Fortune Most Powerful Women

Eileen Fisher, the apparel brand known for its luxe, flowy silhouettes and appeal to the older female shopper, has been built over four decades with some core principles.?https://lnkd.in/ec9zB9hd But somehow, many of the ideals Eileen Fisher embodies have become popular with millennials and Gen Z shoppers—from minimalism and quiet luxury to slow fashion. The only problem is, that while some brands that claim to be similarly “purpose-driven” nevertheless take on the intense marketing competing in the fashion industry demands, Eileen Fisher has genuinely limited its scale and reach. Before the past five years, the brand had never even had a CEO; Fisher herself eschewed the title. She preferred to keep the company private, too; employees are part-owners in the brand.? Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ec9zB9hd

Estelle Brachlianoff is one of the most influential female CEOs in Europe.?https://lnkd.in/gAMPugBc Her $49 billion company, Veolia, is ranked No. 77 on the Fortune 500 Europe (where only 6.2% of companies have female chiefs) and No. 308 on the Global 500 (where the stat is even lower, at 5.6%). But it’s hard to explain to the general public what Veolia does. “We’re quite unique, so therefore we don’t have many comparison points,” Brachlianoff says. Brachlianoff joined Veolia almost 20 years ago, so she’s had time to practice her elevator pitch—but the business has changed dramatically in two decades. Today, Veolia provides solutions for “ecological transformation,” Brachlianoff says. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gAMPugBc

After graduating from Washington University, Morgan DeBaun moved from St. Louis to the Bay area to work for the software company Intuit.?https://lnkd.in/g9YkjzPi But over time, she felt that Silicon Valley didn’t have a connection to Black consumers. “I was surprised to find that no one was prioritizing us as a target demographic,” DeBaun, now 34, told Fortune. She eventually left her full-time job and in 2014 launched Blavity Inc. , a media and tech company, for Black millennials to have a platform to tell their own stories. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/g9YkjzPi

“I’ve longed to hear other words.” In an interview with News Not Noise founder Jessica Yellin at the #FortuneMPW Summit, actress Halle Berry said that she has longed for someone to say something other than “you’re so pretty” to her. “I know I’m more than this,” Berry said. “I think it’s a shame that as women, we’re being told that we have to find a way to stay eternally young, forever 30, as though we’re not allowed to be human and do what we’re naturally born to do,” she added. Watch the full video here: https://lnkd.in/gWjqMV_D

While it may sound counterintuitive, a growing number of women are opting to carry even more weight on their shoulders. In pursuit of preserving strength, a slew of middle-aged women are purchasing weighted vests to optimize their health and counter age-related muscle and bone loss. Read more: https://lnkd.in/d22u4GHc

“Society told us [women], or has told us, that our time is up.” https://lnkd.in/gWjqMV_D “I’m in menopause,” actress Halle Berry said during a live interview at the?Most Powerful Women Summit?in Laguna Niguel, California. “How liberating is that?” Berry has launched a midlife women’s wellness business called Respin and is advocating for Congress to support a bill directing $275 million to research menopause therapies and medicines. In the interview at the #FortuneMPW?Summit, Berry said middle-aged women “are just getting our groove.” Watch the full video here: https://lnkd.in/gWjqMV_D

Starting in January, Deanna Strable will be 145-year-old Principal’s first female CEO and president.?https://lnkd.in/ezwDGPva Since the late 1980’s? Strable has worked her way up through the ranks at Principal starting as an intern. Strable is a fount of business knowledge, meeting with the Fortune team earlier this week—“For your hard skills, lean into your strengths. For your soft skills, lean into your weaknesses,” she says—to the growing trend of CFOs becoming CEOs. Strable is succeeding Dan Houston, president and CEO since 2016. Read more: https://lnkd.in/ezwDGPva

Sallie Krawcheck is not a fan of the “work-life balance” question. The Wall Street veteran recently told Fortune she still remembers sitting on a panel in the mid-2000s. Then Citigroup’s chief financial officer, Krawchek sat alongside C-suite executives from other Fortune 500 giants. But while her male counterparts were asked about “balance-sheet management,” Krawcheck was asked about how she balanced her responsibilities while being a working mother. "I’ve been a successful business lady, but that’s not enough." Read more: https://lnkd.in/eccjamef

When she joined Universal Music Publishing Group in 2015, Jody Gerson became the first woman to serve as CEO of a major music publisher.?https://lnkd.in/egiXcGU8 Although her appointment marked progress in a historically male-dominated industry, Gerson, who previously held senior roles at Sony and EMI, was not complacent. “When I came into this job, I said publicly that I wouldn’t be satisfied if, when I left this job, I was still the only woman,” she says. “I could be the first. I didn’t want to be the only.” “I always say that Taylor Swift has taught me more about my own power than anyone else,” she says. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/egiXcGU8

Monica Molenaar and Anne Fulenwider founded the menopause care startup Alloy four years ago. When they first spoke to investors, the response they often heard was, “That’s kind of niche, isn’t it?” Fulenwider remembers. Recently, the cofounders and co-CEOs returned to the investor circuit and raised $16 million in a Series A round, Fortune is the first to report. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/envj2iBB