Madeleine Albright, Former Secretary of State

Maya Angelou, Poet, Author, Playwright

Rachel Ashwell, Designer and Entrepreneur

Barbara Boxer, Senator

Susie Buffett, Chairman, Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation

Roz Chast, Cartoonist

Breena Clarke, Author

Ann Curry, News Correspondent Today

Carolyn Deaver, Breast Cancer Survivor

Olympia Dukakis, Actress

Eileen Fisher, Clothing Designer and Entrepreneur

Macy Gray, Singer and Songwriter

Noor Al Hussein, Former Queen of Jordan

Jane Kaczmarek, Actress

Kitty Kelley, Author

Gerry Laybourne, CEO Oxygen Media

Rebecca Lobo, Olympic Basketball Athlete

Camryn Manheim, Actress

Mary Matalin, Political Commentator

Heather Mills McCartney, Activist

Trish McEvoy, Makeup Artist and Founder Trish McEvoy Ltd.

Shannon Miller, Olympic Gymnast

Shelley Morrison, Actress

Marilyn Carlson Nelson, CEO Carlson Companies

Ingrid Newkirk, Founder People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

Jane Bryant Quinn, Author and Columnist

Phylicia Rashad, Actress

Ann Reinking, Dancer and Choreographer

Cokie Roberts, Author, Writer and Commentator

Nora Roberts, Author

Joyce Roche, CEO Girls Inc.

Lisa Scottoline, Novelist

Beverly Sills, Opera Singer

Liz Smith, Gossip Columnist

Picabo Street, Olympic Skier

Joyce Tenneson, Photographer

Vanna White, Wheel of Fortune Hostess

Wendy Walker Whitworth, Producer Larry King Live

Lee Ann Womack, Singer and Songwriter

Trisha Yearwood, Singer and Songwriter

    Wendy Walker Whitworth is one of those invisible forces who shapes our view of the world. As executive vice president of CNN and senior executive producer of Emmy-winning Larry King Live for the last thirteen years, she routinely lands exclusive interviews with newsmakers from every corner of celebrity-land, including Nancy Reagan, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, the late John F. Kennedy Jr., Oprah Winfrey and every living U.S. president. Apart from her stellar celebrity-wrangling skills, Wendy has brought a broad scope to Larry King Live, heightening the impact of what might have been a limited talk show format. In 1995, for example, the show portrayed the Middle East peace process through interviews with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. During the 2003 war in Iraq, Wendy produced live shows for 29 consecutive days. Three generations of the Bush family gathered to talk on Larry King during the 2004 Republican National Convention.

Eileen Fisher

Clothing Designer and Entrepreneur

"You don't have to be afraid of living alone."

   You only have to lay your eyes on Eileen Fisher's elegantly understated clothing to understand her talent for paring away the unessential. Now 55, presiding over one of the largest privately-held female-owned businesses in the country, she makes simplicity look sophisticated and the unadorned seem richly embellished.

    When she greeted me at the door of her house in Irvington, NY, her company's home base, Eileen was the embodiment of this sensual purity. Her hair is uncolored, but it's such a spectacular shade of white that you instantly consider forsaking L'Oreal. She moves like the yoga devotee she is-calmly and with pleasure. She runs a large company in the fashion industry but ignores trends in favor of designs that reflect her personal values. When the teen-aged Eileen and her five sisters madly primped in front of a mirror before going out, their mother used to chide them, saying, "Nobody is going to be looking at you." Now primping seems unnecessary and many people watch her.

    We should all be as productive while multi-tasking as Cokie Roberts, a 60-year-old political analyst for ABC and National Public Radio as well as a syndicated newspaper columnist. She spoke to me by phone from her basement office in Bethesda, Maryland, where several grandchildren played on the floor as she assembled the footnotes for her new book. Her career is studded with accolades, including the Edward R. Murrow Award and an Emmy. She's written three books, two of which have been best-sellers: We Are Our Mother's Daughters and From This Day Forward.