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Bill Pugliano/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Forbes has released its list of the world’s most powerful women.
Topping the list is the CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra, who started with the company as an 18-year old-student. She told ABC News “”When I started here 33 years ago, I had no idea this is the role I would be playing but I approached every position like I was going to do it for the rest of my life so I think that’s a very strong message that hard work pays off.”
Chief executives Indra Nooyi from Pepsi Co., Ginny Rometti from IBM, and Marilynn Hewson from Lockheed Martin followed Barra on the list.
Elsewhere in the technology sector, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg also makes an appearance at No. 8. She has said that while she’s impressed by her colleagues, its’ the next generation of women that will propel industry forward. “This is the generation that can and will achieve equality. They’re the generation that’s going to encourage women to take their seats at every table where decisions are made in equal numbers to men,” Sandberg said.
Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer was the youngest to break the Top 50 at 40 years old. But finishing just outside, in 51st place, was 25-year-old Taylor Swift.
Meg Whitman, the CEO of Hewlett Packard, was 7th. She ran for governor of California, getting into a heated argument with her opponent Jerry Brown after one of his aides called her a derogatory word that rhymed with “door.”
She spent 144 million dollars of her own money on that race; the most any candidate has spent in American history, before losing to Brown. She’s not the only HP executive to appear on the list. Carly Fiorina topped the list of most powerful women in 1998, the first year Forbes created it.
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