MSN Lifestyle's Most Influential Women of 2008

Every year, we here at MSN Lifestyle assemble our list of influential people, and every year we end up asking ourselves the same question: What does "influential" really mean? Does it apply to someone living in the spotlight? Or is it meant for someone less well-known, working behind the scenes but motivating and inspiring just the same?
While it's never easy to define "influence," there are some things we can say for certain. This year's election felt so omnipresent and rife with historic implications we had to resist the urge to fill these lists with politicians and pundits. But even though politics took over our TVs, magazine covers and Web pages for many months, it wasn't the only game in town. The Olympics featured performances that shocked us with raw athletic brilliance. Advances were made in finding solutions for climate change. And celebrities continued to earn our attention.

Here are the women that made 2008 so memorable. See the Men's list

Whitney Thompson

The 5 foot 10 inch blonde tore down the stereotype that skinny wins the race when she won the 10th season of "America's Next Top Model." The first plus-size model to win the competition, she walked away with contracts for Cover Girl cosmetics and Elite Model Management, as well as a spread in Seventeen magazine. A size 10, she proudly flaunts a 36-inch chest, 32-inch waist, and 43-inch hips, and could very well set the standard that the Champagne-and-cigarettes-starved-chic look is out, and a healthy hourglass-figure glow is in.

Content written by Janet Frank Atkinson