12 Most Influential Women From Louisiana Who Are Still Changing the World

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) — Louisiana has always punched above its weight. A state of fewer than 5 million people has shaped American music, culture, food, politics, and sports in ways that defy its size. Nowhere is that more evident than in the remarkable women it has produced.

The names on this list span generations, industries, and geography. One of them walked through a mob of screaming protesters at age 6 and changed the course of American civil rights history. Another built an $8 billion sports empire from a neighborhood across the river from downtown New Orleans. A girl from a north Louisiana town of 170 people became country music's reigning entertainer of the year — twice.

A Lafayette native turned a TikTok account into a global brand before she turned 21. A Lake Charles songwriter won more than 100 consecutive weeks at the top of the Christian charts and performed at the Super Bowl in her home state. A Lafayette tennis player won a Grand Slam title and competed among the best in the world. A Kenner native became the first Black woman to run a major presidential campaign.

From the streets of New Orleans to the rural parishes of Acadiana and the deep north of the state, these women reflect everything Louisiana is — resilient, creative, fiercely proud, and impossible to ignore. Some are household names recognized around the world. Others deserve far more recognition than they get. All of them carry Louisiana with them wherever they go.

The list that follows includes only women who are alive as of publication and who were either born in Louisiana or spent the formative years of their lives in the state. Here are 12 of the most influential women in or from Louisiana today.

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