There are just fifteen women in the Forbes Greatest Self-Made Americans Top 100 list – a ranking of rags-to-riches billionaires, as well as those whose “wealth” is measured in influence and impact. These are the intrepid women at the top of the self-made list.
They made their names in industries as diverse as entertainment, construction, and law. Now, these powerhouse women – all of whom are septuagenarian or above – have been named as the Greatest Self-Made Women in America. Here is what we can learn from those who came before us and broke barriers for future generations.
#1. Oprah Winfrey, 72 ★
Born to a teen mother, Winfrey grew up on a rural Mississippi farm without indoor plumbing. At 9 she was raped by a cousin; at 14 she gave birth to a son, who died soon thereafter. Thanks to a federal program, she attended a rich suburban school where she discovered a knack for public speaking and debate, which earned her a part-time radio gig and, later, a scholarship to Tennessee State University. In 1984 she took over a struggling morning talk show in Chicago and eventually turned it into a national media brand.
Oprah Winfrey on the human need to be heard:
“What I learned from all of those thousands of interviews is that there is a common denominator in our human experience,” Winfrey told Moira Forbes at a Forbes Philanthropy Summit in the US. “Fundamentally, the desire to be heard, the desire to be validated – the desire to know that what you’re doing is meaningful in the world, is something that we all hold for ourselves.”
#7. Dolly Parton, 80
The country singer grew up “dirt poor” with her 11 siblings in a Tennessee shack without running water or electricity. She moved to Nashville after high school, using her songwriting talent to pen top 10 hits for the likes of Kitty Wells and Hank Williams Jr. before becoming a star in her own right.
Dolly Parton on Imagination Library and philanthropy:
“Life has been good to me, and God has been good to me, so the least I can do is try to give back in the ways that I can,” Parton told Forbes in 2023. “I’ve been blessed and to whom much is given, much is required. So, I just kind of look at it like that’s my job – it’s something I’m supposed to do, need to do and want to do.”
#9. Diane Hendricks, 79 ★
Hendricks became a teen mother at age 17, forcing her to drop out of school. She later worked as a Playboy Bunny to support her child before meeting her second husband, Ken. The pair cofounded ABC Supply, one of the world’s largest construction supply firms, and ran it together until 2007, when he died after falling through a roof where he was checking construction.
Diane Hendricks on building the ABC Supply construction empire:
“We started out with two stores and then three stores and distributing various manufactured products,” Hendricks told Maggie McGrath in 2023. ABC Supply was not the couple’s first entrepreneurial venture, and they learned a lot during the tough times. “It was years of trying other businesses and developing businesses. We buckled down and did what you do in a recession, cut back on this and cut back on that.”
#19. Sonia Sotomayor, 71
Sotomayor grew up in a Bronx housing project. She was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at age 7. Her father died when she was 9. After attending Catholic schools, she made it to Princeton, where she easily qualified for financial aid given that her family didn’t have a bank account. She became a Supreme Court Justice in 2009.
Sonia Sotomayor on overcoming childhood adversity:
“I overcame challenges,” Sotomayor told an audience in New York after writing her book, My Beloved World. “If you’re a child of someone who has an addiction at any time, alcohol or drugs, there’s a dysfunctional element. You have to survive and you have to anticipate when there will be danger.”
#52. Whoopi Goldberg, 70
The EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) winner faced periods of homelessness early on and worked odd jobs like mortuary cosmetologist.
Whoopi Goldberg on starting a female-focused sports media network:
“I really hope shining a light on women’s sports will help elevate female athletes around the world,” Goldberg told Forbes about founding the All Women Sports Network (AWSN) in 2024. “I am a huge sports fan and a supporter of women’s sports and women in sports and have never felt women and girls have had the same opportunities and support that male athletes have.”
A message from the editors of the Forbes 250 Greatest Self-Made Americans:
To identify these revolutionaries, we first mined Forbes’ 109-year-deep archive for classic tales of entrepreneurial capitalism. Then we asked our current crop of beat reporters for their ideas. We canvassed AI, running hundreds of queries through both ChatGPT and Gemini. While we put a heavy emphasis on rags-to-riches billionaires, we also included pioneering scientists, Supreme Court justices and others whose “wealth” is measured in influence and impact, not just dollar signs.
Next, we ran names past a panel of expert judges: DeAngela Burns-Wallace, CEO of the Kauffman Foundation; Keith Dunleavy, Founder, Inovalon; Rich Karlgaard, Former Publisher, Forbes; Steven Klinsky, Founder and CEO, New Mountain Capital; Jim McKelvey, cofounder of Block (formerly Square); and Ryan Rippel, CEO of NextLadder Ventures.
An invaluable resource was Forbes’ Self-Made Score, a 1-to-10 ranking that quantifies the “distance traveled” by each individual—separating those who started with nothing from those with a big head start. Only those ranking nine or ten made the cut. The final ranking encompasses financial success, obstacles overcome and enduring impact.
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