The 10th anniversary of Forbes’ list marked another record year for these queens of capitalism, with a 20% jump in billionaires and the highest ever minimum net worth.
Bigger fortunes. More billionaires. Increasing impact. We mark the 10th anniversary of our annual list of America’s most successful self-made women by celebrating how far these 100 entrepreneurs, executives and entertainers have come. Together these ceiling-breakers are worth a combined $155 billion, more than ever before.
There are 38 billionaires this year, with fortunes originating in everything from cars to cosmetics to Chardonnay. That’s more than double the 18 billionaires we found on our first list in 2015 and an increase from 31 billionaires in 2024. The minimum net worth to make the cut is $350 million, up from $300 million last year. Back in 2015, when we ranked only 50 women, the minimum to qualify was $250 million. Thirty-six members of the original list from a decade ago made the 2025 edition.
One of those list originals–and the richest this year–is billionaire Diane Hendricks, the 78-year-old chair and owner of roofing and building materials wholesaler ABC Supply. She takes the top spot for the eighth consecutive year, with an estimated $22.3 billion fortune. Hendricks, who cofounded ABC Supply in 1982 with her husband Ken (who died in 2007) has been No. 1 for all but two years–she ranked No. 2 in 2015 and 2017. Her fortune has risen sixfold since appearing on the first list with a net worth of $3.7 billion. Revenue at the Wisconsin-based company has grown from $4.8 billion in 2014 to $20.7 billion last year.
Among this year’s nine newcomers are three billionaires, including the majority owner of the National Women’s Soccer League’s Washington Spirit, Michele Kang, who sold her health care IT company Cognosante to Accenture for more than $1 billion last year (more on Kang here); Lauren Leichtman, a private equity investor who with her husband bought the National Women’s Soccer League’s San Diego Wave in October; and Iranian immigrant and biotech executive and investor Maky Zanganeh, who helped turn around and sell drug developer Pharmacyclics to AbbVie for $21 billion in 2015 and today runs Summit Therapeutics with her husband (and fellow billionaire) Robert Duggan. (More on Zanganeh here.)
The highest profile and youngest newcomer is musician and actress Selena Gomez, who at 32 is worth an estimated $700 million. The vast majority of the star’s fortune comes from her stake in Rare Beauty, the cosmetics company she founded in 2020 and that Forbes estimates is now worth $1.3 billion. (For more on how Gomez built her fortune, see here.) She is now one of 16 celebrities in the ranks. The oldest newcomer is Gail Federici, 76, a hair care entrepreneur who founded her current company, Color Wow, in 2013.
Other new faces include two executives at sizzling chip design firm Nvidia: chief financial officer Collete Kress, who joined the semiconductor company in 2013, reportedly after her two young sons endorsed the brand, which they knew as the designer of the chips powering their favorite computer games; and Debora Shoquist, Nvidia’s executive vice president of operations and an 18-year veteran of the company, who oversees the logistics and supply chain.
Eight members of last year’s list became billionaires in the past year, several thanks to higher valuations of private tech companies. That includes SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell; Daniela Amodei, president and one of seven cofounders of AI unicorn Anthropic; Theresia Gouw, America’s wealthiest female venture capitalist thanks to her time as a partner at Accel; and Lucy Guo, who became the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire at age 30 in April. Her fortune grew 160% since last year due to the increased value of Scale AI, the artificial intelligence data labeling firm that she cofounded in 2016 with Alexandr Wang, enough to make her the biggest gainer in percentage terms. A sale of insider shares in April pushed the value of the privately held firm to $25 billion, up from $13.8 billion. Though Guo left Scale AI in 2018 and went on to found OnlyFans competitor Passes, she has held on to a nearly 5% stake, which now makes up the vast majority of her net worth.
Cofounder of Little Caesar’s pizza chain, Marian Ilitch is the biggest gainer in dollar terms, up $2.3 billion from a year ago to an estimated $6.9 billion fortune, thanks in part to a more than $1 billion jump in the value of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, which she owns.
Alice Schwartz, cofounder of research and diagnostic firm Bio-Rad Laboratories, is the oldest member of the list, at age 98. Kylie Jenner, who made her debut on the list at age 21, holds onto her position as the youngest member, at 27. (More on the youngest list members here.)
Photos, From Left: Daniela Amodei, Selena Gomez, Gwynne Shotwell. Illustration by Ben Kirchner for Forbes
America’s Richest Self-Made Women
Forbes’ Ranking Of The Country’s Most Successful Women Entrepreneurs, Executives And Entertainers
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More than half of the women on the list–58–saw their fortunes grow since last year, while the net worths of 12 members are unchanged from 2024. Twenty-one are worth less than last year, including pop star Rihanna, whose net worth slipped by $400 million to an estimated $1 billion, due to setbacks at her key businesses. The CEO of her lingerie brand Savage X Fenty quit in August 2024 to take over Victoria’s Secret, and investors marked down their valuation of the company. Sales are estimated to be flat at Fenty Beauty, the cosmetics line which she co-owns with luxury conglomerate LVMH. Sara Liu, who cofounded data storage and server maker Super Micro Computer was a billionaire last year, lost $540 million as shares of Super Micro plunged nearly 60% in the past year.
Six members of the 2024 list dropped off the ranking altogether, including dating app Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd and Pepsico’s former chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi, as shares of their companies tumbled 50% and 20% respectively, in the past year. Three others, all members of the original 2015 list, died: Love’s truck stop cofounder Judy Love, who was 87; casino entrepreneur Elaine Wynn, 82; and former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, 56.
Methodology
To compile net worths, Forbes valued individual assets including stakes in public companies using stock prices from May 2, 2025. We valued private companies by consulting with outside experts and conservatively comparing them with public companies. To be eligible for the list, women have to have substantially made their own fortunes in the U.S. and/or be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. While none inherited their wealth, some climbed farther and overcame more obstacles to get into the ranks. To measure just how far some have come, women are given a self-made score of 6 (hired hand) to 10 (rags-to-riches entrepreneur). We attempted to vet numbers with all list entrants. Some cooperated, others didn’t. Ages are as of June 3, 2025. For more information, including details on the self-made scores, see forbes.com/self-made-women.
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