Each year, the Nob Hill Gazette and San Francisco Examiner honor the women whose work and philosophies shape the City in visible and invisible ways. They come from government, business, philanthropy, health care, media and grassroots organizing. Some names are instantly recognizable, while others are the quiet architects of policy, community care and institutional change. What unites these women transcends title and tenure, instead highlighting impact as the ultimate inspiration.
This year, we sat down with 21 new honorees for candid conversations about the paths that brought them here: the risks taken, the setbacks absorbed, the communities served and the values that guide them. Collectively, their stories form a portrait of San Francisco at its best: ambitious, resilient, collaborative and deeply committed to public good. These interviews reveal how the leadership of Inspiring Women can move the world forward.
RJ Muna
Tamara Rojo
Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet
In over three years at the helm of San Francisco Ballet, Artistic Director Rojo has infused the company with global perspective, bold commissions and a deep commitment to community. A former international ballet star whose career spanned Canada, Spain and the UK, where she was both artistic director and lead principal dancer with the English National Ballet for a decade, Rojo arrived in San Francisco with reverence for the art form’s history and a conviction that ballet must continuously evolve.
Under her leadership, the company has honored the classics while premiering contemporary programming with works from William Forsythe and George Balanchine, expanded sensory-friendly performances and strengthened ties to local artists and schools — reaching tens of thousands of Bay Area residents each year. For Rojo, ballet is a living language — ephemeral, human and constantly renewing itself. Her philosophy is simple: Honor tradition, invest in people and, above all, “embrace the unexpected.”
Craig Lee
Lisa Presta
Political Fundraising Consultant
Presta has been quietly shaping the national political landscape from behind the scenes for decades. A force to be reckoned with, the veteran Democratic Party fundraiser’s client list has included Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Presta has helped power campaigns, advanced gun safety efforts and contributed to a historic rise in women serving in Congress.
Comfortable out of the spotlight, she built a career on persistence and discipline by raising resources for candidates she believes can make a difference. At the same time, she raised a family, which she says helped her “to be very efficient and direct in my style,” skills that directly translated into how she manages teams and mentors younger operatives entering the field. For Presta, politics has always been about impact and proving that women can build powerful careers without sacrificing the lives they want at home.
Carla Peterman
President of PG&E Corporation and Executive Vice President in Customer and Corporate Affairs
Peterman has spent her career pushing California to think bigger about energy, climate and impact. From high school lessons in environmental justice to shaping some of the state’s most ambitious clean energy initiatives, her path has moved fluidly through academia, government and corporate leadership.
Now an executive at PG&E, which serves approximately one in 20 Americans, and the company’s president since January, Peterman remains focused on scale: how to build reliable, affordable and clean systems that work for diverse communities today while accelerating climate progress for tomorrow. She speaks with urgency, but also with optimism — rooted in California’s history of exceeding its own expectations. For Peterman, leadership isn’t about titles or lanes. It’s about having the courage to “swing for the fences and go for what you think will have impact,” she says, even when others say it’s too soon.
Nico Oved
Carmen Chu
San Francisco City Administrator
Chu has spent her career inside San Francisco’s government with a seemingly simple question always in mind: Does this actually make people’s lives better? The daughter of immigrants who worked long hours in their family restaurant in Los Angeles, she says her approach to public service was shaped by watching people like her parents work hard without a voice in government, the “day-to-day folks who had to struggle to survive and support their families.”
Over the years, Chu has served in roles at the Mayor’s Budget Office, the Board of Supervisors and the Assessor-Recorder; since 2021, she’s served as city administrator, overseeing complex, citywide operations — all while raising two young daughters. Known for consensus-building and tackling difficult bureaucratic challenges, she serves as an inspiration to others looking to solve complex problems.
Kim Tavaglione
Executive Director of the San Francisco Labor Council
Tavaglione has been a steady, unmistakable force in San Francisco’s labor movement after being raised in a union family. Steeped in class consciousness from childhood, she learned early that solidarity isn’t theoretical — it’s lived. From walking picket lines with her grandfather to leading one of San Francisco’s most influential labor councils since 2020, Tavaglione has built a career defined by consistency and conviction.
Rather than stopping to celebrate successes, Tavaglione keeps her eye and energy on the end goal. “There’s always something else around the corner — so you’re always moving,” she says. That relentless forward motion has shaped her leadership style: values first, politics second and a belief that when workers stand together, entire communities grow stronger.
Nico Oved
Sonja Hoel Perkins
Founder of the Perkins Fund, Project Glimmer and Broadway Angels
Perkins is a San Francisco–based venture capitalist, philanthropist and civic leader whose work centers on advancing women and girls through visible leadership and meaningful investment. She is the founder and managing director of the Perkins Fund and a founder of Broadway Angels, a collective of nearly 90 accomplished venture capitalists created to elevate women as decision-makers in technology and finance.
She is also the founder and chairman emeritus of Project Glimmer, a national nonprofit that has reached more than 1 million girls by pairing tangible support with confidence-building programs and mentorship. Guided by a belief in investing in “people and companies that matter,” she directs her time and resources toward initiatives that strengthen communities, expand opportunity and foster equity. A longtime San Franciscan, Perkins continues to form the City’s philanthropic and leadership landscape through work that is impactful both locally and nationally.
Nico Oved
Mary Furlong
CEO and Founder of Mary Furlong & Associates
Furlong spent her life building companies, conferences, ecosystems and communities in the longevity space long before it became a buzzword, and before most people imagined older adults as a technology audience. A native San Franciscan and serial entrepreneur, she founded SeniorNet before AOL existed, later launched the venture-backed startup ThirdAge Media and has since become one of the country’s foremost connectors in the business of aging.
Her mission has remained consistent: “Reinstantiating the role of older people so they can be leaders in society and we can tap into their knowledge and wisdom,” as she tells the Gazette. Blending policy, venture capital and social impact, Furlong has helped grow companies now worth tens of millions while mentoring generations of founders and students.
At 77, she is still convening innovators, teaching women in leadership and building what she calls an ecosystem around aging — and, as she likes to say, she has “never been bored a day.”
Dr. Mary Norton
Perinatologist, Clinical Geneticist and Vice Chair of Clinical & Translational Genetics at UCSF Health
The intersection where science meets deeply personal conviction has defined Dr. Norton’s distinguished career in maternal-fetal medicine and clinical genetics. A nationally recognized leader at UCSF Health as vice chair of the clinical and translational genetics department, Dr. Norton has spent decades guiding families through the evolving landscape of prenatal diagnosis, where innovation moves swiftly but decisions remain profoundly human. After finding her calling during a residency rotation, she encourages other people on their career journeys to be “open to different experiences,” because you never know where that path might take you.
In a specialty transformed by advances in genome sequencing and prenatal testing, she has become known not only for her scholarship and research, but for her steady insistence on clarity, balance and patient autonomy. During an era of remarkable medical possibility, Dr. Norton’s work reminds us that information alone is not enough: Understanding is everything.
Drew Altizer Photography
Sherri McMullen
Founder and CEO of McMullen Boutique
With a career rooted in global fashion buying — first in Neiman Marcus’ Executive Development Program and later as a textile buyer for Pottery Barn Kids — McMullen translated her keen business instincts and discerning eye into a singular retail vision when she opened her namesake boutique in Oakland in 2007.
Over nearly two decades, McMullen has cultivated a space that celebrates both established and emerging designers, with a thoughtful emphasis on women and creatives of color whose voices have too often been overlooked. Under her leadership, McMullen has grown from a pioneering local shop into a nationally recognized fashion institution, earning accolades from Vogue Business as a Champion of Change and establishing a new boutique in San Francisco’s stylish Presidio Heights in 2024. Her work transcends clothes to incorporate community, empowerment and expanding what luxury retail can be.
Mame Annan-Brown
Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer at Gap Inc.
With a career spanning global finance, international development, public policy and consumer brands, Annan-Brown now guides Gap Inc.’s storytelling, philanthropy and civic engagement from its hometown of San Francisco. Throughout her work — from leading communications and charitable initiatives at JPMorgan to advancing global development at the World Bank Group and championing corporate foundations in the apparel industry — she says one belief has remained constant: “Purpose and profit can coexist.”
That philosophy has shaped her leadership across sectors, grounding business strategy in community engagement and long-term impact. Deeply influenced by a family of strong women and a career built on mentorship and sponsorship, Annan-Brown approaches success as preparation meeting opportunity. Whether advancing water stewardship initiatives globally or supporting revitalization efforts in San Francisco, she continues to model a form of leadership that blends representation, responsibility and results.
Nico Oved
Romana Bracco
Festival Napa Valley and San Francisco Opera Board Member
From breaking barriers in aviation to championing her Italian heritage in San Francisco, Bracco is a longtime civic leader, arts patron and trailblazer. An immigrant from a small town in Italy, Bracco built her career by following a lifelong fascination with flight, taking on a managerial position in aviation in the 1980s, which was pioneering for women at the time.
After decades in airline leadership, she turned her focus toward philanthropy and cultural advocacy, becoming deeply involved with institutions such as the San Francisco Opera, Festival Napa Valley and Italian Community Services. A passionate ambassador for Italian culture in the Bay Area, the Nob Hill resident has dedicated herself to preserving heritage while supporting innovation, music and community care. Known for her humility and generosity, she continues to inspire through action — opening doors for others while helping shape the cultural heart of San Francisco.
JaMel Perkins
Cofounder and Board Member, Freedom Forward
For more than four decades, Perkins has shaped the Bay Area through community activism rooted in action. A Chicago native who made California her home, Perkins has devoted her life to education, anti-trafficking advocacy and philanthropy. She doesn’t describe herself as a career woman, but as a volunteer — someone who simply showed up, took on tasks and kept going. “You give me a job, I’ll do it, and I’ll figure it out,” she says.
That steady presence led her from answering a newspaper call for volunteers at a domestic violence shelter to chairing boards, raising funds and in 2016 cofounding Freedom Forward, a prevention-focused organization working to stop exploitation before it begins. Her approach is practical and deeply human: See something, do something. In neighborhoods, schools and boardrooms, Perkins has built impact through sustained commitment to community.
Jennifer “Murph” Murphy-Ellamar
Vice President of Culinary Operations at Graton Resort & Casino
Murphy-Ellamar, aka Murph, oversees one of the largest culinary expansions in Northern California. As vice president of culinary operations at Graton Resort & Casino, she is guided by the fundamentals: “When you start with good ingredients, you respect it, you cook it well and then it shines on the plate on its own,” she says. Murph arrived in Sonoma County last year after two decades in Las Vegas with deep fine-dining credentials and high-volume experience. Now, with proximity to fresh produce, she is blending Vegas-level execution with Northern California ingredients to transform Graton Resort & Casino into a dining destination all its own.
Her path from line cook to executive leader has been shaped as much by trial and error as by technical mastery. For her, the real craft isn’t exclusive to cooking — it’s also building teams, earning trust and creating something that lasts.
Nico Oved
Lisa Countryman-Quiroz
Countryman-Quiroz didn’t set out to become a CEO. With an academic background in literature and philosophy, she was drawn to “the big ideas of what it means to be human.” That foundation now shapes her leadership as CEO of JVS Bay Area, one of the region’s largest workforce development nonprofits, which has helped connect more than 100,000 people to jobs and career training.
Since stepping into the role in January 2020 — just weeks before the pandemic upended the labor market — she has led the organization through a period of rapid change by focusing on culture, empathy and resilience. As she puts it, “The culture of the organization is what gives it resilience and the ability to weather all kinds of storms.” Countryman-Quiroz continues to champion economic mobility and human-centered leadership across the Bay Area, including by adapting the organization to the new era of artificial intelligence.
Drew Altizer Photography
Nonie Greene
San Francisco Leadership Council Chair of Reproductive Freedom for All
Greene doesn’t talk about reproductive rights as an abstract political issue. For her, it’s something women carry — in their bodies, in their memories and in their futures. “I will never feel free in this country until all women have reproductive freedom,” she says. A longtime San Francisco organizer and leader with Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America), Greene helped shape one of San Francisco’s most visible annual gatherings supporting abortion access and policy advocacy.
Her path into leadership was fueled by anger, sharpened by persistence and sustained by collaboration with other women across generations. In California, she sees progress worth protecting. Nationally, she sees rights under threat. Personally, she sees her granddaughter’s future as the clearest reason to keep going — it’s work she will continue pursuing with optimism.
Annie Pearl
Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Azure Product and Ecosystems at Microsoft
Pearl’s path to product leader at Microsoft looks less like a ladder and more like what she calls a “jungle gym.” With a background that spans law, early-stage startups and now large-scale leadership within Microsoft’s Azure Experiences business, she has made a habit of choosing learning over linearity and curiosity over certainty. Along the way, she has helped shape programs that support the next generation of startup founders while also leading efforts to democratize technical learning through platforms like Microsoft Learn.
Grounded in team empowerment and maintaining a growth mindset, Pearl is known for modeling what it looks like to be, as she says, “a learn-it-all, not a know-it-all.” In an era defined by AI and rapid technological change, she approaches innovation with both optimism and a deep sense of responsibility.
Shefali Razdan Duggal
Retired U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands
Razdan Duggal’s path to diplomacy began long before she ever stepped inside an embassy. For the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands from 2022 to 2025, conviction, discipline and an unwavering belief in the promise of this country led to her first serving on the board of Emily’s List, then on the National Finance Committee of Joe Biden for President 2020 and as deputy national finance chair for the Democratic National Committee. An immigrant raised by a single mother, Razdan Duggal learned early that resilience is a practice forged through hard work and an unshakable sense of purpose.
Over the years, she has moved between politics, public service and international engagement with a leadership style that blends directness with empathy. Known for mentoring young women, Razdan Duggal views representation not as symbolism but as responsibility. For her, opening doors and widening pathways is part of the work itself. Whether in the United States or abroad, she has sought to make public service feel both principled and personal. Inspired by U.S. Representative Shirley Chisholm, Razdan Duggal believes the advice: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
Nico Oved
Buffy Wicks
Assemblymember Representing California’s 14th Assembly District
Assemblymember Wicks’ path to public office was shaped by a working-class upbringing in rural Northern California, where she grew up in a mobile home in the Sierra Nevada foothills and saw firsthand how inequality affects everyday lives. Wicks began her career in grassroots organizing, working in the antiwar movement in San Francisco in the early 2000s before turning her focus to health care advocacy after a close friend contracted HIV without insurance. That work led her to former President Barack Obama’s campaign and later the White House, where she helped pass the Affordable Care Act.
“You realize in those moments that the work that you do can have a positive impact on people’s lives, not in a small way, but in a large way,” she says. Even bringing her baby to the floor to sign a bill in 2020, since it couldn’t be done remotely, challenged outdated notions on how elected women can lead. Today, Wicks brings organizing roots and bold courage into state government, focusing on honest leadership, coalition-building and policy decisions that deliver meaningful results for Californians.
Nico Oved
Janis Mackenzie
Founder and President of MacKenzie Communications
Since launching MacKenzie Communications from her Russian Hill dining room table in 1983, MacKenzie has built one of the City’s most respected public affairs and communications agencies, advising major companies, institutions and nonprofits while remaining rooted in the community. A former journalist, she credits her early career with shaping her belief that “what you say and how you say it really matters.”
Beyond her work in communications, MacKenzie has devoted decades to civic engagement, including leadership roles with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation. She is known for her commitment to mentorship, especially for women leaders, and for a guiding principle that has defined her career: doing well by doing good.
Curtis Jermany
Barbara Lee
There are origin stories, and then there are callings. For Lee, the two are inseparable. Recounting how her mother was denied lifesaving care during childbirth in a segregated Texas hospital — almost costing both of them their lives — Lee believes she was born to fight injustice and marginalization.
She changed the landscape upon moving to California, becoming the first Black cheerleader at her high school after working with the NAACP to change the selection criteria to include girls like her. From there, Lee went on to become the first Black woman elected to multiple offices, often the only one in the room dealing with the systemic racism she was there to challenge. Yet her focus has never been on firsts. “I’m trying to disrupt and dismantle policies that are barriers for people to move forward,” she says. In Oakland, that work continues — rooted in lived experience, and anchored in “the power of the people.”
David Downton
Denise Hale
Hale moves through the world with Old World discipline, sharp wit and a collector’s eye for what’s genuinely worth attention. Having survived Nazi and Communist occupation in Europe, she knows what matters in life: “I’m allergic to drama.” Hale is consistent by design, preferring a David Downton illustration over photography and keeping her public footprint deliberate, elegant and controlled.
Raised by grandparents whose rules were nonnegotiable — including, “When you wake up in the morning, don’t think about you: Think about someone else” — Hale credits them with a lifelong code: impeccable manners, absolute discretion and a reflex to give back. She’s curious to the core, drawn to art, people and places that expand the mind, and unimpressed by entitlement or empty status. Whether underwriting public television or choosing silence at her 6,000-acre ranch in Sonoma County, she prizes substance, independence and the kind of dignity that doesn’t need to announce itself.