25 Hottest Women of Business

For many, the word “businessperson” connotes men in white shirts and stranglehold neckties. That stereotype may have held true in the 1950s, but since then, the appearance factor of the business world has evolved substantially.

Take women. Hot women have always populated the business world in some shape or form. We tasked ourselves with compiling a list of the hottest businesswomen we could think of, for your viewing pleasure. These women are accomplished both in the business and the looks departments. Get acquainted with these hotties, outside of the cube–and outside of the pantsuit.

25. Sarah Austin

Business Accomplishments: Founder of a popular online TV show called Pop17 and tech news producer.

Sarah Austin founded Pop17, a daily broadcast of micro-celebrity interviews and culture. Her former roles include UC Berkeley DJ and tech news producer, professional party crasher, and actress. Now a New York social powerhouse, Austin shows her adequate assets in various venues on a regular basis.

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24. Julie Smolyansky

Business Accomplishments: CEO and President of natural foods powerhouse Lifeway Foods.

It’s hard to tell whether Julie Smolyansky is a model for Lifeway Foods commercials, or its CEO and President. In fact, she looks like one, but does a stellar job actually being the other. This thirty-something dynamo took her CEO post in 2002, and has since then focused on expanding the company’s natural foods line substantially. On her company bio, it says that this founder’s daughter’s “…success is the result of good genes and solid training.” We can hang with that.

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23. Morgan Webb

Business Accomplishments: Senior producer and co-host of video game review show X-Play; host of the podcast Webbalert.

Morgan Webb is senior producer and cohost of the show X-Play, and hosts WebbAlert, a popular podcast. She is also a video game columnist. She puts the gawk into geeky.

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22. Yulia Tymoshenko

Business Accomplishments: A self-made millionaire in the gas industry and current Prime Minister of the Ukraine.

Yulia Tymoshenko is in the business of running a country. Earlier in her life she made a fortune as a successful business woman. Forbes Magazine had Tymoshenko ranked as the 3rd most powerful woman in the world. She is well known both as a leader of the Orange revolution and for her unique hairstyle.

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21. Jade Raymond

Business Accomplishments: Produces popular video games for Ubisoft, such as Assassin’s Creed. Hosts the show The Electric Playground.

Game producer and Canadian hottie Jade Raymond hosts G4’s The Electric Playground as well as producing games for gaming giant Ubisoft. Her credits include Assassin’s Creed. This multi-talented vixen also has a fine arts degree, though she should really be a fine arts subject.

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20. Christine Dolce

Business Accomplishments: A self-made fashion designer, model, and master online promoter.

Christine Dolce joined MySpace on a whim to explore modeling. Using her account as an opportunity to express herself through photos; she did her own make up, made her own clothes and setup most of the photo shoots. Within a short time, she added hundreds of friends and photographers were asking her to model for them; her unique clothing style is what really set her apart. Four years and a million friends later, Christine Dolce became a brand name with her own clothing line, Destroyed Brand. She has posed for Playboy, Stuff, FHM and numerous other magazines.

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19. Mich Mathews

Business Accomplishments: The longtime Vice President of Microsoft’s Central Marketing Group.

Mich Mathews is Senior Vice President for Microsoft’s Central Marketing Group, meaning she’s the company marketing maven. She guides company branding, PR, advertising, and internal communications, among other tasks. If the Microsoft brand is strong, Mathews is the driving force behind it. She has been with the company for nearly 20 years; her appearance only gets better with age.

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18. Carmen Wong Ulrich

Business Accomplishments: A financial expert and author with her own show on CNBC.

Carmen Wong Ulrich is the host of CNBC’s “On the Money,” a new one-hour personal finance program, and writes a personal finance blog on CNBC.com. Popular columnist, sought after speaker, blogger and former special projects editor at Money magazine, Ulrich is an authority on personal finance for CNBC, NBC’s “Today” show and “Nightly News.” She is also the author of the under-40 guide to personal finance, GENERATION DEBT: Take Control of Your Money. Carmen is also the new money columnist for Glamour magazine. Ulrich has a master’s degree in psychology from Columbia University and a B.A. from Fairfield University.

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17. Tina Fey

Business Accomplishments: Executive Producer, Influencer (Time 100)

Actress, writer, producer and world-changer…. Tina Fey. With 5 Emmys, a Golden Globe, another SAG award (and those numbers will rise in 2009), Tina Fey is carving out her niche in the business world of media. She is a stellar writer and actress in such films as Mean Girls, Baby Mama and other cameos. She founded eventual Head Writer of SNL after 6 seasons, Tina left to take on executive producer, writer and actress on 30 Rock on NBC. Her dead-on impression of Sarah Palin affected the public’s perception of the Vice Presidential candidate and in many minds, sealed a Democratic win and won her a coveted spot on the Time 100 list (top 10). Hot in that girl-next-door-too-smart-for-you way, she continues to shine.

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16. Holly Dunlap

Business Accomplishments: Founder of high-end shoe and handbag company Hollywould

Holy Dunlap is the creative director and founder of Hollywould. Dunlap started her fashion career at the age of seventeen. Graduated from Parsons Design School in Paris and landed a job at the haute couture salon of Christian Lacroix. Returned back to the States where she was the head designer at Lilly Pulitzer for 3 years. Hollywould was launched in Spring 2000 with her starlet-inspired shoe line.

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15. Tamara Mellon

Business Accomplishments: Founder and president of Jimmy Choo.

Tamara Mellon is the president and founder of a line of designer shoes called Jimmy Choo. Tamara was born in London with a strong understanding of both fashion and business because her mother was a former Chanel model and her father was a successful entrepreneur. Mellon worked at various places before becoming the accessories editor for British Vogue where her fashion instinct noticed a lack of luxury goods accessories in the market. In 1996 Mellon joined forces with Jimmy Choo with an idea of launching a ready-to-wear shoe company, then opened her first shop in London back in 1997.

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14. Jessica Chobot

Business Accomplishments: Self-made online celebrity. High-demand online brand.

Back in 2005, Jessica Chobot licked a Sony PSP. The photo ended up online, making her an instant celebrity. IGN.com then hired her as a video host and staff writer. The ambitious Chobot then picked up additional work as a contributer for Maxim Sirius Radio, a game advisor for Fuel TV, a representative position for a women’s clothing line, and a co-writing gig for the upcoming Sci-Fi movie Soul Code. She’s on, she’s on the up-and-up, and she is plastered all over the Web—what more could you want?

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13. Sushmita Sen

Business Accomplishments: Founder of Sensazione and the Tantra Entertainment film production house.

Sushmita was probably the first Bollywood star to turn entrepreneur when she set up her company Sensazione in 2006. Through her company, she plans to open a chain of hotels, lounges and spas. Besides, she has acquired 12,000 sq ft of space in Kolkata for a ‘lifestyle zone’, which apart from a huge open space will house a nightclub, a restaurant and a cigar lounge. Under the banner of her production house Tantra Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, the ex-Miss Universe also wants to make meaningful films. Her first venture is Rani Lakshmi Bai - The Warrior Queen. The actress, who is directing as well as acting in the film, is currently busy with the pre-production work of the historical epic.

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12. Padma Lakshmi

Business Accomplishments: Transitioned from modeling to building a food/cooking media empire.

After modeling for Versace, Armani and Ralph Lauren, Padma Lakshmi landed her own cooking show, Padma’s Passport, on the Food Network. Along with her own show, Padma has penned a few cookbooks including Easy Exotic and Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet. In 2007, Padma Lakshmi also hosted the top-rated Bravo show, Top Chef. Padma has also appeared in the movie Glitter, alongside Mariah Carey; a rare jump from Bollywood to Hollywood, and The Mistress of Spices with Aishwarya Rai.

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11. Jenna Jameson

Business Accomplishments: Executive Producer, Book Writer, TV Personality.

Basically, Jenna Jameson has become the public face of porn, which means that she is the top interview choice when the mainstream media (everyone from CNN to FOX) does a story on the multibillion-dollar porn industry. The 2004 publication of her book, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, and the tie-in television news special on VH1, Jenna Jameson’s Confessions, legitimized Jenna Jameson even further. Owner of Jenna’s Club Web space and Executive Producer of many Vivid Videos and Spots has made her rich beyond belief and one of the only women in porn to own her own work.

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10. Marissa Mayer

Business Accomplishments: High-level management at Google.

Marissa Mayer was one of the first 20 employees at Google, so she has obviously been influential in steering the company towards its massive success and market share dominance. She currently serves as Google’s VP of Search Product and User Experience and de facto spokesperson. Her job is to verify whether Google products are ready for user release. Early on, Melissa used to date Google co-founder Larry Page, but has since moved on to other pastures. She is free for the looking for everyone.

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9. Arianna Huffington

Business Accomplishments: Founder of one of the most successful and influential websites ever.

The dynamic founder of the Huffington Post also boasts well-preserved good looks. She has quite the journalistic background, ranging from a panelist position on the BBC radio to co-hosting an Air America show. She used to be a vehement anti-Clintonian conservative; the HuffPo shows she has swung the other direction. Her hot qualities, meanwhile, stayed the same.

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8. Rachel Ray

Business Accomplishments: Her brand. She can basically sell anything she wants at this point.

In fewer than seven years, Rachael Ray, 39, has radically changed the way America cooks dinner. Her perky-girl-next-door swagger, her catchphrases for techniques and her dinner ideology of simpler, less expensive and just in time have sold billions of books and placed her at the top of the talent love heap at the Food Network, which has changed its focus from information exchange to helpful encouragement.

As the author of the “30 Minute Meals” series and show of the same name, she parlayed her Food Network Success into a daytime talk show carried and blessed by Oprah herself and Harpo Productions. She also launched “Everyday with Rachel Ray” a lifestyle and Entertainment magazine focused on home and entertaining.

Recently she just launched a line of Dog Food called “Nutrish” cashing in on her quirky phrases that have endeared her to many.

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7. Gina Bianchini

Business Accomplishments: CEO of wildly successful Ning. Founder of Harmonic Communications and benefactor of its liquidation event.

Bianchini co-founded Ning, a customizable social networking platform, with Netscape founder Marc Andreessen in 2004. This Stanford MBA and former Goldman Sachs financial analyst has guided Ning’s unique platform, where users build their own features, to astonishing rates of success, from unnecessary $60 million VC rounds to phenomenal growth rates. She is also really hot.

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6. Queen Rania of Jordan

Business Accomplishments: Board member of the World Economic Forum, founded the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship

Queen Rania is a major advocate of women’s rights around the world, including the Middle East. She was ranked 81st in the Forbes 2005 100 most powerful women of the world list. She is a major philanthropist and supporter of the micro-fund movement.

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5. Alexis Glick

Business Accomplishments: Vice President of Fox Business News & former Executive Director at Morgan Stanley

Alexis Glick is the hot on-air personality that (we think) is the main reason that millions of men watch Fox Business Network each week. She is hugely influential in the business world because of her control over strategy and programming decisions at Fox Business Network.

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4. Tyra Banks

Business Accomplishments: Her brand and influence through her show. TV & film production. Product lines. Real estate development.

A successful model most of her life and an young female African-American role model to many, Tyra Banks could have stopped there, but has only risen since.

Starting in May 2003 her creation-America’s Next Top Model started modestly and has grown into a worldwide hit and is embarking upon its 10th cycle. The most recent edition was the network’s top-rated series, averaging 5.2 million viewers weekly. And The Tyra Banks Show — a broad mix of women’s issues and frothy fare — is now a talk-show force to be reckoned with: 4.3 million adult female viewers tuned in weekly this past November sweeps, and, with a median age of 40, Tyra has the youngest talk-show audience in daytime. (Oprah’s median age is 55.) Now the 34-year-old has a broader goal in mind: world domination. (Yes, seriously.) With a recent multimillion-dollar TV-and-film-production deal through Warner Bros. Entertainment, along with retail and real estate projects in development, Banks is poised to become the most influential woman in television since the almighty O herself.

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3. Heidi Klum

Business Accomplishments: Executive Producer, Project Runway. Clothing and accessory lines. Brand sponsorships.

From fashion runways to Project Runway, Heidi Klum’s goldilocks and 1,000 watt smile has lit up magazine covers, stages and screens from here to Milan since 1992. Bronze and toned, her body splashed the cover of Sports Illustrated and earned her the coveted “Angel” position with Victoria’s Secret. She has appeared in several television shows and movies, which led her to pitch and secure the phenomenally popular and only reality-show winner of the Peabody Award “Project Runway” on Bravo as Host, Judge and Executive Producer. Behind her playful lips and cutesy German accent lies the mind of brilliant businesswoman dedicated to expanding her empire; which in 2008 Forbes estimated at 14 million a year and growing, placing her 2nd on the Top Model list. With her own clothing and accessories line coming in 2009, spokesperson deals with Jordache and VW and her countless appearances on film and television, there are a lot chances to salivate over Heidi for a long time.

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2. Beyonce Knowles

Business Accomplishments: Entertainment empire, endorsement deals, fashion lines.

After ditching Destiny’s Child to go solo in 2003, the Houston native has released two platinum albums and built a wildly successful entertainment empire that includes fashion, film and publishing deals. She sold $50 million in tickets on a recent tour. Her endorsement contracts, with L’Oréal, American Express and others, bring in $10 million annually.

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1. Sara Blakely

Business Accomplishments: Founder of SPANX product line for women.

Sara Blakely literally embodies the can-do spirit that lies within the heart of just about all of us. A few years ago, when frustrated in her search to find a pair of pantyhose that would offer some slimming features, she took $5,000 from her savings and started her own company to produce exactly that kind of product. With that product, called SPANX, Sara Blakely quickly became a hero to women all over the world while, at the same time, helping to revive an industry that had been in a slump for more than a decade. Sara now divides her time between her business ventures and public speaking engagements in which she inspires and motivates women to take on the world through involvements with business, community, and politics. In her keynote speeches, she talks about her Sara Blakely Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting and empowering women around the globe. By both her words and actions, she has become widely recognized as a powerful force in both the celebrity world and the world of business and finance.

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