100 Women We Love 2011

The 100 Women We Love – out artists, elected officials, business leaders, athletes, community activists – are role models for us all. Many are up-and-coming movers and shakers; some are at the zenith of their careers. Some of their achievements change our world and, just as importantly, others improve the world’s perception of out women. They all strive tirelessly to increase our visibility and continue our incredible progress toward equality and justice.

We proudly present the class of 2011, in random order, so each gets her well-deserved turn in the spotlight.

CLAUDIA WOODY

Claudia Woody, IBM’s Vice President and Managing Director of Global Intellectual Property and Advanced Technology Licensing, encourages corporations to be more inclusive of LGBT workers. When not busy licensing IBM patents and technologies to software and information technology companies, Woody co-chairs the IBM Executive GLBT Taskforce, concerned with the global issues of LGBT employees in the workplace. She is in high demand as a speaker on diversity issues worldwide–most recently at the 2011 Europride Business Forum in Rome, Italy and the 2010 L-World Conference (for Lesbians in Business) in Warsaw, Poland. Woody also co-chairs the International Advisory Committee for Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, an organization lobbying for LGBT workplace diversity, and sponsors the 2011 Pan-European Lesbian Business Initiative. In the past, she led the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and served on the Lambda Legal Board of Directors. Woody is inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt, who wrote, “It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.” She humbly “stands on the shoulders of all the LGBT people in history who have made it easier for us to live authentic lives” and hopes that her efforts will help the corporate world recognize and remedy the “double glass ceiling” for lesbians in business. –SLO


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