Inspiring, Passionate and Fascinating Women

The Mia^® Community stands for women’s roles and voices in our society. It goes without saying that many splendorous women are shaping our world and actively contributing to our current scene with their absolute determination in many fields. This article is just a snippet of the endless broad array of women making a significant impact on our lives. Although they work in different arenas, some are well-known, and others are pioneering in their specialties. However, no matter how different they are, they share a theoretical perspective: they are interesting and clever women who have learned to develop their passion in life thanks to their self-belief, empowerment, and consistency of purpose.

Mari Sako

Japan

While gaining a Master’s degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Tokyo, Sako spent more than 3 years in Bangladesh developing a project to provide better health care and medical access for everyone, including residents of farming villages and regions lacking medical services. She is passionate about developing countries, and her venture, which considers AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in Japanese technology¹, aims to “develop inexpensive and effective new health examination from Bangladesh.” In an interview², Sako told an anecdote when remembering a phone call from a farmer in a local area who realized he had a chronic disease thanks to the Miup screening technology that Sako had developed. “He phoned me personally,” she recalled, pointing out that without this system, his life would have been at risk.

Cristina Rossi

Switzerland

CEO and co-founder of b-rayZ is a remarkable woman who is part of the Swiss startup ecosystem and one of the top female entrepreneurs chosen by Venture Lab.

Professor Rossi leads an AI-driven breast imaging company to detect abnormalities in breast tissue. In one of her blogs³, she highlights the general shortage in the medical workforce and how this problem has brought breast cancer screening to its limits, negatively affecting the quality of preventive health services for women. To tackle this shortcoming she suggests “the use of artificial intelligence in mammography screening as it can reduce the burden on healthcare workers while at the same time improving both the safety and precision of the investigation”.

Annie Ernaux

France

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2022, she is the first French woman and the 17th woman to have received this honour. During her speech in Stockholm⁴, she said that the “Nobel helps to legitimize women in literature” and that the prize was “a sign of justice and hope for all women writers.” Ernaux, one of the most acclaimed authors in her country, writes non-fiction and novels about daily life in France. Her books emphasize substantial disparities concerning gender, language, and class. Among her thought-provoking book collection, Happening (L’Événement), A Man’s Place (La Place), and I Remain in darkness (Je ne suis pas sortie de ma nuit) are some of her most popular best-selling works.

Celia Paul

United Kingdom

She is a remarkable painter, and her work has been included in marvelous collections at the British Museum, the V&A, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. In an interview⁵ for inspiring and contemporary women in the National Portrait Gallery, she talked about women and her paintings: “women worry a lot about what they look like, and that can affect the truthfulness of their gaze.” She also stated that women “really need to have their wits about them when they do self-portraits because women’s position in the history of art isn’t established.” Her best intimate depictions boast Memory and Desire, Self-Portrait, My Studio, The Sea and the mirror, Stillness, and many others.

Get Social! What other inspiring women do you feel proud of in your country? Let’s brainstorm a great list, and together, let’s create the Mia^® women of today!