Metroholica

Mary Kay Ash founded Mary Kay Cosmetics in 1963, and was named the Greatest Female Entrepreneur in American History by Baylor University in 2003. PBS listed her as one of the 25 Most Influential Business Leaders of the Last 25 Years. She's received several other business, leadership, and “influential woman” awards – and that's not because she was a well-behaved woman!

Mary Kay started out in a small office space with “used furniture, homemade drapes, and a single metal shelf from Sears.” Now, her company earns over 2 billion dollars a year – and has helped thousands of women in their own careers. (Not to mention making them beautiful!).

“So many women just don't know how great they really are. They come to us all vogue outside and vague on the inside.”

Meg Ryan traveled through northern India and learned about CARE, an HIV protection program for young women. Ryan shares her thoughts on the importance and power of women – whether we live in the slums or the Hollywood Hills.

“Women are socialized to be nice, to be docile,” says Meg Ryan. “I call it ‘shrink to fit': Shrink yourself to fit what others expect of you.”

What do Cher and Suze Orman have in common? Suze is outstanding in the financial world; she's a public speaker, television personality, radio personality, businesswoman and author of eight New York Times bestsellers.

Cher is outstanding in the glitzy world of show business. She's currently performing in Vegas for a couple of years – at 61 years old – and she loves what she does. You'll never believe what she said on the Oprah Winfrey show yesterday - and it directly relates to Suze Orman.

“It can be difficult for women to connect to their courage. Women can be deflected from a course of action if they think that it might hurt someone else. It's so much easier to hurt yourself than to hurt someone else, isn't it?” asks Suze in Women & Money . “Women also lose their courage when they subscribe to a belief that someone or something is the key to their happiness – rather than recognizing that power lies within.”