Women of Influence (U)

<p>After 17 years, two World Championships, two Olympic Gold Medals, and near unparalleled success as a marketing icon, Mia Hamm retired from professional soccer in 2004 as not only the best women’s soccer player in history but also as one of the most important and recognizable female figures in the history of sport.

<p>Two-time World Cup Champion and co-captain of the US Women’s National Soccer Team, Megan Rapinoe is a fan favorite and one of the team’s most technical players.</p><p>A vocal leader on and off the pitch, Megan helped lead the USWNT to the 2019 Women’s World Cup Championship scoring some of the biggest goals of the tournament. Megan took home the tournament’s two top honors – the Golden Boot for top scorer, and the Golden Ball for the best player in the tournament.

<p>Sharing stories from her extraordinary career as leader of planetary protection for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and her work on the famed 2020 Mars mission, Dr. “Moo” Cooper inspires organizations and individuals to build strong teams, overcome obstacles, and push beyond their limitations.</p><p>As the real-life “Guardian of the Galaxy,” Dr.

<p>Lauren Berger is CEO & Founder of both CareerQueen.com and InternQueen.com, reaching over 9 million people and connecting them with their dream careers. </p><p>Her newest book <i>Get It Together; Ditch the Chaos, Do the Work, Design Your Success</i> is a super-practical guide to personal success and is packed with no-nonsense tips that will get anywhere where they want to be in business and in life.</p><p>Berger has been a featured keynote speaker at over 200+ college, leadership, entrepreneurship, and female empowerment events.

<p>Shereen Marisol Meraji is a veteran audio producer and journalist who has been telling stories with sound for more than two decades. </p><p>Shereen helped create NPR’s critically acclaimed podcast covering race and identity, <em>Code Switch</em>.

<p>Sophia Nelson is an award-winning journalist, global keynote speaker, bestselling author, constitutional commentator, attorney, professor, and founder and CEO of The Redefining Freedom Center of Virginia, a nonprofit dedicated to renewing civic trust, strengthening democracy, and reimagining freedom for the 21st century.</p><p> A frequent commentator on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and C-SPAN, she has appeared across virtually every major national and</p><p>global media platform in the world—from <em>The Today Show </em>and<em> Sunday Today</em>

<p>Dr. Leana Wen is a practicing physician, healthcare executive, and one of America’s leading public health experts. She is a columnist for The <em>Washington Post</em>, where she writes a twice-weekly column on medicine and public health and anchors the Post newsletter, "The Checkup with Dr. Wen".

<p>Best known for her groundbreaking turn as the first Black lead on ABC’s <em>The Bachelorette, </em>Rachel Lindsay shares anecdotes from her incredible career as a media host and sports attorney, inspiring audiences to blaze their own personal and professional trails. </p><p>Throughout her journey to find love, Rachel Lindsay became a fan favorite for her intellect, authenticity, and ability to navigate difficult situations with confidence and poise.

<p>In today’s ever-changing political landscape, Yamiche Alcindor has become a go-to voice in analyzing the most critical issues of our time for Democrats and Republicans alike.</p><p>Since early 2022, she has been the Washington correspondent for NBC News covering the Biden administration, the impact of federal policies on communities and issues at the intersection of race, culture and politics.

<p>Maureen Dowd, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary on Bill Clinton's impeachment woes, became a columnist on <i>The New York Times </i>Op-Ed page in 1995 after having served for a decade as a correspondent in the paper's Washington bureau.</p>