10 Most Inspiring Women Of 2015

If any year has been The Year Of Women, it’s been 2015. Women are absolutely killing it in every industry you could think of. Particularly in pop culture, from movies to music to popular blogs, you can’t consume any form of entertainment without coming across some truly amazing females. It’s awe-inspiring, basically. Here are 10 of the most inspiring women of 2015:

  1. Carly Rae Jepsen. This year, Carly Rae Jepsen proved that she can sing a stellar pop song with the best of them. Her second album, E•MO•TION, was released last August and it’s truly a work of pop genius. Critics are calling it one of the best albums of 2015 and they couldn’t be more right. Carly sings about boy problems (literally – there’s a song called “Boy Problems”) and her love songs give Taylor a run for her money. Plus, Carly would totally be the kind of girl who would ask a guy out.
  2. Tig Notaro. Tig is the coolest person you may not have heard of. She’s a wry, witty comedian whose LA stand-up set on August 3, 2012 changed her life forever: she opened with, “Good evening, I have cancer.” While her breast cancer battle started in 2012, 2015 was the year that her doc was released, and it was the year that I learned about how truly incredible she is. You need to watch her doc Tig ASAP (it’s available on our BFF Netflix). If you’ve ever thought that you couldn’t handle your life, this will change your perspective – Tig dealt with a break-up, breast cancer and the death of her mother all at the same time.
  3. Amy Schumer. Amy was literally everywhere this year and her straight-talk about life and love can’t be ignored. I respect the fact that she made a smart rom-com and posed naked to show what a woman’s body actually looks like. Plus, she’s writing a movie with Jennifer Lawrence so what’s not to love about her?
  4. Adele. Sorry, Beyonce. I think Adele is the new Queen Bee. I may be the only person on the planet who doesn’t love her song “Hello” (please don’t hate me), but you can’t ignore her pop culture dominance. It’s even more amazing when you consider the fact that she won 2015 and only released her album in November. It’s awesome that she said “Bye Bye Bye” to ‘N Sync’s record for album sales in one week.
  5. Ella Woodward. If you don’t own her cookbook Deliciously Ella or follow the food blog of the same name, where have you been? Ella is a super inspiring woman. Based in London, England, she overcame a terrible illness that left her completely bedridden and is now a bestselling cookbook author who has an app. She’s in the process of opening a deli with her fiancé and is on a mission to prove to the masses that healthy vegan and gluten-free food can be, well, delicious. In a year that saw plant based and gluten-free food become a massive trend, Ella proves that you don’t have to be freakishly skinny to be healthy and that it’s about how you feel.
  6. Shonda Rhimes. 2015 was the year that #TGIT really became a thing, and for good reason. Shonda’s three Thursday night dramas are unbelievably good. These are stories that are not only juicy and soap opera-like in their intensity but discuss important issues like race and gender. Plus, she released a memoir, My Year Of Yes. All hail Shondaland.
  7. Vanessa Carlton. Remember “A Thousand Miles”? You still love it. It’s OK to admit it. I’ve been a huge fan of Vanessa ever since, and her 2015 album, Liberman, is haunting, beautiful, and just perfect. Her lyrics give you the best break-up advice: on “Nothing Where Something Used To Be,” she sings, “I didn’t say but I was sad to see it go/You went back to that ghost, I went back to what I know.” So good.
  8. Sarah Dessen. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that YA is a pretty big thing these days. Sarah is basically the Queen of YA and I’ve been devouring her novels for years and years. Last May, her latest book Saint Anything was published after she went through a dark period of truly terrible writer’s block. She even tweeted that she has 13 unpublished novels. Sarah is so talented yet so humble – exactly the kind of woman you want to be.
  9. Elizabeth Gilbert. If you’re an artist of some kind, you read Big Magic the moment it was published and are still obsessing over it. You know Liz Gilbert thanks to her massively popular Eat Pray Love, but her latest book about embracing the magic and uncertainty of being a creative person is incredibly inspiring. It’ll help you finish what you start, no matter how insecure you feel.
  10. Juli Bauer. I have a thing for food blogs. They inspire me like nothing else, even though I should definitely cook more than I do. Juli is simply the coolest person. You want her to be your new BFF and her blog Paleomg is a fun destination for super simple recipes, boy talk, rants, and posts about fashion and workouts. Her latest cookbook was released last summer and includes recipes like garlic powder-roasted fennel and pork topped with a maple bacon sauce that you actually want to cook. Nothing better than that.
Aya Tsintziras is a freelance lifestyle writer and editor from Toronto, Canada. In addition to writing about dating and relationships for Bolde, she also writes about movies, TV, and video games for ScreenRant and GameRant. She has a Political Science degree from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Journalism from Ryerson University. You can find her on Twitter @ayatsintziras and on Instagram @aya.tsintziras.
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