Featured / Woman Innovator

Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin

Born in 1777, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot is known as the “Grande Dame of Champagne.” Widowed from her husband Francois Clicquot at the age of 27, her legacy includes inventions that completely revolutionized the making of champagne, including vintage, the riddling table, and blended rosé champagne. Under her skill and ownership – a rarity for women of the early 19th century — she developed a technique for eliminating the opaqueness, or cloudiness, of champagne. The brand and company of Veuve (widow in French) Clicquot still bears her name.

Woman Innovator

Madame CJ Walker

Born Sarah Breedlove, the daughter of Louisiana sharecroppers and former slaves, today we know her as Madam C. J. Walker, a woman who would ultimately offer employment opportunities to thousands of Black women hired to sell and manufacture her unique formula for a hair-care system. As a singularly successful female Black entrepreneur, her reputation and legacy have been recognized for over 100 years. 

Woman Innovator

Martha Matilda Harper

Martha Matilda Harper is the inventor of the international retail franchising concept and the reclining shampoo chair and cutout sink. Indentured at the young age of seven, Martha Matilda Harper …