Female CEOs Account for Only 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs. Here's 3 That Are Paving the Way

Around the world, women are crushing the business sphere. Female CEOs are leading some of the world's biggest companies. Glass ceiling? More like glass confetti all over the floor.

That said, there is still some work to do when it comes to the very top rung on the corporate ladder. In 2023, the number of women CEOs of Fortune's top 500 companies finally surpassed the long-awaited 50 mark.

That's still only ten percent, but the women at the top are such effective leaders that you'll definitely see that number rise in years to come. Their initiatives also make waves within companies, empowering countless women in business to put on their fitted blazers and make change happen. Here are three of the best and baddest women CEOs running the corporate game today.

Who Are 3 Female CEOs Paving the Way for Women All Over the World?

Having more than 50 women at the top levels of the business world benefits women everywhere. Here are three female leaders who are using their bossed-up status to build a more inclusive global business climate across diverse industries.

Rosalind "Roz" Brewer

Rosalind Brewer became CEO of the massive pharmacy chain Walgreens in 2021, making her one of the most powerful women in the world. She is the second Black woman in history to helm a Fortune 500 company.

Prior to becoming a CEO, she transformed diversity initiatives and interview processes at many top companies including Starbucks and Sam's Club. By tying corporate bonuses to diversity and disability representation among employees, she made these initiatives more than just lip service. Under her watch, Walgreens became the first company on the S&P 500 to release a data report on how they hire and support people with disabilities. She believes in challenging the status quo at every level, from the corporate offices to the front lines.

Rosalind Brewer grew up the daughter of auto plant workers in Detroit, Michigan. One of her first experiences with America's famously brutal healthcare system was struggling to care for her ailing parents as they aged. As CEO of Walgreens, she envisions a world where caring for your loved ones is easier than what she had to go through.

Brewer has big plans for Walgreens and the healthcare system at large. She has acquired billions of dollars in primary care and urgent care clinics and is keen on bringing healthcare to underserved communities across the United States. She also sees nutritional information and food-as-medicine as one of the major health initiatives of this century. After a decades-long climb from bench chemist to pharmacy CEO, Rosalind Brewer has firmly established herself as one of the biggest change-makers in the global corporate sphere.

Michelle Buck

The Hershey Company has been making chocolate for 127 years, and Michelle Buck recently became their first female CEO. Hershey is one of the largest confectionary companies in the world and the largest in the US. Hershey also has a unique history of social consciousness and charity initiatives that Buck is expanding as CEO.

Buck believes in setting concrete goals around gender equality. Under her leadership, Hershey's workforce globally consists of 48% women, and representation on the Board of Directors has grown to 42% women and rising. Buck is also passionate about demolishing the gender pay gap and providing promotion opportunities for women at all levels within Hershey.

Michelle Buck leads Hershey with razor-sharp insight and knows the power of listening carefully to employee concerns. One of her first managerial assignments was to turn around a failing chocolate plant, and after speaking to every employee, she smashed this goal out of the park. The plant employees even gave her a plaque for being such an inspirational leader.

As a top-level executive and CEO, Buck succeeds in the competitive snack foods industry by paying attention to what consumers — namely, female heads of households — want. Her campaigns are centered around delivering satisfying dishes in less time, freeing up time for women everywhere who still shoulder roughly 65% of household responsibilities in different-sex relationships.

Dr. Lisa Su

Women are still wildly underrepresented in the technology sector. Dr. Lisa Su, the first female CEO of semiconductor manufacturer AMD, is a technology and business pioneer in one.

Dr. Su was born in Taiwan and immigrated to America as a small child. Her mother, an accountant who eventually founded her own successful company, was one of Su's earliest role models. Dr. Su obtained a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from MIT and led research and development at IBM for over a decade, developing the semiconductor chips that run everything from smartphones to lifesaving medical devices. Today, she both champions women role models in tech and is fundamentally changing tech business culture.

Exclusionary tech culture is a major barrier for women, minorities and people with disabilities, but it's also plain bad for business. In her role as CEO of one of the top computer chip companies in the world, Dr. Su leads the way for a more inclusive and collaborative business model that naturally leads to more innovative solutions for the future.

It's not an exaggeration to say that powerful women are saving the world! In the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, amid factory shutdowns and semiconductor shortages, AMD rallied to provide the most powerful computers in the world to the researchers and scientists developing COVID-19 vaccines. Today, Dr. Su leads the charge in ethical AI integration that can automate key tasks and change lives in countless sectors and underserved regions.

What Do Female CEOs and Accessible Fashion Have in Common?

Everyone has had moments in their life where inspiration is hard to come by. Groundbreaking female CEOs are an excellent source of inspiration, but a business casual wardrobe that makes you feel like you can change the world can have an impact as well. At Kate Hewko, we believe in the transformative power of both a feminist outlook and a fun sense of fashion. Browse our collection today for current pieces that can help you along your personal boss journey.