Female Leaders Reflect on Becoming 'Firsts'

Sylvia Earle, the first woman to become chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, didn't set out to be a trailblazer. She just wanted to study science.

"I never thought of myself as being a feminist," Earle said at an event Tuesday night launching TIME Firsts, a multimedia project featuring 46 groundbreaking women. "It wasn't about labels. It was about doing the best I could do to be what I was aspiring to be.