Notable women in Puerto Rico

Prominent women in Puerto Rico include the following:

Actresses, comedians and directors Alicia Moreda, actress/comedian Camila Sagardia, actress and model Ivonne Belén, documentary director and producer. Jennifer Lopez, singer, actress, producer. Marquita Rivera, actress. First Puerto Rican to appear in a major Hollywood motion picture – Road to Rio. Retrieved 14 April 2008 Rita Moreno, actress, dancer, singer Roselyn Sánchez, actress. Films include Rush Hour 2 and Chasing Papi. Sylvia del Villard, actress, choreographer and dancer. Esther Sandoval, actress and pioneer in Puerto Rican Television. Rosario Dawson, actress, producer, singer, comic book writer, and political activist. La La Anthony, Television Personality, New York Times Best-Selling Author, businesswoman, actress, and producer. Aubrey Plaza, American actress, comedian, and producer. Gina Rodriguez, actress, director, women and Latino right activist, and philanthropist. Joan Smalls, actress and model Government Officials Engineer Eileen M Vélez-Vega, first woman to become Puerto Rico’s Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Public Works and first Puerto Rican inducted in the US Space Camp Hall of Fame

Authors, playwrights and poets Alejandrina Benítez de Gautier, poet. Benítez de Gautier's collaboration with the "Aguinaldo Puertorriqueño" (Collection of Puerto Rican Poetry) gave her recognition as a great poet.Bios Ana Lydia Vega, writer, Premio Juan Rulfo (1984), Premio Casa de las Américas (1982) Concha Meléndez, educator, poet, writer. First woman to belong to the Puerto Rican Academy of Languages. Georgina Lázaro, poet. Giannina Braschi, poet, novelist, dramatist. Author of the Spanglish classic Yo-Yo Boing! and United States of Banana Isabel Freire de Matos, writer and educator. Distinguished advocate for Puerto Rico's independence.Isabel Freire de Matos por Esther Rivera Torres Julia de Burgos, poet. Considered by many as the greatest Puerto Rican poet of all times.JS Theatre Judith Ortiz Cofer. author, poet. A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood. Lola Rodríguez de Tió, poet. Wrote lyrics to the original version of the Puerto Rican anthem "La Borinqueña". María Bibiana Benítez, Puerto Rico's first female poet and one of its first playwrights Mayra Santos-Febres, author, poet, novelist, essayist, literary critic, professor of literature. Anamu y manigua, El orden escapado, Pez de Vidrio, Sirena Selena vestida de pena, Nuestra Señora de la Noche, La amante de Gardel Esmeralda Santiago, novelist.Santiago's Page on pbs.org Mercedes Negrón Muñoz, poet. Influential poet whose work dealt with the everyday struggles of the common Puerto Rican.Puerto Rico Past and Present: An Encyclopedia By Ronald Fernandez, Serafín Méndez Méndez, Gail Cueto Pura Belpré, first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City, writer, collector of folktales, puppeteer. Rosario Ferré, short story writer and novelist, best known for "Eccentric Neighborhoods" and "Sweet Diamond Dust". Ensayistas.org, Rosario Ferré. Retrieved 6 January 2007. Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, novelist, short story writer, essayist.

Businesswomen and industrialists Camalia Valdés, businesswoman. President and CEO of Cerveceria India, Inc., Puerto Rico's largest brewery.Camalia Valdez – Bio Carlota Alfaro, fashion designer. Carolyn Aronson, businesswoman and founder of several companies across beauty, real estate, yachting, aviation and more. Some of her companies include It's A 10 Haircare, Be A 10 Cosmetics, Ex10sions (hair extensions), CLOUD (haircare), Fat Cloud Aviation (private jet company) and She’s A 10 Too (mega-yacht chartering company). Alongside her husband Jeff Aronson and Grammy-nominated artist Fat Joe, Carolyn co-founded Rewind It 10. Carmen Ana Culpeper, SBA Regional Director. First female Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury and first female president of the Puerto Rico Telephone Company.

Civil rights and/or political activists Ana María O'Neill, women's rights activist and educator. First female Professor of Business at the University of Puerto Rico. A women's rights activist, she urged women to defend their right to vote.Biografias Ana Roque, women's rights activist. Suffragist and one of the founders of the University of Puerto Rico. Blanca Canales, political activist. Nationalist leader who led the Jayuya Uprising in 1950 against U.S. colonial rule of Puerto Rico. Isabel González, civil rights activist. Young Puerto Rican mother who paved the way for Puerto Ricans to be given United States citizenship.Journal of American Ethnic History Lolita Lebrón, political activist. Nationalist leader and activist. Lebrón was the leader of a group of nationalists, who proceeded to attack the United States House of Representatives in 1954. Luisa Capetillo, activist and writer. Social labor organizer and essayist who fought for women's rights, free love, and human emancipation. María de las Mercedes Barbudo, political activist. First female "Independentista". First woman to become an avid advocate of the Puerto Rican Independence..Mercedes – La primera Independentista Puertorriquena Mariana Bracetti, political activist. Bracetti was the leader of the "Lares's Revolutionary Council" during the Grito de Lares. Bracetti knit the first flag of the future "Republic of Puerto Rico". María Cadilla, women's rights activist. Women rights activist and one of the first women in Puerto Rico to earn a doctoral degree. Olga Viscal Garriga, political activist. Student leader at the University of Puerto Rico and spokesperson of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party's branch in Río Piedras.

Composers, musicians and singers Iris Chacón, singer and vedette. Julita Ross, singer of danzas. Lucecita Benítez, singer. Winner of the 1969 "Festival de la Cancion Latina". Nydia Caro, singer. Ruth Fernández, singer. Sylvia Rexach, singer and composer. Ivy Queen, singer, songwriter, record producer Olga Tañon, singer La India, Known as Linda Viera Caballero, Salsa singer and songwriter Melina León, meringue singer and songwriter Ana Isabelle, singer, actress, dancer, and entrepreneur Kany García, singer and songwriter Melina Almodovar, singer, songwriter, dancer, and entertainer. Known as La Muñeca de la Salsa or La Chica del Bling.

Educators Edna Coll, educator and author. President of the Society of Puerto Rican Authors. Also founded the Puerto Rico Academy of Fine Arts."Tras las Huellas de Nuestro Paso"; by: Ildelfonso López; Publisher: AEELA, 1998 Lolita Tizol, educator. At a time when most people in Ponce, as in most of Puerto Rico, did not know how to read and write, Tizol took it upon herself to overcome challenges to help others. Margot Arce de Vázquez, educator. Founder of the Department of Hispanic Studies in the University of Puerto Rico. Nilita Vientós Gastón, educator. First female lawyer to work for the Department of Justice of Puerto Rico. Won a case before the Supreme Court for the use of the Spanish language in Puerto Rican courts.

Historians Delma S. Arrigoitia, historian and author. First person in the University of Puerto Rico to earn a master's degree in the field of history.Puerto Rico Daily Sun Gladys Esther Tormes González, a historian and head archivist of the Archivo Histórico de Ponce in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Serving since 1974, she is the longest-serving archivist in the municipality of Ponce. Mariana Bracetti, one of the many leaders during the struggle for Puerto Rican independence, she helped to knit the original “Flag of Lares” which was displayed to show victory over the Spanish Socorro Giron, Puerto Rican historian, writer, and scholar. Author of "Ponce, el teatro La Perla y La Campana de la Almudaina: Historia de Ponce desde sus comienzos hasta la Segunda Decada del Siglo XX."

Journalists Carmen Jovet, journalist. First Puerto Rican woman to become news anchor in Puerto Rico. Isabel Cuchí Coll, journalist and author. Director of the Sociedad de Autores Puertorriqueños (Puerto Rican Authors Society).

Judges Carmen Consuelo Vargas, Federal District Court judge. First Puerto Rican female to become a federal district judge and chief justice.

Military personnel Carmen García Rosado, Private First Class, U.S. Women's Army Corps; was among the first 200 Puerto Rican women to be recruited into the WAC's during World War II; author of LAS WACS-Participacion de la Mujer Boricua en la Segunda Guerra Mundial (The WACs – The participation of the Puerto Rican women in the Second World War), the first book which documents the experiences of the first 200 Puerto Rican women to participate in said conflict as members of the armed forces of the United StatesCarmen García Rosado, "LAS WACS"-Participacion de la Mujer Boricua en la Seginda Guerra Mundial, p. 60; 1ra. Edicion publicada en Octubre de 2006; 2da Edicion revisada 2007; Regitro tro Propiedad Intectual ELA (Government of Puerto Rico) #06-13P-)1A-399 Dolores Piñero, U.S. Army Medical Corps; despite the fact that she was not an active member of the military, she was the first Puerto Rican woman doctor to serve in the Army under contract during World War I; at first she was turned down, but after writing a letter to the Army Surgeon General in Washington, D.C. she was ordered to report to Camp Las Casas in Santurce, Puerto Rico; in October 1918, she signed her contract with the Army.

Irene M. Zoppi, Brigadier General, U.S. Army Reserve. BG Zoppi is the first Puerto Rican woman promoted to the rank of general in the U.S. Army Reserve. Born and raised in Canóvanas, Puerto Rico as Irene Miller y Rodriguez, she began her career as a private first class with the Military Police Corps back in 1985. She is an example of Puerto Rico’s Public School Education System to include University. She was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1988, and rose through the ranks until she earned her star in 2017. Brig. Gen. Zoppi speaks five languages, is a Ph.D. and has three masters’ degrees. Her military assignments over the years included a deployment with the 3rd Armored Division during the Gulf War. She has earned numerous awards and decorations including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), and the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Government of Kuwait). Dr. Zoppi’s civilian achievements include serving as a Program Director for the National Intelligence University under the National Security Agency. You can learn more about Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Zoppi at the U.S. Army Reserve Official Website. Famous Kin. Brig. Gen. Zoppi’s famous kin include one very notable relationship. She is a first cousin five times removed from President Abraham Lincoln via Lincoln’s grandfather, also named Abraham Lincoln. In light of her own patriotic service to the United States, it is not surprising to find a number of notable patriots and cabinet members in Brig. Gen. Zoppi's family tree. These include familial connections to Amos Lincoln (Boston Tea Party participant), Elihu Washburne (Secretary of State), Nicholas Gilman (signer of the Constitution), John Hancock (signer of the Declaration of Independence), Nathanial Gorham (signer of the Constitution), and Salmon P. Chase (Secretary of the Treasury). In addition to Abraham Lincoln, other presidents with family ties to Brig. Gen. Zoppi include James Garfield, Gerald Ford, and both presidents Bush. Some of the more notable women include Juliette Gordon Low (founder of the Girl Scouts) and Amelia Earhart (aviation pioneer). There are also a number of celebrities, probably the most notable of which is Elvis Presley.