Superwomen
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Kylie Minogue, Beth Ditto and Diablo Cody - 12 inspirational celebrity women who rock!
By Alaina Vieru
We love to celebrate our celebrities on handbag.com - the best dressed, best hair, hottest man and so on, but sometimes it\'s good to celebrate stars for something other than putting together an effortlessly chic look. So here are 12 celebrity women we salute, be it for their business sense, their charity work or... because they just rock!
Kylie Minogue
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Kylie Minogue at the Elle Style Awards 2008 - 12 inspirational celebrity women who rock!
Who: The tiny dynamo from down under and pop princess extraordinaire.
Why she rocks: She\'s dealt with everything from breast cancer to the very public breakdown of her relationships with incredible dignity. As if entertaining the masses with sell-out world tours and poptastic songs isn\'t enough, Miss Minogue is a keen businesswoman. She has Love Kylie lingerie, the Darling perfume range and a home collection with House Of Fraser. Is there anything she doesn\'t do?
Tamara Mellon
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Tamara Mellon of Jimmy Choo - 12 inspirational celebrity women who rock!
Who: Ultimate brand ambassador, company president and founder of shoe empire Jimmy Choo, worth well over £100 million.
Why she rocks: The former Vogue accessories editor took the London cobbler Jimmy Choo from the fashion pack\'s inside secret to a global brand beloved by celebrities, Sex And The City\'s Carrie Bradshaw and mere mortals alike. The entrepreneurial icon also dates the dishy Christian Slater.
Alek Wek
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Fashion model Alek Wek - 12 inspirational celebrity women who rock!
Who: Sudanese supermodel with a conscience.
Why she rocks: She went from civil war stricken Sudan to the world\'s hottest catwalks thanks to her striking beauty and infectious smile, but she hasn\'t forgotten her roots. Alek designs a range of handbags called Wek 1933 (referring to her father\'s birth year) available at Selfridges and is a member of the US Committee for Refugees\' Advisory Council to help raise awareness about the situation in Sudan.
Reese Witherspoon
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Reese Witherspoon - 12 inspirational celebrity women who rock!
Who: Hugely talented A-list actress and ultimate girl\'s girl.
Why she rocks: Her CV is littered with a variety of brilliant performances from kooky to comedy to Oscar-winning and she also has her own production company, Type A Films. If that doesn\'t keep her busy enough Reese also does a huge amount of charitable work for children and women and is mum of two. Despite marrying Ryan Phillippe and now taking Jake Gyllenhaal off the market, we strangely do not hate her, not even a little bit.
Beth Ditto
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Beth Ditto from Gossip - 12 inspirational celebrity women who rock!
Who: Gossip frontwoman, NME\'s "No 1 coolest person in rock", friend of Kate Moss and out-and-proud lesbian.
Why she rocks: Other than for the obvious reasons, such as singing the pumping Standing In The Way Of Control (written in response to the US government denying gays the right to marry), Beth rocks because she\'s big, she\'s lesbian and doesn\'t care who knows it. In a world where conformity is key, it\'s incredibly refreshing to see someone who is truly themself. And how hot did she look at this year\'s Brit Awards?
Glenda Bailey
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Harper\'s Bazaar\'s Glenda Bailey - 12 inspirational celebrity women who rock!
Who: Editor of US Harpers Bazaar (one of handbag.com\'s many sister magazines).
Why she rocks: She won two Amnesty International Awards for her journalism and is the founder of the British arm of CEW (Cosmetic Executive Women), a charitable trade organisation that aims to help women network and raise their visibility within the beauty industry. A beautiful mind, indeed.
Diablo Cody
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Oscar winner and Juno\'s Diablo Cody - 12 inspirational celebrity women who rock!
Who: Author, Oscar-winning screenwriter of Juno, blogging queen and former stripper.
Why she rocks: Diablo Cody\'s (real name Brook Busey) stripper memoirs Candy Girl: A Year In The Life Of An Unlikely Stripper was an often comedic breath of fresh air in a world awash with misery memoirs. Along with penning the Oscar nominated (and winning) Juno, she\'s now collaborating with Steven Spielberg and Toni Collette. Not bad for someone who hasn\'t even yet reached their 30th birthday.
Jane Shepherdson
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Former Topshop brand manager Jane Shepherdson with Sir Philip Green - 12 inspirational celebrity women who rock!
Who: Former Topshop Brand Manager and "the most important woman in fashion" according to fashion bible Drapers.
Why she rocks: She quickly rose through the ranks at Topshop thanks to her gut instincts, making it the place to shop. She now has her sights set on yummy mummy favourite Whistles. In an unlikely but inspired move, Shepherdson also collaborates (unpaid) with Oxfam and wants to end the "cheap" disposable fashion that has flooded the high street.
Dolly Parton
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Dolly Parton - 12 inspirational celebrity women who rock!
Who: Musical legend and owner of the triple Bs (big boobs, blonde hair and business sense).
Why she rocks: Unfairly labelled as a "guilty pleasure" by some, her prolific string of self-penned and often-covered classics (I Will Always Love You, Jolene) have given her enough money to make some fruitful investments including her Dollywood theme park and the production company that made Buffy The Vampire Slayer. She\'s also a philanthropist on a global scale with Dolly\'s Imagination Library, which provides young children with free books. We will always love her...
Dame Kelly Holmes
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Olympic medallist Dame Kelly Holmes - 12 inspirational celebrity women who rock!
Who: Queen-approved double Olympic Gold medallist and budding fashion-lover.
Why she rocks: She made a very public statement about her difficulties with clinical depression and self-harming, and now after retiring from sport has taken up causes large (Sport Relief) and small (encouraging girls to exercise by getting them more fashionable gym kits). She was also asked to be Tom Cruise\'s date to a film premiere pre-Katie but turned him down.
Gone but not forgotten: Dame Anita Roddick
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Body Shop founder Anita Roddick - 12 inspirational celebrity women who rock!
Who: Body Shop founder and much-missed controversial environmental activist who sadly passed away 10 September 2007.
Why she rocks: Not only did she bring us the can\'t-live-without Body Butter, Anita Roddick took her home grown self-started company from one shop in Brighton to the second largest cosmetic franchise in the world, thanks empowering slogans and fair trade principles. The Body Shop Foundation has also given away £9.5 million to its innovative projects around the globe to help end abuses on the environment, human rights, animal rights and other worthy causes.
Gone but not forgotten: Jane Tomlinson
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Athlete Jane Tomlinson who passed away from cancer - 12 inspirational celebrity women who rock!
Who: Much-loved athlete, CBE and charity fundraiser who passed away from cancer on 3 September 2007 at age 43.
Why she rocks: Despite being given only 12 months to live when diagnosed with cancer in 2000, Jane Tomlinson tirelessly threw herself into athletics to raise money for charity, which included completing the London Marathon three times, the London Triathlon twice and the New York Marathon. She also cycled across Africa, the US and Europe to raise a whopping £1.5 million. The word ‘inspiration\' doesn\'t even begin to do her justice.
