After losing her husband to suicide during his battle with tuberculosis, Josephine undertook an extensive rebuilding of his winery and oversaw the very first harvest. She kept the business alive until 1895 when she decided to sell it to the then burgeoning giant Italian Swiss Colony. The winery, located near St. Helena, still stands today as part of Freemark Abbey Wines.
Eliza Shaw Hood, Ellen Stuart, and Kate Warfield all hailed from Glen Ellen. All three lived and worked near one another, and all three took over the wineries owned by their respective husbands in the late 1870s and early 1880s.
Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia
For patriotic service, a keen sense of diplomacy and an astonishing ability of conducting affairs of the state of the greatest importance the fame of Zrinyi Ilona outshines completely the brilliant array of Hungary’s great women.
German astronomer
Shajar al-Durr rose from being a child slave to ruling as a sultana in Egypt.
Mah Chuchak Begum was a wife of the second Mughal emperor Humayun who took over Kabul and rode into battle with her troops.
Poet and author Sei Shōnagon was a court lady who served the Empress Teishi (Sadako) around the year 1000 during the middle Heian period. She is the author of The Pillow Book (枕草子, makura no sōshi), a collection of essays, anecdotes, poems and descriptive passages inspired by moments in her daily life.
Juana Azurduy de Padilla was a guerrilla military leader who fought for Bolivian independence, earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. She was known for her strong support for and military leadership of the indigenous people of Bolivia, then called Upper Peru.
New Zealand activist and single mother Joss Shawyer campaigned for the rights of single mothers from the 1970s.