The World's Most Powerful Women

Top 10 Most Powerful Women

Forbes power lists are synonymous with moguls and movie stars, heads of state and captains of business. One look at the 2010 World's 100 Most Powerful Women list and it is clear that we've come up with a new ranking of the female power elite that reflects the New Order of now.

When Forbes set out to identify this year's list, they decided it was time to look up and out into the broader culture. Ther assessment is based less on traditional titles and roles and more on creative influence and entrepreneurship. These women have built distinctive companies and brands and championed weighty causes, sometimes through unconventional means; in other cases they have broken through gender barriers.

Read on for a look at the top 10 most powerful women in the world.

(Chris Polk/Getty Images; Eric Feferberg/AFP/Getty Images)

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The World's Most... Forbes power lists are synonymous with moguls and movie stars, heads of state and captains of business. One look at the 2010 World's 100 Most Powerful Women list and it is clear that we've come up with a new ranking of the female power elite that reflects the New Order of now.

When Forbes set out to identify this year's list, they decided it was time to look up and out into the broader culture. Ther assessment is based less on traditional titles and roles and more on creative influence and entrepreneurship. These women have built distinctive companies and brands and championed weighty causes, sometimes through unconventional means; in other cases they have broken through gender barriers.

Read on for a look at the top 10 most powerful women in the world.

(Chris Polk/Getty Images; Eric Feferberg/AFP/Getty Images)
10. Ellen Degene... Age: 52
Title: Talk show host
Country of citizenship: United States
Marital Status: Married

Profile: If the title weren't already taken, it wouldn't be a stretch to call DeGeneres "queen of all media." Her eponymous chat show, a five-time Emmy winner, is now in its eighth season. She was an American Idol judge this year, but quit because, she says, it "didn't feel like the right fit for me." In between, she's a face for Cover Girl and Vitaminwater Zero and has been a runway model for designer Richie Rich. An outspoken gay-rights supporter, she came out in 1997 and married actress Portia de Rossi in 2008; de Rossi legally took DeGeneres' name last month. Putting her money where her heart is, this March the talk host gave a $30,000 college scholarship to Constance McMillen, a gay Mississippi teen who challenged her school's policy banning same-sex prom dates.

(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
9. Beyonce Knowl... Age: 29
Title: Singer, fashion designer
Country of citizenship: United States
Marital Status: Married

Profile: Beyoncé had an income of $80 million last year, thanks to an ever-expanding artistic and business empire that includes 118 million records, seven films, 16 Grammy awards (she was the first woman to win six in one night) and numerous MTV Video Music Awards, including this year's collaboration with Lady Gaga, Telephone. Then there are the modeling contracts with L'Oréal and Coty, and a partnership in Deréon fashions with her mother, Tina. Her songs inspire everyone from Michelle Obama (Beyoncé's a go-to on the first lady's iPod) and the U.S. women's ice hockey team, who would warm up before Olympic games by dancing to her songs in the locker room. And the single ladies. A video of 7- to 9-year old girls dancing to the tune hit the Internet this year, creating a storm of criticism.

(Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
8. Gail Kelly Age: 54
Title: Chief Executive, Westpac Country of citizenship: Australia
Education: BA/BS, University of Cape Town
Marital Status: Married

Profile: As head of Australia's second-largest bank, Westpac, with $551 billion in assets and $15.9 billion in revenue, and the country's most influential businesswoman, the native South African has an outsized public profile. Kelly's every statement and opinion--public or otherwise--is reported minutely, occasionally provoking national controversy. Since late 2009 Kelly has earned the ire of everyday Australians by drastically raising interest rates on loans. The problem, according to Kelly: Australian consumer savings rates are much lower than in other areas of the world, making it more expensive for banks like Westpac to seek out funding. She's hoping to attract more Australian savers this year to stop the vicious cycle.

(Courtesy of The Westpac Group)
7. Lady Gaga Age: 24
Title: Singer and performance artist
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: Dropout, New York University
Marital Status: Single

Profile: All hail the new queen of pop. Part singer and part performance artist, Lady Gaga (née Stefanie Germanotta) has single-handedly reinvigorated pop music and pop culture. Her songs are like brain candy (sticky and addictive), her performances and fashion style are a spectacle. Her first album, The Fame, debuted in 2008, scoring two No. 1 hits with Just Dance and Poker Face. Her latest, The Fame Monster, has now put her on par with Beyoncé, Rhianna, and Mariah Carey for the most No. 1 Billboard hits (six) by a female artist. Her Monster's Ball world tour is poised to gross $200 million by the time it ends in April 2011. But it's not all pop and glamour for Gaga. She is vocal supporter of gay rights and the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell."

(Chris Polk/Getty Images)
6. Indra Nooyi Age: 54
Title: Chief Executive, PepsiCo
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: MBA, Yale University

Marital Status: Married

Children: 2

Profile: This year Nooyi nudged a $20 million slice of the company's $616-million-a-year ad budget away from traditional to social media spends. A worldwide campaign, Pepsi Refresh, lets you submit grant proposals to a website, then encourages online voters to choose the winners (amounts: $5,000 to $250,000). "It blurs the line between philanthropy and advertising," says Nooyi, whose total annual compensation package last year was $10.6 million. Refresh also allocates $1.3 million each month for a U.S. project, such as the recent "Do Good For the Gulf," which offers stipends to build a shelter for animals whose owners lost their homes to the oil spill and to provide mental health services and job training. "Brands have to speak to millenniums; young people want to make a difference," she says.

(AP Photo/Richard Drew)
5. Hillary Clint... Age: 62
Title: Secretary of State
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: BA/BS, Wellesley College; LLM, Yale University
Marital Status: Married
Children: 1

Profile: Diplomatic breakthroughs are rare. And while Clinton, a former first lady and U.S. senator, brings star power to the State Department, she has yet to notch a triumph beyond resetting the button in U.S.-Russian ties and the Turkey-Armenia treaty. She has put her skills on the line with an umpteenth attempt to broker Middle East peace. No one discounts her continuing contributions to the plight of women worldwide: victims of rape in Congo and of flooding in Pakistan and the millions of mothers exposed to dangerous cookstoves. What's next for Hillary? Heading up the World Bank--or becoming Obama's running mate in 2012?

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
4. Angela Merkel... Age: 56
Title: Chancellor
Country of citizenship: Germany
Marital Status: Married

Profile: With a fragile coalition--and infighting between the FDP (liberals) and the Christian Social Union, with both of whom her party is allied--Merkel is trying to push through tax and education reforms before next spring's regional elections. With German business sentiment near all-time highs, she can afford to spend a little political capital. Germany's planned 4% cuts in the 2011 budget ($400 billion) may anger constituents, many of whom are looking for wage raises. Merkel is lobbying for a non-permanent seat for Germany on the U.N. Security Council; some believe she is angling for a permanent place.

(Eric Feferberg/AFP/Getty Images)
3. Oprah Winfrey... Age: 56
Title: Talk show host and media mogul
Source: Television, self-made
Residence: Chicago, IL
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: BA/BS, Tennessee State University
Marital Status: Single

Profile: The world's most successful female media exec--she earned $1.35 billion over the last five years--is making some big changes for 2010-11. Her 25th season of Oprah, the program that has launched multiple careers, spawned countless bestsellers and helped millions of women feel that someone, at last, understands them, will air its final show on Sept. 9, 2011. Next up? Winfrey is launching OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, a joint venture of Discovery Channel and her own Harpo Productions, in January 2012. Among its offerings: Rosie O'Donnell back in the host's chair, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson on a reality show and a new competition series produced by Survivor's Mark Burnett. Ending 2010 on an up note, she will be honored by the Kennedy Center in December for her 25 years in entertainment.

(George Pimentel/WireImage/Getty Images)
2. Irene Rosenfe... Age: 57
Title: Chief Executive, Kraft Foods
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: BA/BS, Cornell University; PHD, Cornell University; MS, Cornell University
Marital Status: Widower
Children: 2

Profile: Her $26.3 million compensation package in 2009 made Rosenfeld the nation's second-highest-paid female, after Yahoo!'s Carol Bartz. She earned it, drawing fire early this year after announcing plans to acquire British candymaker Cadbury. Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway owned 9.4% of Kraft, voted against the deal, calling it "dumb." When Rosenfeld refused to back down, Buffett retaliated by selling 33.1 million Kraft shares (one-third of Berkshire's stake). Who was right? Kraft's second-quarter revenues rose 25.3% to $12.3 billion, boosted largely by Cadbury's business in Europe and in developing markets. "Obviously I'm very pleased with the outcome," she says. On the home front, Kraft is spending more on ads to push core brands--Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Kraft Singles, Oreos and Mac & Cheese (her favorite).

(Courtesy of Kraft Foods)
1. Michelle Obam... Age: 46
Title: First Lady
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: LLM , Harvard University; BA/BS, Princeton University
Marital Status: Married
Children: 2

Profile: She has made the office of First Lady her own. A forceful advocate of school nutrition standards and military families' affairs, she's more involved in policy than Laura Bush was. But unlike Hillary Clinton, who championed a secretive (and ultimately unsuccessful) health care reform, Obama has stayed away from hard policy. A fashion icon and an athletic mother of two, she's Jackie Kennedy with a law degree from Harvard and street sense from Chicago's South Side. She's also effective: In response to her Let's Move! campaign against childhood obesity, companies like Coca-Cola, Kellogg and General Mills have pledged to reduce the calorie content of their foods by 2012. The first lady remains popular: 54 percent of Americans view her favorably.

(White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)
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