by her mentor Peggy Whitson. "Thinking back to a year in your life and being able to contribute as much as I have had the opportunity to has just been awesome."

3 of 10

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Emily Blunt

Emily blunt
Credit: Michael Buckner/Deadline/Shutterstock

After one of her teachers noticed Blunt's stutter disappeared whenever she would launch into impersonations as a child, he suggested she audition for the school play. She found that the more she lost herself in characters, the less self-conscious she was and the more her stutter would diminish. Now the star aims to help kids going through the same thing by working with the American Institute for Stuttering. "They understand that how these kids relate to their stutter is usually the issue," says Blunt, 37. "You've got to fall in love with the fact that you've got a stutter to accept it. But it's not all of you. Everyone's got something - and this is just your thing."

4 of 10

Advertisement

5 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Najah Bazzy

Najah Bazzy
Credit: Christopher Boomer

In 2004, Bazzy left her job as a transcultural nurse to focus full-time on her Michigan-based nonprofit, which she called Zaman. At first she offered food, clothing and help finding housing to women who were often refugees and domestic-abuse survivors in severe poverty, but quickly realized women needed a "one-stop center" to truly get back on their feet. She opened one and began offering education and skills training. "You throw them a life jacket, and then you have to really anchor them," the 59-year-old says.

5 of 10

6 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Simone Biles

Simone Biles
Credit: Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty

The Olympic gymnastics star has a way of handling fear: by facing it head-on. And that hard-won confidence has only furthered her impact beyond her sport. Last year Biles, 22, bravely stood up with her co-athletes to describe her abuse by convicted sexual predator Larry Nassar. Since then she's become an outspoken voice for change within U.S.A. Gymnastics. Now, as she heads to the Tokyo Games, she remains intensely focused - and favored to add five gold medals to her overall collection. "It's taken a lot for me to be confident in who I am, how I look and what I do to this day," she says, adding, "I just want to encourage other kids to pursue their dreams."

6 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

7 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Nadya Okamoto

Nadya Okamoto
Credit: Natalia Moena

When passing homeless shelters in downtown Portland, Oregon, as a high schooler, Okamoto would often ask women what they needed the most. The answer? Period supplies. "I had [never] heard about period poverty," the 22-year-old, now a Harvard junior, tells PEOPLE. "I was not able to stop thinking about it." She started researching the issue and couldn't find any organizations addressing the problem, so at age 16, she started her own, called Period. She started small, getting her friends to help pack feminine hygiene products for women on the streets and in homeless shelters. In five years the organization formed more than 600 chapters in all 50 states and 30 countries.

7 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement

8 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Awkwafina

awkwafina
Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

In 2012 Awkwafina had her first paid gig - a rap performance at Sarah Lawrence College. "It wasn't good," she recalls to PEOPLE, "but the kids were very supportive. [Afterward] this girl came up to me and said, 'Thank you for existing, because I never thought there would be someone like you.' " Awkwafina, whose real name is Nora Lum, still thinks about that moment a lot. "We need to see ourselves when we're growing up," the 31-year-old says. The first Asian woman to win best actress at the Golden Globes, she's now producing and starring in the new Comedy Central show Nora from Queens, and is using the opportunity to hire newcomers to write and direct.

8 of 10

Advertisement

9 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Jennifer Hyman

Rent the Runway's Jennifer Hyman, in NYC on September 10, 2019
Credit: Mackenzie Stroh

Hyman cofounded fashion rental company Rent the Runway in 2009, and has watched it grow since, pushing the company's value to $1 billion last year. But then a new inventory system crashed, and the company had to stop accepting new customers right before the busy holiday season. Hyman personally responded to the complaints and rolled up her sleeves to pack orders. Though other retailers - from Loft to Banana Republic - have been racing to get into the rental game, Hyman isn't fazed. "I didn't start Rent the Runway because I wanted to win," she says (photographed with daughters Aurora, 2.5 and Selene, 4 months). "I want women to feel like the very best version of themselves. When women feel great about themselves, incredible things happen."

9 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

10 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy & Trish Dalton

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy and Trish Dalton
Credit: Gina LeVay

In 2015, Oscar and Emmy winner Obaid-Chinoy, 41, teamed up with director and producer Dalton, 45, to tackle the complex ecosystem of college athletics. Their film Student Athlete followed four young male athletes who aspired to make it to the NFL and NBA; it turns a critical eye on the NCAA's rules prohibiting pay for college players - even as colleges and coaches make millions. Produced with LeBron James, the documentary is galvanizing people to take action. Last year California passed legislation allowing college athletes to earn compensation for marketing and endorsement deals, and this week Congress will kick off the Collegiate Sports Caucus to look into the issue. "Sometimes it just takes the perspective of women to change the way people see an issue," says Obaid-Chinoy.

10 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By People Staff

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 10 Mariska Hargitay
    2 of 10 Eva Longoria
    3 of 10 Christina Koch
    4 of 10 Emily Blunt
    5 of 10 Najah Bazzy
    6 of 10 Simone Biles
    7 of 10 Nadya Okamoto
    8 of 10 Awkwafina
    9 of 10 Jennifer Hyman
    10 of 10 Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy & Trish Dalton

    Share & More

    Pinterest Email Send Text Message
    PEOPLE.com

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
    • Content Licensing
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Meredith© Copyright 2022 Meredith Corporationthis link opens in a new tab. People is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab Manage Push Notificationsthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab

    Manage Push Notifications

    If you would like to opt out of browser push notifications, please refer to the following instructions specific to your device and browser: Google Chrome and Android, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge.
    © Copyright PEOPLE.com. All rights reserved. Printed from https://people.com

    Sign in

    View image

    Meet PEOPLE's Women Changing the World in 2020
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.