50. Diane Gaines

Diane Gaines is a fighter. The mother of three suffered a popped blood vessel in her spine at 24 years old that has relegated her to a wheelchair. She’s also a breast cancer survivor. Despite all that’s gone wrong, Gaines is an eternal optimist, who not only strives to better her life, but also the lives of dozens of women she helps each year as executive director of The Woman’s Opportunity Rehabilitation Center (The WORC)—a community correction program that helps downtrodden women re-enter society following a stint in prison, serving as an alternative to incarceration. The original program was shut down in 2010 after its parent company cut funding. But Gaines worked tirelessly to get it up and running again and she continues to help women who would otherwise have nowhere else to turn.