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Meet the ‘Glamour’ 2019 College Women of the Year


It all started with an elephant toothpaste experiment. When Kavya Kopparapu was in fourth grade, a group of female scientists visited her classroom and combined a couple of chemicals that caused foam to shoot out of a beaker. And with that, she was hooked on science. Then, before she started high school, she attended a workshop on computer science—also led by women. “I remember sitting there and thinking, I’m really interested in biology and medicine, and computer science seems like a really cool way to make a positive impact in this field,” Kopparapu says. She taught herself how to code over the summer, spending hours in front of her computer. “My mom would say, ‘You know you have to eat,’” she recalls, “and I was like, ‘No, this is so interesting!’”

In 2017, Kopparapu found a way to marry her love of biology with computer science. While reading about Senator John McCain, who had been diagnosed with glioblastoma (an aggressive form of brain cancer), she was struck by the lack of progress toward a cure. “I read that glioblastoma rates of survival had not improved in the past 30 years,” she says. “I was like, We’re in such a technological era, where we know so much more about cancer than we did back then, so why aren’t we getting better at treating these patients? I just ended up in this wormhole of reading research papers, articles, talking to oncologists and pathologists.” She amassed a huge set of data to develop Gliovision, a medical platform that uses artificial intelligence, to determine the genetic and molecular signature of a brain tumor. She has a patent pending for the technology.

Because those female scientists inspired her so much, Kopparapu has made sure to do her part paying it forward. In high school she founded GirlsComputingLeague, a nonprofit that is working to help close the gender gap in computer science; the group is currently focused on teaching low-income students about AI and other high-technology concepts. Her charity work has given her a taste of what it means to be her own boss, a role she’d like to continue to have in the future. “It’s such an empowering feeling,” she says. “As an entrepreneur you get to drive change, not only in whatever product you make, but also in your work culture and the opportunities you give women.” It’s critical that women have these chances, she says: “As easily as artificial intelligence can be used for good, there have been a lot of examples where it can just amplify discrimination and implicit bias. But if you have a really diverse population working on these problems, then AI can be used for so much good.” Kopparapu is proof of just how much good one person who gets her shot can do.



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Meghan Markle Won't Meet With Donald Trump When He Visits England Next Month


Next month President Donald Trump will make an official three-day state visit to the United Kingdom. While he’s there, he’ll be meeting with many members of the royal family at various events. But the lone American royal, Meghan Markle, is noticeably absent from the itinerary.

According to CNN, Queen Elizabeth II will be joined by Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall, to greet the president and First Lady Melania Trump at Buckingham Palace. (They’ll accompany the couple to other events over the course of their stay as well.) As for the rest of the family, Prince Harry will join his grandmother for a private lunch with Donald and Melania that afternoon. The first night of Trump’s visit ends with a state banquet, and Prince William and Kate Middleton are expected to attend that.

Markle, however, will reportedly not be joining any of those events—not even the lunch with Prince Harry.

There’s a simple explanation for this: Markle is still officially on maternity leave, so she’ll likely be at home with baby Archie. That said, this may come as a welcome reprieve for Markle. The actress was quite vocal about politics and her dislike of Trump specifically before she became the Duchess of Sussex. (The royal family is expected to remain politically neutral in public.)

“It’s really the moment I go, we film Suits in Toronto, and I might just stay in Canada…” she said on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore in 2016 about Trump’s election. “Yes, of course, Trump is divisive, think about female voters alone, right? I think it was in 2012 the Republican Party lost the female vote by 12 points; that is a huge number and with as misogynistic as Trump is, and so vocal about it, that is a huge chunk of it.”

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This isn’t Trump’s first visit to the United Kingdom since becoming president. He and Melania met Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle in 2018, when he reportedly kept Her Majesty waiting for 15 minutes which caused a major stir on Twitter. Trump also walked in front of the queen, which the New York Times dubbed a “royal no-no.”

Chris Jackson/Getty Images

If only we could be on the royal family group text to hear what they really think after the visit…



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Serena Williams Paid a Secret Visit to Meet Meghan Markle's Baby Archie


The littlest royal isn’t even a month old yet, and he’s already been visited by some of the most famous people in the world—one of which includes Meghan Markle‘s close friend Serena Williams. The tennis star paid a surprise visit to the Frogmore Cottage last week to see Markle and Prince Harry and to meet baby Archie for the first time.

According to The Daily Mail, Williams was joined by her husband Alexis Ohanian and 1-year-old daughter Olympia. After the visit, the family continued on to Paris, where the pro will compete in the French Open.

Williams, who is among the first of Markle’s friends to meet baby Archie, also posted a photo of herself on Instagram last week during her visit. Although it’s unclear if the pic was taken in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s home, we gotta say: Things are looking pretty regal.

Following baby Archie’s arrival, there have been rumors swirling about who his godparents will be. Harry and Markle have yet to announce their decision, and since Prince William and Kate Middleton are unlikely to be the baby’s godparents, there’s been a lot of speculation about who will take on the important role. One rumored contender for the role of godmother is Markle’s close friend and maid of honor, Jessica Mulroney, who reportedly also visited the newest member of the royal family last week with her daughter Ivy. Williams definitely seems to be in the running as well: After meeting in 2014, she and the Duchess have remained incredibly close—not to mention Williams also helped organize Markle’s lavish baby shower at the ritzy Mark Hotel in New York City in February, which is, um, a very godmotherly thing to do.

Back in September, Williams also revealed the two had been in touch more than ever. “We were actually just texting each other this morning,” she told Australia’s “The Sunday Project.” “We have known each other for a long time, but we really are relying on each other a lot recently.”

No matter who winds up being godmother—and it’s not a competition—either of these royal-adjacent ladies is just lucky to have met Archie and hold the newest royal addition. Those cheeks!



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Meet Your New Aladdin, Mena Massoud


MM: I’ve been watching his films since I was a kid, so I was quite nervous. I get really quiet when I’m nervous. I don’t freak out. But when we met, I was so nervous that I forgot to tell him who I was. I went over to him and [director] Guy Ritchie was there, and I thought, OK, Guy will break the ice. He’ll introduce me to Will. Well, he did not. He just stood there smiling. I think he wanted to see how I would handle it. And of course, I forgot to introduce myself. [I’m pretty sure] Will thought I was one of the dancers. I had to regroup. Once I came back, I said, “Oh, by the way, I’m Mena. I’m playing Aladdin.” [Laughs.] He gave me a big hug and started talking.

You love cooking and are vegan. Let’s say Will Smith is coming over for dinner. What do you make him?

MM: Oooh, that’s tough. Will likes his Philly cheese steaks, so I think I would do a stir-fry with Gardein beef. It’s meatless beef, so I would do a stir-fry on a bed of brown rice with that, red peppers, onions, jalapeño peppers, shallots, garlic, and I would stir that up.

What time am I coming over? This sounds amazing.

MM: Yeah, I love to cook! One of the reasons I started [the online vegan community] Evolving Vegan is that it’s a form of meditation for me.

Speaking of going vegan, what was your mom’s reaction?

MM: I shocked my parents with a lot of things, whether it was becoming an actor or when I was dating someone outside the Egyptian community or when I moved away from home before getting married. So I already shocked them a lot. When I told my mom I was going vegan, she didn’t exactly want to let go of that one thing. I remember it was Easter dinner, when she cooks duck and lamb and turkey, and she was like, “So what are you going to have for Easter dinner?” And I was like, “If you just make your lasagna without the beef….” And she was like, “No, I’m not going to do that.” So I said, “OK, I’ll just have rice then.” When we got home from church, I just started having rice. She offered me all these different things, and [when I wouldn’t eat it] she just started crying. [Laughs.] She thought I was going to crack and [give in] to her delicious home-cooked meal. But ever since, she’s been making me whatever I request. Classic Egyptian or Italian or Greek or Mediterranean mom—that’s how they show their love.

Speaking of shocking your mom, you were originally studying neuroscience in Toronto before you decided to study acting. How did that switch in careers happen?

MM: Before you get to university or college, you have to study the appropriate subject in high school. I was in AP chemistry in high school, and I really liked it. But when I got to the University of Toronto, I was already kind of missing out. One of my best friends got into theater school, but I went off to do neuroscience. So I was always kind of [like], Oh man, I regret not doing it. I was sitting in calculus class one day, and calculus is like math for astrophysicists. Why you have to do it to become a doctor, I have no idea. The professor was talking about infinity times infinity and this and that, and I was like, There’s no way I’m doing this for the rest of my life. So I went back to my high school, told my high school teacher that I wanted to audition for theater school, and we put together my audition. I didn’t tell my parents I was auditioning in case I didn’t get in. There was no point in upsetting them for no reason. But then I got in, told my parents, and the rest is history.

I’d say it paid off. And now that you’re playing Aladdin, we have to talk about your trusty sidekick, Abu. If you could recruit him to do anything for you, what would it be and why?





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Meet Karen Uhlenbeck, The First Woman to Ever Win the ‘Nobel Prize of Math’


For the first time ever, the most prestigious mathematics prize in the world was awarded to a woman. Karen Uhlenbeck, 76, an emeritus professor at the University of Texas at Austin and current visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study, was honored with the Abel Prize for mathematics. Known as the Nobel Prize for math, the Abel comes with a cash prize of about $700,000. (NBD: It’s up to the King of Norway to give it.) The award was established in 2003, and all previous winners have been men.

Dr. Uhlenbeck was recognized for, “the fundamental impact of her work on analysis, geometry and mathematical physics.” according to the New York Times. When Dr. Uhlenbeck found out she’d won, she was leaving her Unitarian Universalist Church when she received a text message from a colleague telling her to look out for a call from Norway. “I pressed the button and called [the Abel committee] back and they told me I’d won—and I had to sit down,” Dr. Uhlenbeck told Glamour.

When Dr. Uhlenbeck began teaching mathematics in the 1960s, she had to fight tooth and nail to even procure a professorship. “It was really only at the period of time that I got my degree, that the jobs in academia—and probably elsewhere—were slowly being opened up to women,” she says. “I was right on the edge of that. There were certainly universities that would not consider hiring me. There were universities that said, ‘Oh well why don’t you go teach at a woman’s college.’ I was told things like that, but I guess I have a rebellious streak so I persevered.”

Since there weren’t a huge number of women who had come before her to look up to in STEM, Dr. Uhlenbeck maid attention to women who’d pioneered other fields for inspiration. Famed chef Julia Child was a particular role model. “She was 6’2, a big woman with this immense presence and there was this great incident that I distinctly remember where she dropped a turkey on her television show. And she picked it up, brought it to the back, and came out and said, ‘Luckily we had another one!’ She had presence and wasn’t perfect. The feeling was if Julia Child could do it, maybe you could too,” says Dr. Uhlenbeck.

Dr. Uhlenbeck has emulated Child’ style of being an approachable and human role model to the many women she’s mentored over the years—as well as those who have simply come in her wake. “Since winning the award, I’ve gotten innumerable emails from women telling me how important my being there is, and it’s a great feeling,” says Dr. Uhlenbeck. But this isn’t a coincidence. Dr. Uhlenbeck made it her mission to encourage more women to enter the field. “I have to say that it struck me at some point that if I were to look around and see no women coming up through mathematics behind me, how would I feel? I would feel terrible. Now, I see these lively, enthusiastic, brilliant, wacky young women coming up and doing mathematics. When I was young I couldn’t afford to be wacky. I had to be careful. I couldn’t dye my hair purple and get up and teach calculus class ,but I love seeing it; it’s wonderful to see.”

With a new efforts to get girls into STEM from a young age, Dr. Uhlenbeck is hopeful that we’ll see even more women work in mathematics. “Certainly the problem [of girls not pursuing STEM] starts very young,” she says.” I don’t know how many young girls are still being told that they don’t have to bother taking advanced placement math because they’re a girl and they don’t need it—but I know it still happens. However, all I can say is that it’s getting better [from this push.]”



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Meet the Incredible Women Behind Captain Marvel


The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is home to some badass female characters. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders), the list goes on and on. But Captain Marvel, in theaters now, marks the first time a MCU woman has ever been center stage in her own movie. And it’s about time.

Set in the 1990s, the film features Academy Award winner Brie Larson as Carol Danvers (known as “Vers” to some), an Air Force Pilot who, after an explosion, becomes Captain Marvel and finds herself caught in the middle of an intergalactic war. Not only is she Marvel’s first solo female lead in a film, she’s also one of the most powerful heroes in the entire universe, full stop.

It makes sense, then, that the team behind Captain Marvel is made up of some powerful women. Anna Boden directed and wrote Captain Marvel—along with her partner, director and writer Ryan Fleck—and the film boasts several female producers, writers, department heads, and crew members. We spoke with four of the women behind Captain Marvel about their careers, what it was like to work on this groundbreaking Marvel film, and more. Check out our conversations, below.

Courtesy of Pinar Toprak

Pinar Toprak, film composer

Toprak was born in Instanbul, Turkey and has been studying music full-time since she was a young girl. “I’ve always wanted to score film,” she tells Glamour. “I moved to the United States for it, when I was 17 years old. I didn’t even know English when I first moved here.”

Determined nonetheless, Toprak gained admission to the Berkeley College of Music and graduated in two years. “I felt like how Carol feels when she arrives to Earth in Captain Marvel,” she says. “It was an entirely brand new experience to try to master, to say the least.” After graduation, she moved to Los Angeles, received a masters degree in composition, and landed an internship at the Paramount Pictures Music Department. In the early aughts, she began working for the legendary Hans Zimmer, who’s produced music for The Dark Knight, The Lion King, and other blockbusters.

But even with all her knowledge, Toprak still found she had to keep proving she could write for action and sci-fi as a woman—but she pushed through. “I love comic books, in general, I love fantasy, and I grew up watching Westerns,” she says. “But for me, it’s not really about the genre. It’s about the story.” Now, creating music for action and sci-fi projects has become what she’s known for: She has credits on Syfy’s Krypton, video games like the massively popular Fortnight, and films like Justice League and, of course, Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel marks the first time a woman has scored a film for the Marvel cinematic universe, and the accomplishment is one Toprak holds closely. “It means everything to me,” she says. “It means that my dreams were possible, and my efforts were noticed.” Working for Marvel was a huge step for Toprak, and she was relieved to find the creative executives at the company, as well as her Captain Marvel team, were receptive to all she had to offer. “They’ve been really wonderful with being open to ideas, because I heard a very high-risk score from the start,” she says.

The “high-risk” score Toprak had in mind was a mix of musical homages and throwbacks one might not expect to hear in a movie debuting in 2019. She wanted to match the energy and feel of the scores accompanying the action films in theaters during the events of Captain Marvel—’90s classics like Bad Boys and Heat. “Even when I brought that idea, the idea of having the homage to the nineties action films, they were just game for trying anything,” she explains. “Of course, Marvel is a well-oiled machine, so they like things done in a certain way, but I had a pretty large playground to play in. It was wonderful.”



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