It’s never too late to lean in.
A list released Monday of 40 Women to Watch Over 40 recognizes both the wisdom that comes with age and the potential for later achievements. Compiled by Christina Vuleta, founder of women’s mentoring platform 40:20 Vision, and Whitney Johnson, author of Dare, Dream, Do, the list emphasizes the accomplishments and diverse backgrounds of women who are making major professional contributions after the age of 40.
“You always hear about the extremes: women that gave it all up to make it to the top or women that opted out,” said Vuleta. “There are a lot of women in the middle that are navigating both and coming into their own in their 40s.”
Vuleta says that contrary to prevailing “younger is always better” attitudes regarding innovators and entrepreneurs, the full picture of a woman’s career over several decades often shows that while inspiration can strike at any age, those who implement ideas later in their careers sometimes “have more impact.”
The list includes some names of women accustomed to accolades, like angel investor Joanne Wilson and former Etsy CEO Maria Thomas, but it also features women who have worked primarily outside of corner offices, such as 73-year old photojournalist Paola Gianturco and Dominique Crenn, chef and owner of Michelin-rated San Francisco restaurant Atelier Crenn.
Candidates were measured by a panel of judges according to three criteria: having created growth in a given field and shown future potential, having “gone beyond traditional mentoring” to create new pathways, and having reinvented themselves after 40.
According to Vuleta, over a thousand women applied to be on the list.
“We were surprised by the almost audible sigh when people realized there was still time to make a list,” said Johnson. “Life wasn’t over because [these women] hadn’t made ‘30 Under 30.’”
Vuleta left her job in advertising in her mid-forties and traveled the country interviewing women over 40 about what they felt they had learned professionally and what they wish they had known. While talking, she says, to female entrepreneurs in New York, she was inspired by the wisdom-sharing and mentoring she witnessed. She asked Johnson to collaborate with her on a list that would highlight women who were making significant achievements after 40.
Johnson originally hoped to be on the list herself, but decided instead to work with Vuleta on the process of designing and compiling it after being overwhelmed by the experience of “talking to women who felt like life and opportunity was over at 40, and they were invisible.”
She describes sifting through the application of her peers and feeling “camaraderie, and a sense of admiration for these lives being so well lived.”
Both Johnson and Vuleta stress the idea of visibility: They want women in their 40s to feel recognized for their contributions, not only publicly but by younger women and corporations. The two were surprised by the enthusiasm with which their project was received, even by those already prominent in their fields, and, said Johnson, by “the willingness and gusto with which they raised their hands and said, ‘This matters to me. I’d love to be considered.’”
Johnson and Vuleta plan to compile the list annually, and hope to bring women recognized for achievements after 40 together with women in their 20s to share perspectives. Through this process Johnson said she hopes younger women will be able to better understand the availability of mentoring relationships and to realize, “’I do have role models, I just didn’t see them.’”
To learn more about 40 Women to Watch Over 40 and the full 2013 roster, visit fortyover40.com.
40 Women to Watch Over 40 - 2013 Recipients
Anne-Marie Slaughter: Princeton Law Professor, President-elect, New America Foundation, Starting a work-life movement 54
AnnMaria de Mars: CEO, 7 Generation Games, Adjunct Professor, Statistical Methods, Pepperdine, 54
Bettina Sherick: SVP of Digital Strategic Marketing, 20th Century Fox, 49
Cali Yost: CEO and Founder, Flex+Strategy Group, 48
Carine Clark: President and CEO at Allegiance, Inc. 49
Carol Fox: Director, Strategic Planning and Partnerships at East-West Center, 69
Chandra Krintz: CTO at AppScale Systems & Computer Science (CS) Professor at UCSB, 43
Cheryl Kellond: CEO & Co-Founder at Bia Sport, 42
Deborah Jackson: Founder/CEO at Plum Alley and co-founder Women Innovate Mobile Accelerator, 51
Deb Levine: Executive Director and Founder at YTH (formerly ISIS), 50
Diane Danielson: Chief Platform Officer, Sperry Van Ness International Corporation, Founder Downtown Women’s Club, 45.
Dondeena Bradley: VP Global Design & Development, Nutrition, PepsiCo, 46
Dominique Crenn: Chef/Owner, Atelier Crenn, 48
Ingrid Vanderveldt: Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Dell, CEO, Ingrid Vanderveldt LLC, CEO, VH2 Energy Investments and Green Girl, 43
Jacki Zehner: CEO, Women Moving Millions, former Partner, Goldman, Sachs
Jalak Jobanputra: Founding Partner of FuturePerfect Ventures, 40
Jenifer Willig: Co-founder of Motive & WHOLE WORLD Water
Jen MacLean: Head of Business Development, Ovuline,40
Joanne Wilson: Angel Investor, Blogger (Gotham Gal), Founder, Women Entrepreneur’s Festival, 51
Joy Marcus: Managing Director, DFJ Gotham Ventures, 50+
Kara Goldin: Founder/CEO, Hint, Young President’s Organization, 45
Kathleen Warner: Chief Operating Officer, Startup America Partnership, 48
Kelly Hoey: Founder, Women Innovate Mobile, Angel Investor, 47
Kimberly Mahan: Founder, Principal Optimist at MAXX Potential, Co-founder/CEOIntelliGraph, Inc. 42
Lauren Flanagan: Managing Partner at BELLE Capital USA LP, Angel Investor, 57
Lesa Mitchell: VP Innovation and Networks, Kauffman Foundation, 53
Linda Avey: Co-founder, 23andMe and Curious, 53
Maria Stukoff: Head of Academic Development, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, 44
Maria Thomas: Consumer Internet Executive, Board Member, Former Etsy CEO, 49
Michelle McKenna: CIO, NFL, mid-40s
Nancy Duarte: Principal at Duarte Design, Inc., 50
Nina Ignatius: CEO/Founder of Beibamboo, Board member at Netcycler. 42.
Paola Gianturco: Photojournalist, Activist, Women, founder Grandmother Power, 73
Rachel Armstrong: Co-Director AVATAR (Advance Virtual And Technological Architectural Research) group, 44
Shelly Kapoor Collins: Founder Rootsquare, Vice Chair of Sec. Clinton's 50x50 Leadership Circle, CEO of Enscient, 41
Susan McPherson: SVP/Global Marketing for Fenton Communications, 48
Tracey Welson-Rossman: Founder of TechGirlz.org, CMO Chariot Solutions, 41
Trae Vassallo: General Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, 40
Victoria Carter: Director JUCY Group, Tax Management NZ, Cityhop, Chair Auckland Arts Festival, 49.
Wendi Sturgis: EVP, Sales and Services of Yext, 45
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