Age is not a limit—it’s leverage. And this year’s “50 Over 50” list showcases women using it to their fullest advantage.
On Wednesday, Forbes and Know Your Value released its fifth annual list, which spotlights women who have rejected the conventional wisdom that their best years are behind them.
The women on this year’s list hail from every major industry and more than three dozen subsectors, including biotech, pet food, construction, venture capital and beyond
“From actress Halle Berry at 58, to astronaut Sunita Williams at 59, to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles at 68, to author Isabel Allende at 82, we think this year’s list raises the bar higher than ever before,” said Know Your Value founder and “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski.
Whittling down the honorees was a months-long process. Forbes and Know Your Value vetted thousands of nominees. Semifinalists were then reviewed by 10 expert judges, including former chair of Bank of America Europe Anne Finucane, Vontelle founders Tracy Green and Nancey Harris, CEO of Jasper Inclusion Advisors Kathy Ko Chin, beauty founder Mally Roncal and more — followed by more debate and research.
The list is broken up into four categories: Impact, Investment, Innovation and Lifestyle with 50 women on each list.
This year’s callouts included:
–LIFESTYLE: Halle Berry (58)
At 58, Berry is laser-focused on women’s health. It’s a mission of both advocacy and entrepreneurship that began when her own perimenopause was misdiagnosed as herpes and she realized just how much more awareness both doctors and patients needed about this crucial (and, for those who live long enough, universal) life stage.
“Berry’s vehicle is Respin, originally a wellness and exercise website she founded in 2020 but which relaunched this February as a menopause-focused healthcare company. With less than $5 million in funding from investors including Khosla Ventures, Respin is still in its earliest days—telehealth visits just launched in July and revenue is still mostly non-existent—but Berry is feeling invigorated by the task of growing and scaling her startup.”
–IMPACT: Maria Shriver, 69,founder, Shriver Media; founder, Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement; cofounder, Mosh
Following her father’s Alzheimer’s Disease diagnosis in 2003, longtime journalist and onetime First Lady of California Maria Shriver founded the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement in 2011. Eleven years later, it became a part of the Cleveland Clinic, and in the last year has secured $8 million to advance research on Alzheimer’s prevention.
In 2020, Shriver cofounded Mosh, a healthy snack company, with her son Patrick. (Sales in 2022, its first full year in market, were $4 million.) “If you have a hunch and you believe in your idea, you should just go for it, because everybody’s going to tell you you’re crazy,” she told Maggie.
–INNOVATION: Suma Krishnan,60, cofounder and president, Krystal Biotech
Drug developer Suma Krishnan was 51 when she had the idea for a topical gene therapy to treat a rare skin disorder called dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, in which the skin becomes as fragile as butterfly wings.
In 2016 she and her husband cofounded Krystal Biotech, shunning VC funding. Today, Krystal is worth $4.1 billion (market cap) and has one FDA-approved therapy on the market, with others in the works. “You have to be brave and bold to do this,” says Krishnan. INVESTMENT: Freada Kapor Klein, 72, Founding Partner, Kapor Capital; co-chair, Kapor Center Freada Kapor Klein started her career in activism, founding the nation’s first organization dedicated to fighting sexual harassment in 1976. It was through “following the trail to the center of power, which leads to money” that she landed in Silicon Valley. She and her husband cofounded early-stage venture firm Kapor Capital in 1999 and, in 2011, changed its strategy to exclusively invest in mission-oriented startups. Today, Kapor Klein says, the firm has 138 active investments, $224 million in AUM. In the last three years, seven of its portfolio companies—including Gusto, Formlabs and Newsela—have reached unicorn status Other notable listmakers included: Brzezinski called the “50 Over 50” lists “blueprints.” They are “beacons for younger women standing on the sidelines, worried their time is running out. To them I say: there is no deadline on your dreams. You can start over. Start late. Start scared. And still make history,” she said. Brzezinski added: “The class of 2025 is here. They are bold. They are brilliant. They are necessary. And they will challenge you, inspire you, and light the way forward.”
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