52 InSTYLE AUGUST 2019
BADASS WOMEN
22 NICOLLE GONZALES
With Changing Woman
Initiative, the nurse-midwife
created a health collective for
Native American women. She
is working to establish the first
standalone Native American
birthing center, but until then
you’ll find her making house calls,
as she did recently, traveling
seven hours to deliver a baby
on a reservation. “Bringing
awareness to the challenges
Native American families face
around birth, motherhood, and
personal autonomy when it
comes to health care feels like
success to me,” she says.
23 SANDRA CAPPONI In
2016 she left a cushy corporate
job to co-found the Emma
Watson–approved app Good
on You, which rates thousands
of fashion brands based on
their impact on people and the
planet. “I got sick of following
rules and playing nice with the
big guys,” Capponi says. “I
wanted to shake up the system
and use people’s choices to
change business for the better.”
She projects that her audience
will reach about five million
people by the end of next year.
24 LORI LIGHTFOOT
As Chicago’s first openly gay
and first black female mayor,
the former lawyer promises to
take on widespread corruption
and ring in a new era of equity
and inclusion for the city. “You
did more than make history;
you created a movement for
change,” she said to supporters
in her victory speech.
25 MARTHA HOLMES
“I prefer wilderness over
accommodations and people, if
I’m being honest,” says Holmes,
whose wildlife-storytelling
projects often bring her
face-to-face with animals like
cheetahs (far right). “I’m always
humbled by nature,” she says.
Holmes has produced several
award-winning BBC Natural
History Unit programs, like Blue
Planet, and was the only female
executive producer on National
Geographic’s Hostile Planet.
26 H.E.R. This year the
22-year-old singer-songwriter
beat out industry icons like
Leon Bridges to win two
Grammys for her EP compila-
tion album. The R&B star goes
by H.E.R. (Having Everything
Revealed) to divert attention
from her personal life to her
sound. “A badass is an ‘I don’t
need anyone to tell me who I
am’ kind of woman,” she says.
“I could have become a
gimmick. But I stayed true to
my sound and my story.”
27 ALEX MORGAN The star
co-captain of the U.S. women’s
national soccer team is leading
the fight for pay parity and
better working conditions
21 Carla Gugino
THE ACTRESS MAKES A CASE FOR
FINDING SUCCESS IN FAILURE
A
s a society, we’ve been taught that failure is bad and
success is good. I beg to differ, and here’s why: To be an
actor is to have a Ph.D. in the fine art of rejection. Every
project is tenuous at best. You might not be cast, or if you
are, a variety of reasons might keep your version of the
character from seeing the light of day. But, in my experi-
ence at least, something better always comes along.
Here are a few quick examples.
In 1996 I was cast in Spin Cit y, opposite Michael J. Fox. Halfway into the
first season the great Gary David Goldberg realized they had worked my
character into a corner, so she needed to be written out. I left, disappointed,
but I couldn’t disagree. The silver lining? On that set I got to work with mas-
ters of their craft and met my lifelong soul sister, Connie Britton.
Weeks later I had the chance to work with Brian De Palma and Nicolas
Cage in Snake Eyes. This wouldn’t have happened if I’d still been doing a TV
show in New York. Right after that, Sebastian Gutierrez and I made our first
movie together, Judas Kiss. That kicked off a fruitful collaboration that has
lasted 20 years (our newest series, Jett, premiered in June).
In 2003 I played the lead in a much-anticipated TV show called Karen Sisco. The show turned out great, but a regime
change saw it abruptly canceled. I was devastated, but then a couple of weeks later, Broadway director Michael Mayer
auditioned me for After the Fall and changed my life. I soon found myself performing on Broadway in one of the best roles
I’ve ever gotten. I never saw it coming.
My point is that when you think failure comes knocking, there is always another door that opens. I’ve lost out on a big
movie at the same time that I found my dream house. I’ve starred in “sure thing” television pilots that didn’t get picked up
and been part of highly anticipated blockbusters-to-be that didn’t pan out—but I met some of my best friends and future
colleagues on those sets. This has happened over and over. All the people I admire have led lives filled with so-called
failures. In fact, what makes them successful is how well they navigate them.
So, the next time “failure” greets you, look it in the eye and say, “Where are we going next?”
CARLA
GUGINO
