Hope Katz Gibbs, author, Truly Amazing Women

Fran Drescher

Author Alice Hoffman

Karen Hanrahan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Human Rights and Democracy, Obama Administration

Photographer Maggie Winters

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Author Adriana Trigiani

Marga Fripp, founder, Empowered Women International

Cancer survivor Debbie Gee

Photographer Anna Paige Gibbs

Carolina Garcia, LeoNora Gourmet Bakery

Trudi Lacey, head coach and general manager, The Washington Mystics

Screwtop Wine Bar owner, Wendy Buckley

Soprano Monica Yunus, co-founder "Sing for Hope"

Dr. Helen Fisher, author "Why Him? Why Her?"

Faux artist Adrienne van Doreen, author "The House That Faux Built"

Danielle Goldstone, Ashoka

Life Coach Martha Beck, Oprah magazine columnist, author, "Finding Your Own North Star, "Steering By Starlight," and her latest, "Finding Your Way in A Wild New World."

Julie Otsuka, author, "When the Emperor Was Divine" and "The Buddha in the Attic"

Philanthropist Edie Fraser

Jennifer Niven, author and screenwriter of the series, "Velva Jean Learns to Drive"

Pam Godwin, President of Change Partners, Inc.

Yoga teacher Annie Moyer, director, Sun & Moon Yoga Studio, Arlington VA

Andrea Keating, CEO and founder, Crews Control

Gina Schaefer, owner, ACE Hardware stores

International AIDS Activist Sabine Durier

Stephanie Bhonsay, founder, Garden U

Mary Seton Corboy

Molly Barker, founder, Girls on the Run

Kathi Kamen Goldmark

Entrepreneur Lisa Mecurio, founder, The Bedtime Network and SmashArts

Episcopal Bishop Katharine Schori

Fine artist and writer, J. Ruth Gendler; author of "The Book of Qualities,” “Changing Light,” and “Notes on the Need for Beauty.”

Alece Birnbach

Futurist Kristin Nauth Partner, Foresight Alliance

Journalist and author Kati Marton

Author Margie Warrell, "Find Your Courage"

Shoe Designer Xiomara Arroyo, owner and founder, Xiomara Lisette

Intuitive Guide Eliel Fionn

Principal Nardos King

Roz Schanzer

Laurie Strongin and baby Henry

Wendy Smith, author, "Give a Little"

Children's book author Beverly Cleary

Stephanie Bunt and her family

Lisa McLeod

Artist Sally Wern Comport, Art At Large

Kathleen Jo Ryan

Nell Merlino

Analena Valdes Graham, MASH PIT

Barbara Lee Shaw

Paulette Brown

Kate Ludeman

Meg Carnes

Immigration Attorney Linda Rahal

Activist Jane Barker is working to build the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial

Bestselling Author Caroline Leavitt, "Pictures of You."

Dr. Salma Haque, Simplicity Urgent Care

Rachel Machacek, author of "The Science of Single"

Lee Woodruff, author, "Perfectly Imperfect"

Miami photographer Cindy Seip

Joanna Barsh, author, "How Remarkable Women Lead"

Roxanne Ladd

Travel Writer Carla King

Travel Writer Lisa Alpine

Welcome

Truly Amazing Women, LLC, is an organization that honors, connects, and promotes the women who are making strides and changing lives.

What makes a woman truly amazing? That’s the question I have been excited to answer since April 18, 2008—the day this big idea was born. Having been a journalist since graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1986, I have written hundreds of articles about the fabulous work women do every day as they juggle careers and finances, family and responsibility to their community—and try to hold onto a little something for themselves.

Inspiration to create this project came on the warm spring day when I had the privilege of being surrounded by dozens of dynamic, invincible women determined to create change. I first attended a luncheon hosted by Nechama Shemtov, the leader of the influential Jewish DC organization, Aura, at the Dupont Circle residence of the Ambassador to Colombia. Speakers included actress and Cancer Schmancer founder Fran Drescher, Hadassah Lieberman, and Holocaust survivor Nesse Godin. I then scooted across town to attend a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton at the home of philanthropist Edie Fraser, where hundreds of women gathered to help elect the first female president.

As I sat sipping my coffee the next morning with my husband, illustrator Michael Gibbs, I told him that I felt compelled to do something to honor all of the women who work so hard, yet often go unnoticed. He smiled a knowing grin and lifted his eyes to mine. “You know,” he said, “you are going to have to write a book about this.” We clinked our mugs together, and got to work. Within weeks, Mike designed this website, and our Inkandescent PR web guru Max Kukoy programmed it. The book—and a TV series—is in development. Click here to learn about our plans.

I invite you to join us on this journey. Start by perusing the website, beginning with profiles of three amazing women posted below. These rotate, so refresh the homepage to meet three more ladies. To view all of the profiles, click on The Women. The profiles are also sorted by The Industries that these amazing women work in. Then click over to the Submit a Proposal page, and tell me how you are amazing!

I look forward to meeting you! — Hope hope@hopegibbs.com • Inkandescent PR

Meet more of our Truly Amazing Women

Comedienne Fran Capo, America's Fastest-Talking Female

Who she is: Fran is a comedienne, keynote motivational speaker, 16-time author, personal coach, TV-show host, spokesperson, adventurer, and five-time world record holder, most known as the “Guinness Book of World Records” fastest talking female.

What she does: Fran has appeared on more than 350 television and 4,500 radio shows worldwide including: “Entertainment Tonight,” “Fox & Friends,” “The Late Show,” “Martha Stewart,” “Larry King Live,” and the “Discovery Channel.” Her “Cuppa Capo’s,” which are humorous motivational vlogs are sent out daily and she has a monthly newsletter called, “Capo Update.”

Why she does it: “My 20-year career as a stand-up comedienne has taught me firsthand how to succeed with any kind of audience,” Capo says. “When I moved into professional speaking, I quickly discovered the great advantage of professional speaking over comedy. In speaking you don’t have to be funny! But if you are, you are considered a sensation. Knowledge and humor is a powerful mixture, and in speaking it’s a win-win situation.”

Author and Activist Lee Woodruff

Who she is: Author and activist, who is a contributor to “Good Morning America,” a former senior vice president of the PR firm Porter Novelli, a contributor to Health, Redbook, Country Living and Prevention magazines, and a spokesperson for “Family Fun” on TV and radio, where she discusses parenting and family life.

What she does: Advocates for women’s rights, wounded soldiers, and tries to seek work-life balance.

Why she does it: “Like so many women, I’m trying to have a successful career as a writer and public speaker, be a great mom and wife, be actively involved with the Bob Woodruff Family Foundation’s Remind.org, be a good friend, and find my own sense of joy,” she says. “It’s a lot. And if I am doing so many things, how do you do them all well? The truth is that I don’t do them all well all of the time. And I need to make peace with that.”

Nancy Wigal, SEO expert

Who she is: Owner, Search Engine Academy Washington DC

What she does: Helps business owners and professionals master the art of optimizing their websites for maximum visibility.

Why she does it: “No matter how websites evolve, we are always going to use this scanning pattern to determine if we’ll stay on a Web page or not,” she says. “So while we may not be able to predict the future of search for many elements, we do know that our content must be informative, interesting, and up at the top of every Web page to meet the needs of both human visitors and search engines.”

Click here to read the profiles of all of our Truly Amazing Women.