Inside TheWrap’s Changemakers 2025 Toast to ‘Women Who Are Pushing the Culture Forward’

As seen on TheWrap.

Changemakers 2025 (Randy Shropshire for TheWrap)

TheWrap launched its sixth annual Changemakers List on Monday, highlighting 51 women in entertainment and media who are making a difference. From Pamela Abdy, Donna Langley and Mara Brock Akil to Chloé Zhao, Mariska Hargitay and Rose Byrne, the slate of women recognized this year lead, inspire and shake up the status quo in their own ways.

To celebrate the launch of the annual project, TheWrap’s founder and editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman hosted a cocktail event at the Maybourne Beverly Hills Monday night to toast participating talent and the great work still to come. Speaking to the crowd, Waxman said that today’s volatile political environment where “our democracy has faced threats unprecedented in most of our lifetimes … makes celebrating the women who are pushing the culture forward all the more important.”

“So for our sixth annual Changemakers List, which we publish at the same time as we put on the Power Women Summit, we have chosen 51 women who stood out in 2025 for their creativity, their leadership, their defense of the rights we may no longer take for granted liked reproductive health and free speech. This year’s list includes powerhouse executives, singular performers, visionary filmmakers and producers, fearless journalists and innovative creators who have tapped into the future of entertainment,” she said.

Attendees ran the gamut of the pop stars behind Netflix juggernaut “KPop Demon Hunters,” Emmy nominee Constance Zimmer, executives like Starz’s President of Original Programming Kathryn Busby, “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Bronwyn Newport and many more ahead of Tuesday’s annual Power Women Summit.