From the cockpit to the halls of command, women in the military have fought, served, and led with courage—pushing the limits, breaking boundaries, and making history. Join us as we dive deep into stories of trailblazing women—like pilot Heather “Lucky” Penney who volunteered to sacrifice herself in order to save lives on 9/11, or La’Shanda Holmes Hawkins who went from foster care to becoming the first black female helicopter pilot in the Coast Guard. Women who have led critical operations,...

Gender, identity, mental health, LGBTQ+ civil rights—these don’t have to be confusing, intimidating conversations. Everyone from your grandma to your best friend has an opinion on these issues, and Schuyler Bailar, the celebrated activist, author, and trailblazing transgender athlete (the first to compete in NCAA Division 1) is here for it. Each week, Dear Schuyler invites cultural movers to join him in provocative and personal conversations about how gender issues impact all of us. They...

Whipped, then forced to watch her daughters raped in her village center, Boudica, Celtic queen of the Iceni tribe of Britons, vowed revenge on the Romans who violated women and children. Leading a mass revolt of British peoples who had been driven from their lands by Emperor Nero’s invaders, Boudica fought three Roman legions and burned London to the ground. Cutting a swath of destruction across southern England, she chased down the main Roman army and set the stage for a battle that would...

Introducing a new romance series: The Royals of Malibu. Ella Sinclair (Alyssa McKay) is a survivor. She’s fierce, brave, and jaded. She finds herself a teenage orphan trying to stay afloat and finish high school on her own. Enter The Royals. Through circumstances Ella can barely believe, wealthy father-of-two sons, Callum Royal, plucks Ella out of poverty and welcomes her into their posh lifestyle a world away in elegant Malibu. Even though both Royal boys are intriguing, the most magnetic is...

Queen Tomyris led her hard-riding, hard-fighting Massagetae horsemen one of the ancient world’s fiercest battles—against one of history’s greatest superpowers. Using quiet diplomacy and hardcore savagery, Queen Tomyris leads her people up against the might of the Persian Empire and its legendary founder, King Cyrus the Great. Her battle, documented by the Greek historian Herodotus, the “Father of History,” is one of the earliest recorded battles of a woman commanding armies against a king....

Bride at 10, widow at 25, general, tyrant, cosmetologist, mother, countess, botanist, and war leader, Countess Caterina Sforza di Riario led the most interesting life of any woman of the Italian Renaissance. Trained to fight by a powerful Milanese warlord, she learned that a Renaissance woman’s duty is to support her husband – whether in the home, or by providing medicines to peasants during the plague, or galloping on horseback to take command of a castle. She aimed cannons from the...

On the dust-swept steppes of Mongolia, a young woman labors to rebuild the old empire of Genghis Khan. Surviving palace intrigues and the death of her husband the khan, Queen Manduhai teams up with a young boy of noble blood to resist threats from China, Central Asia and Mongol rivals to consolidate a kingdom of nomadic horse riders. War, diplomacy and marriage are the backdrop to this epic story of a wise queen who shed blood to bring peace to her people. Actor Nathalie Emmanuel joins...

In a scene out of “House of the Dragon,” an elderly king appoints his young daughter to rule his medieval realm after his death. But the beautiful, pious, and wise Queen Tamar would find her claim to the Kingdom of Georgia challenged by nobles, religious leaders, courtiers, sultans—and the most annoying ex-husband in history. Waging war on her borders while setting an example of mercy and restraint, Tamar’s armies fought with sword, spear and shield to expand her kingdom and usher Georgia...

Queen Artemisia of Caria joins the world’s biggest empire in a legendary campaign to wipe out the rebellious cities of ancient Greece. In a council filled with men, she gives sound advice and strategic insight, which the men leading the coalition rejected. When Artemisia’s advice was not heeded, she dutifully led her fleet in the sea battle that would decide the fate of the world – and pulled off one of history’s most audacious escapes, earning the admiration of the Father of History.  Actor...

"In one of history’s delicious ironies, the abused wife of a psychotic drunkard turned into a tiger who destroyed her oppressor. Catherine the Great launched a palace coup from atop a war horse and wrested the throne of Imperial Russia from her incompetent husband. For 33 years, she shepherded the world’s largest empire through a time of enlightenment and revolution, a time when French philosophies she embraced brought down monarchs and threatened her rule. Skillfully leading Russia through...

"Margaret Thatcher takes the reins of Her Majesty’s Government and leads Britain through a time of economic depression, threats of nuclear annihilation, and political restlessness. Within months of her becoming Britain’s first woman prime minister, she faces down Irish Republican Army terrorists and stands up to Soviet communism. Her mettle meets it test of wills when Argentina launches a surprise invasion of the Falkland Islands, one of the last vestiges of the British Empire. Counseled by...

At nearly 75, a Jewish grandma named Golda Meir made critical military decisions as she led Israel through the Egyptian-Syrian surprise attack known as the Yom Kippur War. Brilliantly playing a three-dimensional game of diplomatic chess, Golda triangulated the battlefield, superpower détente, and long-term peace prospects to bring Israel out on top of a two-front war.

Indira Gandhi led the world’s largest democracy when war broke out on two sides of her country in 1971. She climbed a slippery political ladder to become India’s first female prime minister as her homeland emerged from uncertain days of independence to take its place as a power in South Asia.

A bastard child whose mother was beheaded by her father, imprisoned in the Tower of London, and threatened by her half-sister “Bloody Mary,” young Elizabeth Tudor was unlikely to survive long enough to sit on the English Throne. But when she took the crown, she skillfully navigated the shoals of a divided Europe.

Conqueror. Drinker of blood. 17th century fashionista. Queen Njinga of Ndongo-Matamaba displayed unmatched ferocity as she fought the slave-trading Portuguese for control of modern Angola. One of the few women war leaders who was unafraid to get her hands really dirty, she arranged a "Red Wedding" and led men and women through arrow storms and musket fire over ravines, rivers, and fortress walls. Using religion to meld a coalition of Catholics, cannibals and ancestor-worshiping pagans, she...

There are a Great Pyramid of misconceptions about Cleopatra, last pharaoh of Egypt. One of the smartest, hardest working, and wealthiest women of the ancient world, Cleopatra leveraged Egypt’s resources and used personal diplomacy with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony to protect her kingdom. From her recruitment of a mercenary army to battle her brother for Egypt’s throne, to her star-crossed battle campaign with Marc Antony against Rome’s Octavian, hear how history’s greatest femme fatale used...

Game of Thrones and Fast & Furious actor Nathalie Emmanuel presents: Every week father-daughter team Jon and Emily Jordan examine the incredible stories of history’s most powerful female battle leaders, the brilliant methods and maneuvers history’s "killer queens” used to defend themselves and their people from enemy forces—and both father and daughter find out something about each other and how each generation appreciates these incredible women. From ancient Persia to modern-day Britain,...