Innovations

led her community protest against off-shore drilling at fort Bragg CA; works in recycled materials & paint to depict environmental issues;

2021 opened Friedli Gallery in St. Paul MN-a gallery to promote indigenous artists; member of worlds only indigenous female snow sculpting team

is widely known for her fully beaded tennis shoes, which feature pictorial elements on solid, lane-stitched backgrounds; is a regular contributing writer to First American Art Magazine; was a co-curator of Hearts of Our People, a groundbreaking national traveling exhibition of Native American women’s art that opened in 2019; uses her beadwork to tell stories;

one of the originators of the term post-blackness; organized numerous innovative exhibitions of art by African-Americans & mentored the careers of numerous African-American artists; spearheaded the construction of the first-ever purpose-built facility in the Studio Museum’s history; helped produce the revolutionary 1993 Biennial and curated the groundbreaking exhibit Black Male, which examined destructive and persistent stereotypes about African-American masculinity;

Reportedly received a patent for making lubricated molds to preserve her butter sculptures but no patent was located; preferred sculpting in butter even after she learned how to use marble; 1st American butter sculptess

Theresa Secord (b.1958) is a traditional Penobscot basket maker and the founding director of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA). Theresa received the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2016. In 2009, she was honored with the First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Award and in 2003, the Prize for Creativity in Rural Life by the Women’s World Summit Foundation, presented at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland; for helping basket makers rise out of poverty. Theresa learned to weave ash and sweet baskets on Indian Island from her mentor, the late Madeline Tomer Shay (Penobscot) beginning in 1988. She weaves family and tribal styles on antique wooden forms, using tools handed down to her from her great-grandmother, Philomene Saulis Nelson. Theresa has taught more than a dozen apprentices to weave baskets and her own work resides in museum and private collections across the nation. She is currently mentoring her own son again, Caleb Hoffman.

Titre-Montgomery is Co-Founder of Cornerstone Interactive Studios, a new studio focused on reimaging cinematic and interactive experiences. She graduated with a degree in computer animation from Miami International University of Art and Design in 2000 and has worked on computer animation for games since graduation.

pioneer of modern contemporary dance; is known as the Mother of Modern Dance; her innovative technique emphasized natural movement in contrast to the rigidity of traditional ballet; emphasized what she called "evolutionary" dance motion, insisting that each movement was born from the one that preceded it, that each movement gave rise to the next, and so on in organic succession; opened several school to teach her philosophy of dance; her autobiography "My Life" was published in 1927

Dunham was an innovator in African-American modern dance as well as a leader in the field of dance anthropology, or ethnochoreology. Taking inspiration from African-based dance where one part of the body plays against one another, she focused on articulating the torso in her choreography; this became known as the Dunham Technique. At the height of her career in the 1940s and 1950s, Dunham was renowned throughout Europe and Latin America and was widely popular in the United States. The Washington Post called her "dancer Katherine the Great." For almost 30 years she maintained the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, the only self-supported American black dance troupe at that time. Over her long career, she choreographed more than ninety individual dances. She was a pioneer of Dance Anthropology, established methodologies of ethnochoreology, and her work gives essential historical context to current conversations and practices of decolonization within and outside of the discipline of anthropology. As part of her Masters thesis did ethnographic studies of dance in Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique & Trinidad. Developed the Dunham Technique of Dance.

Primus' sojourn to West Africa has proven invaluable to students of African dance. She learned more about African dance, its function and meaning than had any other American before her. Primus was known as a griot, the voice of cultures in which dance is embedded. She was able to codify the technical details of many of the African dances through the notation system she evolved and was also able to view and to salvage some "still existent gems of dances before they faded into general decadence."[22] She has been unselfish in sharing the knowledge she has gained with others.[1] The significance of Primus' African research and choreography lies in her presentation of a dance history which embraces ethnic unity, the establishment of an articulate foundation for influencing future practitioners of African dance, the presentation of African dance forms into a disciplined expression, and the enrichment of American theater through the performance of African dance

Remark Glass was founded in 2016 by Danielle Ruttenberg, Rebecca Davies, and Mark Ellis. It is a zero-waste certified, woman owned business that creates hand-blown glassware and lighting from recycled bottles. They collect glass from local restaurants and community members in Philadelphia, and transform them into unique and sustainable products. They also have a sister non-profit organization called Bottle Underground (founded 2020), which aims to solve the larger waste issue of glass. They have been featured on Good Morning America, Forbes, and The I on MSN.com. “Alongside our sister non-profit Bottle Underground, every glass purchased is a bottle diverted from the landfill.” They have created a keepsake line that transforms a glass keepsake (usually a bottle) from a special occasion into a home accessory like a bowl, pitcher or lamp

Driscoll's artistic potential was apparent and she was hired by Louis Comfort Tiffany to work at Tiffany Glass Company (later known as Tiffany Studios) in 1888.[7] She worked there off and on for more than 20 years, designing lamps and fancy goods as well as supervising the Women's Glass Cutting Department.[7] Engaged or married women were not allowed to work at the company, so Driscoll had to leave because of her marriage in 1889. After Driscoll's first husband Francis Driscoll died in 1892, she resumed working for Tiffany. She became engaged again in 1896-1897, to Edwin Waldo, but he disappeared and no marriage occurred. She remained at Tiffany Studios until her marriage to Edward A. Booth in 1909.[6] While employed with Tiffany, Driscoll worked closely with a number of other "Tiffany Girls" including Alice Carmen Gouvy and Lillian Palmié.[6]

Though her name may be unknown to many, Waugh’s work is embedded in the early history of the National Park Service, which has managed and maintained America’s public lands and monuments since 1916. From 1933 to 1937, Waugh worked as a landscape architect and artist in the Branch of Planning for the park service, at first developing and designing technical manuals for the but eventually turning to the creation of posters promoting state and national parks that would become her hallmark.

Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during the 1950s as a singer of guarachas, earning the nickname "La Guarachera de Cuba". In the following decades, she became known internationally as the "Queen of Salsa" due to her contributions to Latin music. She has sold over 10 million copies, making her one of the best-selling Latin music artists. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Cruz at No. 18 on their list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. In February 2023, Cruz was selected as an honoree in the 2024 American Women quarter program, making her the first Afro-Latina to appear on a U.S quarter. Recorded over 80 albums, has 3 Grammys, 4 Latin Grammys & 23 gold records. Was the lead singer for the Cuban band Sonora Matancera from 1950-65.Sang Santeria & Yoruba language songs & in the styles of guarachas, salsa, rumba, afro, son, & bolero. Was a symbol & spokesperson of the Cuban community in exile. Has appeared in several movies & telenovelas. In the US collaborated with Tito Puente & signed with Fania Records.

Alsop has founded multiple professional music groups: NY String Ensemble in 1981, the female jazz ensemble String Fever, and in 1984 Concordia, a 50-piece orchestra specializing in 20th century American music. In 2002 she also founded Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship (now Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship) for female conductors. Alsop is also invested in music education. Some initiatives she made while at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra include a Webumentary Film Series, a free iTunes podcast titled "Clueless About Classical" & the OrchKids program directed at underprivileged Baltimore youth. Alsop believes that music has the power to change lives and is internationally known for her innovative approach to programming & audience development. In 2022 she created "Breaking Barriers", an annual summer festival celebrating women composers, conductors & artists.

A major compositional success for Beach came with her Mass in E-flat major, which was performed in 1892 by the Handel and Haydn Society orchestra, which since its foundation in 1815 had never performed a piece composed by a woman. Newspaper music critics responded to the Mass by declaring her one of America's foremost composers, comparing the piece to Masses by Cherubini and Bach. Beach followed this up with an important milestone in music history: her Gaelic Symphony, the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. It premiered October 30, 1896, performed by the Boston Symphony "with exceptional success," although "whatever the merits or defects of the symphony were thought to be, critics went to extraordinary lengths in their attempts to relate them to the composer's sex.”

Ma Rainey created what is now known as "classic blues" while also portraying black life like never before. As a musical innovator she built on the minstrelsy and vaudeville performative traditions with comedic timing and a hybrid of American blues traditions she encountered in her vast tours across the country. She helped to pioneer a genre that appealed to North and South, rural and urban audiences.[31] Her signature low and gravelly voice sung with Rainey's gusto and authoritative style inspired imitators from Louis Armstrong, Janis Joplin and Bonnie Raitt among others.[31] In her lyrics, Rainey portrayed the black female experience like few others of the time reflecting a wide range of emotions and experiences.

Anna Goldwater Alexander is the Director of Photography of WIRED Magazine. She has been producing photo shoots and commissioning WIRED photographers for over twenty years. Anna was the 2019 recipient of the National Magazine Awards General Excellence, Design and Photography by American Society of Magazine Editors. She was nominated as Photo Editor of the Year by the Lucie Foundation in 2021. Most recently, Anna received a National Magazine Award for producing the Best Profile Picture in 2023. Anna has also been awarded honors from the Society of Publication Design, American Photography, Art Directors Club and Communication Arts. Anna has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the University of Arizona. She resides in Northern California with her husband, two teenagers, three cats and Trout the dog. Alexander is interested in all genres of photography, and video and animation.

Broom's pictures, including soldiers setting off to fight in World War One and members of the Royal Family, appeared in what was then a male-dominated newspaper industry. From the early 1900s, Broom began to sell postcards of her photos from a stall beside Buckingham Palace, showing images of contemporary London, including historic images of the women's suffragette movement. Broom regularly photographed activists and public demonstrations in support of women's right to vote. Her work included portraits of leading figures such as Christabel Pankhurst, who co-founded the Women's Social and Political Union.

Bradstreet's first volume of poetry was The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, published in 1650. It was met with a positive reception in both the Old World and the New World. Her later writings developed into her unique style of poetry which centers on her role as a mother, her struggles with the sufferings of life, and her Puritan faith. While her works were initially considered primarily of historical significance, she reached posthumous acclaim in the 20th century. Her first collection, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, was widely read in America and England.

Burke opened the Selma Burke Art School in New York City in 1946, and later opened the Selma Burke Art Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The center "was an original art center that played an integral role in the Pittsburgh art community," offering courses ranging from studio workshops to puppetry classes. Burke used her art to make opportunities to bring people together. In Mooresville, black children were banned from use of the public library. With her rising fame, Burke chose to donate a bust of a local doctor on the condition that the ban be removed. The town accepted. Burke

In 1943, Burke competed in a national contest to win a commission for the sculpture, created from sketches made during a 45-minute sitting with Roosevelt at the White House. Burke herself "wrote to Roosevelt to request a live sitting, to which the president generously agreed. His wife Eleanor Roosevelt objected to how young Burke chose to present him, but she responded by saying, "This profile is not for today, but for tomorrow and all time. The 3.5-by-2.5-foot plaque was completed in 1944 and unveiled by President Harry S. Truman in September 1945 at the Recorder of Deeds Building in Washington, D.C., where it still hangs today.

Team Kwe competed in the 2024 Minnesota State Snow Sculpting Competition. The team’s sculpture was called “Wenabozho and Dadibaajimad Journey on the River of Souls,” and was a homage to Ojibwe artist Jim Denomie, who died in 2022. The piece illustrates a traditional Ojibwe story of two figures—Wenabozho and his brother Dadibaajimad—on an otherworldly journey. According to Ojibwe tradition, when someone dies, they travel the Milky Way in a canoe to join relatives who have passed before them.

In the 1940s and 50s Liebes was one of the most well-known textile designers in the United States. In contrast to the neutral palette of many of her modernist contemporaries, she became well known for her unexpected use of materials, vibrant color and pattern. She had a penchant for combining seemingly mismatched colors in a cohesive, visually pleasing manner. Liebes famously called color a “magic elixir” and her textiles were characterized by their rich vibrant hues. Her company, Dorothy Liebes Design, Inc. was opened in 1937, though her husband opposed it.By 1938 she had seventeen men and women working in her studio.

Hallock-Greenewalt named her new color-music Nourathar, an adaptation of the Arabic words for light (nour), and essence of (athar). Unlike earlier inventors of color-music such as the painter A. Wallace Rimington, Hallock-Greenewalt did not produce a strict definition of correspondence between specific colors and particular notes, instead arguing that these relationships were inherently variable and reflected the temperament and ability of the performer. Her earliest attempts at creating this art entailed construction of an automated machine where colored lights were synchronized to records. This produced an unsatisfactory result, leading to development of an instrument that could actually be played live. Her color organ, which she named "Sarabet" after her mother, required her to invent a number of new technologies. She received nine patents from the US Patent office for them. Among these devices was a non-linear variety of rheostat, a patent that was infringed by General Electric and other companies. She sued them for infringement and won in 1934. The Sarabet went through a series of refinements between 1916 and 1934. In 1946 she published a book on her invented art of "light-color playing" called Nourathar: The Fine Art of Light-Color Playing.

considered 1 of the finest contraltos of her time; triumphed over racial prejudice & was an inspiration for America's civil rights movement; 1925 1st African-American to solo at the NY Philharmonic; 1951 required all her concerts be open to integrated audiences; 1955 1st African-American to appear on the main stage at the Metropolitan Opera; 1st American to perform at the Gandhi Memorial; 1961 sang at JFK's inauguration; 1963 sang at the March on Washington DC where Martin Luther King gave his I Have a Dream speech

invented a method of repairing Native American pottery with materials that match the original

Jeppesen and her pilot husband started a business publishing flight charts, with first-hand knowledge of what was useful and necessary in such documents. The Jeppesen Airway Manual was first published from their home in Salt Lake City, and later from a storefront in Denver, Colorado, with Nadine Jeppesen overseeing the publication's design and hiring cartographers. The manuals were an established resource for pilots before the start of World War II, which increased demand for them. Nadine Jeppesen was responsible for marketing, publicity, and accounting at the company, while Elrey Jeppesen continued to fly for United Airlines until 1954.

was a German entomologist, naturalist and scientific illustrator. She was one of the earliest European naturalists to document observations about insects directly. Merian was a descendant of the Frankfurt branch of the Swiss Merian family. ; illustrated the metamorphosis of the butterfly; illustrated the relationship between insects & plants unknown to Europeans while travelling to Surinam in 1699 & in 1705 published Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensum

* Fields used her hydrographic knowledge and skills to contribute to nautical charts used by the US Navy during 1991 Gulf War * Improved and streamlined nautical chart making process * First female African-American Director of NOAA’s National Ocean Service * Director of NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations from 1999 until her retirement in 2003.

* Norwood designed the Multispectral Scanner first used on Landsat 1, which enabled scientists to map & study the Earth. * She also designed the microwave transmitter Surveyor 1 used to transmit data & images back to earth. * Norwood continued to oversee Landsat 1-5 (#10 is scheduled for launch in 2030). * She has been referred to as "The Mother of Landsat". She holds 3 patents (1 is classified) for her contribution to the Landsat program.

co-founder of the National Historical Publishing Company, which is known for publishing historical maps; 1876 wrote "Minnesota, Its Geography, History, and Resources" & the text was considered groundbreaking for combining history, resources, and geography, an idea later used by other textbook publishers in the United States; before her marriage she was creator of historical wall maps that included historical events of countries; with husband Henry Slade Goff wrote "Goff's Historical Map of the Spanish-American War in the West Indies, 1898;" her collaboration with her husband produced over 100 historical maps, charts, and books, which included the historical atlas called "The United States and Her Neighbors" and the "Goff's Historical Map of the Philippine Islands;"her maps & annotations documented the world during her lifetime

develops mathematical and computational fraAbebe's research develops techniques in artificial intelligence and algorithms, with a focus on inequality and distributive justice. Her work includes algorithmic frameworks for examining issues in underserved populations. Her interest in merging inequality studies and computer science stemmed both from her educational background in Ethiopia as well as her study of the Cambridge public schools through attendance of school board meetings. Through these experiences she emphasizes the potential social harms of inequitable algorithmic design in her work. Throughout 2019 Abebe served on the National Institutes of Health Working Group, which was tasked with developing a comprehensive report and recommendations for the NIH. meworks for examining questions related to inequality and distributive justice; founder of the multi-institutional extradisciplinary research initiatives MD4SG & Black in AI; works with the Ethiopian government to improve the algorithm they use to match H.S. students with colleges;

In December 2020, Gebru was the center of a public controversy stemming from her abrupt and contentious departure from Google as technical co-lead of the Ethical Artificial Intelligence Team. Higher management had requested she withdraw an as-yet-unpublished paper or remove the names of all Google coauthors, and said that the paper ignored recent research. She requested insight into the decision and warned that non-compliance would result in her negotiating her departure. Google terminated her employment immediately, stating they were accepting her resignation. Gebru has been recognized widely for her expertise in the ethics of artificial intelligence.

Anderson is a cofounder of Syntience Inc, an independent and privately funded Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Research company founded in 2004. They focus on Deep Neural Network based Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and have developed a superfast algorithm for learning human languages called Organic Learning (OL). Under certain constraints they can claim that OL can learn a useful amount of any language on the planet in five minutes of unsupervised learning from a plaintext 5MB Unicode corpus when running on an old x86 laptop without using a GPU. They are productizing this capability as a RESTful cloud server named Understanding Machine One.

Reiche made the documentation preservation and public dissemination of the Nazca Lines her life's work; was instrumental in their designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Sit in 1994 & getting the Peruvian governemnt to help preserve them

"Wrote a textbook ""Science of Man's Environment-Principles of Science & Technology for Environment Marine Engineering & Ocean Science Technology "" 1986; helped develop job opportunities for minorities in marine science & oceanography established & operated Marine Science Technology program at Washington Technical Institute (later part of University of the District of Columbia); helped establish seminar ""Passing the Bar"" Testing Techniques enabling more minority students to pass the bar exam"

known for Aquatic radiochemistry using various biochemical indicators to interpret past events impacting marine estuarine & freshwater environments in the Arctic & coastal regions of Georgia Florida & Puerto Rico; founding CEO/Superintendent of Cirrus Academy a statewide STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts & Mathematics) charter school system in Georgia; life coach to minority students in STEM; participates in numerous diversity-focused initiatives in marine/oceanic academia to increase opportunities for minorities

played a key role in creating the first GIS data model for the oceans

One of the early researchers at what is now The Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Essenberg authored the Quantitative Studies On Inshore Marine Diatoms And Dinoflagellates Of Southern California In 1920, And Stylarioides Papillosa Sp. Nov., A New Annelid From The San Diego Region. Opened The American School for Girls in Damascus Syria 1925; published "Description of Some NewSpecies of Polynoidae From the Coast of California" a 28 page paper in 1917; published "The Factors of some New Species of Polynoidae From the Coast of California" a 146 page paper in 1918