Today is International Women’s Day.

Here are a few of the women who inspire me (other than the women in my life who inspire me every day):

Mathilde Krim – tireless AIDS researcher and co-founder of amfAR, a charity aimed at mobilizing public in the area of AIDS research. She took on AIDS earlier on, before it was fashionable and helped rally public awareness.

Meryl Streep – my favorite actress. She brims with intelligence and wisdom, yet still has a good sense of humor and doesn’t take herself too seriously. I’ve loved her since the first moment I saw her on the screen, in a bit part in the Jane Fonda movie “Julia”, but my very favorite character she played was in “Sophie’s Choice”, in which she was heartbreakingly brilliant.

Marianne Pearl – French journalist who was married to Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal writer who was kidnapped and murdered by an Islamic group in Pakistan claiming he was a spy. At the time of his murder, Marianne was pregnant with the couple’s first child. She is a Buddhist and an extremely contemplative and serene woman who acted with grace under real pressure. I read an interview with her in which she stated that we need "to embrace the complexity of the world" and to realize that young men in the impoverished world lack the chance to dream and hope. She gets it yet, so many people in power don’t. She’s amazing.

Jane Austen – who wrote my favorite book of all time “Pride and Prejudice” and from whose circumscribed life arose some of the world’s best and most beloved novels.

Kirsty MacColl – one of my favorite singers EVER, who died a really sad death in a boating accident in front of her two children. Kirsty, I still listen to your music all the time and mourn your loss.

Hillary Clinton – people love or hate her. I LOVE her!