We all know how tough it is for a woman to break through the male-dominated industries that we have today. Here you will read about some of the most iconic women who have fought to the top and made it clear that they are there to stay.
And that’s not all - they stand for much more than that by gaining success in other facets of their careers and speaking in public and sharing meaningful stories.
Barbara Walters – $150 Million
Walters is widely recognized as one of the most influential journalists and TV personalities. The American first started her career on the Today Show as a writer and segment producer.
She has a knack for interviewing people, which is how she managed to get so many people to watch her show. It’s safe to say that she has interviewed almost every famous or influential person.
Diane Sawyer – $80 Million
Sawyer has spent over 50 years of her life in the news industry, having become the first female correspondent for CNN’s 60 minutes. She has worked for many other names, such as ABC’s Primetime, ABC World News, and Good Morning America.
At one point, she worked for President Nixon as a staff writer. She was allowed to work with many people, such as the heads of state, widows from 9/11, and even Bruce Jenner.
Katie Couric – $55 Million
Couric has also become another influential face in the broadcast industry. She is well known for her global anchoring career at Yahoo but has also gained much experience, spending seventeen years at NBC News and three years at ABC News.
However, Couric hasn’t spent all of her career working for television. Before she saw her rise to the Television Hall of Fame in 2004, she had made it to the New York Times bestsellers list.
Meredith Vieira – $40 Million
Vieira had made a name for herself on The View as one of the original moderators. She also became a game show and talk show host, but many are likely to recognize her from her time spent on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.
Many were attracted to her style and her ability to design a program of her own. She soon made her own program called The Meredith Vieira Show.
Greta Van Susteren – $35 Million
Susteren has an extensive broadcasting career considering she has worked for big names such as NBC, Fox News, and CNN. But that’s not all - she proved herself as a legal analyst while co-hosting Burden of Proof.
She often appeared on CNN as a legal analyst during the coverage of the O.J Simpson murder trial. It wasn’t long before she appeared in Forbes and named one of the world’s most powerful women.
Robin Roberts – $25 Million
In 2005, Roberts started as the host of Good Morning America. She was also added to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame after being a sports reporter for ESPN.
The cancer survivor was also allowed to be the first reporter to interview Barack Obama after winning the presidential elections in 2008.
Kelly Ripa – $22 Million
All My Children was the soap opera that started Ripa’s career, but Live with Regis and Kelly may sound more familiar to you. She continues to work on this talk show.
Kelly continued with the show even after Regis left. She spends Saturdays hosting a fundraising event called Super Saturday, which shows her support for the ovarian cancer cause.
Rachel Maddow – $20 Million
Maddow started her career working as a radio host in 1999 WRNX (100.9 FM). She hosted a significant primetime program and became a liberal political commentator. But many don’t know that she is the first openly gay anchor to do so.
She has accomplished much in her life, like starting The Rachel Maddow Show and publishing her book Drift: The Unmooring Of American Military Power. The book was released in 2012 and spoke about the military’s role in American politics after the war.
Melissa Theuriau – $18 Million
Alongside Melissa’s work as an investigative journalist, she worked as an anchor and started an organization with UNICEF, which provided underprivileged girls with education.
She was eventually named co-editor in chief and anchor of Zone interdite in September 2006. But that wasn’t all. She was voted to be the most beautiful news reporter in the world.
Megyn Kelly – $15 Million
Kelly is well known for many aspects of her career. Her face has been seen on Fox News and their New Year’s Eve specials, Kelly file, which she hosted, and America Live.
After her years spent working as a defense attorney, Time listed the famous journalist as one of the 100 Most Influential people in 2014.
Christiane Amanpour – $12.5 Million
Christiane is a British-Iranian journalist and television personality who dominated the 20th and early 21st centuries as a leading war reporter. She works for CNN as the Chief International Anchor and hosts their International’s interview program.
Soon after, she found herself in mainstream television shows and films. She has featured in Iron Man 2, Pink Panther 2, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, and Gilmore Girls.
Mika Brzezinski – $12 Million
Daughter of Zbigniew Brzezinski, Mika has made a name for herself as an American television host, author, and political commentator. Despite her father being the National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, she has worked hard for where she is today.
She takes her job seriously and even refused to read a report detailing Paris Hilton’s release from prison, deeming it unimportant compared to other news she could be sharing.
Courtney Friel – $12 Million
Courtney’s career began with GoTV as a sports anchor and a host on the World Poker Tour. Those are just a few of her accomplishments. She also spent time working for Fox News and E! Entertainment.
She shared her struggles with addictions in an autobiographical novel Tonight at 10: Kicking Booze and Breaking News.
Chelsea Handler – $10 Million
Handler differs from the women you have read about so far. Instead of focusing her career on becoming a news anchor, she delivers important stories and current events comedically.
Handler has written several books in her lifetime, six of which have made it to the New York Times Best Sellers list. Five of her books have made it to the number one spot.