Marie Claire's 7th Annual New Guard

Nora “Awkwafina” Lum is the actress of the moment: She’s made us laugh (Ocean’s 8and Crazy Rich Asians), cry (her moving performance in 2019’s The Farewell), and jump up and down about what’s to come: Jumanji: The Next Level, The Little Mermaid, and Comedy Central’s Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens.

This year, Biles won her sixth U.S. Championship title, the first time a woman has achieved such a feat in over 50 years, and in August she was the first female gymnast ever to land a triple-double. With the 2020 Olympics ahead, we’re confident that Biles will continue to leap, dive, and flip into history.

Boden may not have been the face of Marvel’s Captain Marvel, but she was our behind-the-camera hero. As the Marvel franchise’s first ever female director (she codirected the film with Ryan Fleck), Boden helped Captain Marvel make over $1 billion at the box office. Next up: FX’s limited series Mrs. America.

In 1993, Carter was the first black woman to ever be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design (for her work on Malcolm X). In 2019, after creating Black Panther’s African-inspired looks, she became the first black woman to win the category, cementing her status as an industry icon.

Draper may be a fourth-generation venture capitalist, but she’s carving her own path in the investment world. Her firm Halogen Ventures backs female-founded companies exclusively, and six of her companies have sold, including two for over $100 million each

Three years. That’s how long Erskine (left) and Konkle, along with cocreator Sam Zvibleman, spent shopping their script for Pen15 before it found a home at Hulu. In the series, which premiered in February to rave reviews and became last winter’s must-watch show, the thirtysomething creators don fake braces and wigs to play themselves as seventh graders alongside a mostly tween cast. In May, Hulu renewed the show for a second season, much to the delight of fans everywhere.

In December, Gelman raised $75 million to expand her fast-growing chain of women’s coworking spaces. The company will soon have 11 locations in seven cities, including London. It also launched Little Wing, a kids’ playroom, at several Wing locations in January. Perfect timing: Gelman had her first child this fall.

Gaines parlayed her Fixer Upper success (she starred on the hit HGTV show with her husband, Chip) into an empire, including a home-decor compound in Waco, Texas; exclusive lines for Target, Anthropologie, and more; a handful of restaurants; and, in 2020, a new home-improvement network.

A trailblazer in venture capital, Lee was the first woman named partner by one of Silicon Valley’s most successful investment firms, Sequoia Capital. She’s already added a bevy of female founders to Sequoia’s portfolio by investing in companies such as Re:Store, Maven, Dia & Co, and the Wing.

Martin’s production company signed a first-look deal with Universal in February, making her the youngest person ever to achieve such a feat. (She’s 15.) She got her behind-the-camera start at age 10, when she pitched Black-ish creator Kenya Barris an idea that became the comedy Little, released in April.

Matsoukas first gained national recognition after directing Beyoncé’s “Formation” music video in 2016. (She’s also worked with Rihanna and Lady Gaga.) This November, the director is taking her chops to the big screen with her feature-directorial debut, Queen & Slim, written by Lena Waithe and already garnering award buzz for its Bonnie and Clyde vibes and depiction of police brutality and racism in America.

This year, Oh was the Golden Globes’s first Asian host, the first Asian woman to win multiple Golden Globes (for Grey’s Anatomy and Killing Eve), and the first Asian woman to win best actress in a drama in 39 years. Oh fans will get their fix in 2020: Killing Eve was renewed for a third season.

Redefining “work,” @badgirlriri has grown her musical talents into a $600 million empire that now includes Fenty Beauty, lingerie line Savage X Fenty, and Fenty, a clothing and accessories brand with fashion powerhouse LVMH. This makes Rihanna the first black woman to head a fashion house at the storied company.

In January, Rodriguez, who has worked with director Alfonso Cuarón for 15 years, became the first Latina ever nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, for Roma, the Mexican drama that was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and walked away with Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography, and Best Director.

There was an audible sound of shattered glass in June when Sarnoff, a Hollywood outsider who spent the previous nine years at BBC America, took over as chairman and CEO of one of Hollywood’s largest studios, Warner Bros. Sarnoff is the first female executive to fill the role in the studio’s nearly 100-year history.

Finally, a good reason to stay up on a school night. Singh, who got her start on YouTube, is the first woman to host a late-night show on a Big Four network in almost two decades—and she’s the first bisexual woman of color to do so. Ever. NBC’s A Little Late With Lilly Singh, which premiered in September, gives Singh an even bigger platform to riff on hot topics, all while making us laugh.

Waller-Bridge has become synonymous with edgy, feminist must-watch TV. (Hello, Killing Eve and Fleabag.) She’s on the writing team for No Time to Die, making her the first woman to be credited on a James Bond screenplay since 1963, and her new television series, Run, was bought by HBO in March.

Weiss’s Glossier, reportedly valued at $1.2 billion, just added unicorn to its list of descriptors. The millennial poster girl for beauty startup mania led her company to over $100 million in sales last year with new retail pop-ups and beauty products that the Instagram-obsessed will stand in lines for. (One Boy Brow—$16—was sold every 32 seconds last year.)

With 23 Grand Slam titles, you’d think Williams has her hands full. Yet in April, she made her venture work—she had already invested in 34 startups over the past five years—official with the launch of her own fund. Already, 60 percent of its investments have gone to women or people of color.