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Happy National Women's Month!
Ellen Ochoa
Dr. Ellen Ochoa is the first Hispanic woman to go to space serving on the nine-day STS-56 mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1993! Since that flight she has flown into space three more time! Dr. Ochoa was also the first Hispanic director, and second female director of the Johnson Space Center. She has been recognized with NASA's highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal, and the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award for senior executives in the federal government.
Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende is the amazing Chilean America writer known for her wonderful magical realism novels including The House of the Spirits, Island Beneath the Sea, & Eva Luna. She also is the founder of the Isabel Allende Foundation in honor of her daughter Paula which supports women and girls to secure reproductive rights, economic independence and freedom from violence.
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo is an internationally knwon Mexican painter whose works focus heavily on her own life experiences with self portraits depicting her own physical and emotional pains. During her lifetime she exhibited alongside other well-known surrealist painters of her time, and today her artworks are celebrated for their power.Â
Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz, known as the 'Queen of Salsa,' was a Cuban-American singer born in Havana, Cuba. Her first musical breakthrough came when she took the position as lead singer of the orchestra La Sonora Matancera, the ensemble’s first Black lead singer since its founding. Her accolades include three Grammy Awards and four Latin Grammys, and one of her colorful costumes was acquired by the Smithsonian.Â
Dolores Huerta
Dolores Huerta is an American labor and civil rights activist, who fought for better working conditions for farmers, launching the National Farm Workers Association alongside César Chávez. She also founded the Dolores Huerta Foundation, and travels across the country engaging in campaigns and influencing legislation that supports equality and defends civil rights. Her slogan, Si Se Puede, inspired the same phrase for President Obama's campaign. Dolores Huerta was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 by President Obama.
Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Sotomayor was born in the Bronx, NYC. She is the first ever Hispanic person and the third woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She was nominated to the court by President Obama in 2009, after serving as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1998–2009.
