America’s Top 10 Richest Self-Made Women: Diane Hendricks number 1, Indian-origin Jayshree Ullal at 7

3 min readJun 16, 2026 06:54 PM IST

America’s Top 10 Richest Self-Made Women: Diane Hendricks at #1, Indian-origin Jayshree Ullal at #7

America’s Top 10 Richest Self-Made Women 2026: In the latest Forbes America’s Richest Self-Made Women report, the number of women achieving ten-figure fortunes has reached historic highs. Driven heavily by the ongoing artificial intelligence boom, traditional manufacturing, and supply logistics, these women have built multi-billion dollar empires on their own terms.

At No.1, Diane Hendricks has investments spanning real estate, manufacturing, logistics, recycling, and even ownership of a golf course in Beloit, Wisconsin, Hendricks remains the richest self-made woman in America by a wide margin. Her journey is particularly remarkable, she became a mother at 17 and, in her early years, worked as a Playboy Bunny to support her child.

Daniela Amodei (38) remains the youngest among America’s Top 10 Richest Self-Made Women.

Daniela Amodei, ranked No. 2, was a classical flutist as a child, an English literature major at UC Santa Cruz and a political staffer for a Pennsylvania congressman. She remains the youngest in the Top 10 list, at 38.  As the president of Space X for over two decades, ranked at No.3 is Gwynne Shotwell. Judy Faulkner, ranked at No.4, founded medical-record software provider Epic Systems in a Wisconsin basement in 1979. While, at No. 5 stands Marian Ilitch who with her late husband, Mike Ilitch, co-founded Little Caesars Pizza in 1959.

Elizabeth Uihlein, ranked No.6, founded one of North America’s biggest distributors of shipping, packaging and industrial supplies. Rank No. 7 is listed as Jayshree Ullal, CEO of Arista Networks, running since 2008. A tie has been observed in the list, at No. 8, between Johnelle Hunt and Eren Ozmen.  Cofounder and co-CEO of Panda Express, Peggy Cherng, closes America’s Top 10 Richest Self Made Women list.

America’s Top 10 Richest Self-Made Women 2026

Rank

Name

Net-worth

Age

1

Diane Hendricks

$21.7 B

79

2

Daniela Amodei

$15.5 B

38

3

Judy Faulkner

$9.6 B

82

4

Thai Lee

$8.0 B

67

5

Marian Ilitch & family

$7.6 B

93

6

Elizabeth Uihlein

$6.9 B

80

7

Jayshree Ullal

$6.8 B

65

8

Johnelle Hunt (tie)

$6.7 B

94

8

Eren Ozmen (tie)

$6.7 B

67

10

Peggy Cherng

$6.5 B

78

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