Forbes Richest Self-Made Women in America 2026
Diane Hendricks
- Net Worth: $21.7 billion
- Source: Building supplies
Sales at ABC Supply, the building supplies wholesaler she cofounded with her husband Kenneth (d. 2007), fell 2.3% to $20.2 billion in 2025, the first drop in over a decade. But for the ninth straight year, Hendricks—who also invests in real estate, manufacturing, logistics, recycling and owns a golf course in Beloit, Wisconsin—remains, by far, the richest self-made woman in America. A teen mother at age 17, Hendricks once worked as a Playboy Bunny to support her child.
Daniela Amodei
- Net Worth: $15.5 billion
- Source: Anthropic
A very lucrative year for Anthropic—now valued at $965 billion—propels its cofounder and president Amodei way up the ranks, up from No. 28 a year ago. The San Francisco native has taken an unconventional path into tech: she was a classical flutist as a child, an English literature major at UC Santa Cruz and a political staffer for a Pennsylvania congressman. She later joined her brother at OpenAI, where she was vice president of safety and policy, before leaving to launch Anthropic with him and five colleagues. That background has given her a contrarian worldview: As AI upends industries, she believes the humanities will be more important than ever, as will standing by one’s principles, even if that means tangling with the Department of War.
Gwynne Shotwell
- Net Worth: $1.3 billion
- Source: SpaceX
Shotwell has been driving many of Elon Musk’s biggest moves lately. SpaceX, which she has run as president for nearly two decades, merged with Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI in February at a $1.25 trillion valuation. Now she’s helping take the rocket maker public in an expected mid-June IPO at a reported $1.8 trillion target valuation—enough to rank as the largest public offering ever. Shotwell, who Musk hired in 2002 as employee 11, owns 0.11% of the company and almost didn’t join: While she believed in his vision, she was going through a divorce and had two young children. After thinking it over for about a month, she called Musk to accept.
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
- Net Worth: $1 billion
- Source: Music
Her bold pivot to country music led to the most successful concert tour in the genre’s history—and helped Cowboy Carter lasso $450 million in ticket and merchandise sales. It was enough to vault Queen Bey into the 10-figure ranks, joining just four other musicians in the club, including her husband Jay-Z. Another key to her success: Beyonce founded Parkwood Entertainment in 2010 to control all aspects of her career, from producing her own music and concerts to managing her career.
