In 1963, Mary Kay Ash, $5,000 in hand, founded Mary Kay Cosmetics, an enterprise that has allowed countless women to join the American economy as independent salespeople, proudly driving their trademark pink Cadillacs as badges of prosperity. Today, the company operates in 29 international markets and Mary Kay Ash, now chairman emeritus, is a certified legend. But she no longer stands alone as a female role model in corporate America, even in traditionally female industries such as cosmetics and apparel.

Fortune magazine’s October 25 cover story, "The 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business," profiled Andrea Jung, Avon president and COO (ranked no. 14), and Jeanne Jackson, Banana Republic CEO (no. 45). But the list is actually dominated by high-powered women in finance, technology, and e-business. For a second year in a row, Fortune magazine has named new Hewlett-Packard CEO and president Carly Fiorina as the most powerful woman in American business.

Fiorina is not only prominent for her position at the helm of a major corporation, but also for her outspoken candor on the issue of the corporate glass ceiling: "At companies competing hard to win every day," she says, "there is not a glass ceiling." The evidence is on her side.

The typical qualifications for senior corporate management positions have been a MBA and 25 years in the labor force. Looking back 25 years, fewer than seven percent of MBA graduates were women. Assuming that no women left the workforce during the 25-year period between 1974 and 1999, one would only expect to find around seven percent of women holding these jobs—far less than the current 11 percent. And with women representing more than one third of MBA graduates, women are now in the "pipeline" for these positions.

Today’s new corporate elite not only wears lipstick, but they tend to be younger, bringing more innovative thinking into a rapidly changing business environment. "You don’t have to have 30 years of experience to be CEO of a major company today," says retiring Hewlett-Packard chairman Lew Platt. "Twenty is enough. And, in fact, it’s often more appropriate for companies that are stuck in old ways of thinking."

Fortune’s successful women are remarkably diverse. At a spry age of 58, Martha Stewart is the elder among the top 10. With revenues of $180 million and $23.8 million in net profits, she won’t run out of steam any time soon. The youngest among the top 10, Mary Meeker, age 40, is new to this year’s elite list. As a managing director at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Fortune called Meeker "The oracle of the Net."

This list not only highlights prominent women in American business but underscores the reality that we have indeed come a long way. These profiles of successful women demonstrate what intelligence, effort, and enterprise can achieve in today’s marketplace. They see no "glass ceiling," and that may be why they provide such a fascinating preview of corporate America in the new millennium.

—Naomi Lopez

Naomi Lopez is the director of the Center for Enterprise and Opportunity at the California-based Pacific Research Institute.