First African American : Ursula Burns
Ursula Burns is the perfect example proving that someone's situation is not necessarily their destination. You do not need to define yourself by your current environment if it doesn't match your aspirations. Despite being born in poverty and raised in the projects by a single mom, Burns appeared several time in Forbes top 25 list of most powerful women in the world. Through hard work and dedication, she went from being a summer intern at Xerox to becoming their CEO.
Ursula Burns is redefining what the CEO of a Fortune 500 company looks like and showing young girls that it's possible for them too to become a CEO. As the first African-American woman CEO of a Fortune 500 Company, she has a created great new role model for young girls of all background to aspire to.