Arianna Huffington was born Arianna Stassinopoulous in Athens, Greece, on July 15, 1950. At the age of sixteen, Arianna left Greece to attend Cambridge University in England. There she presided over the University debate team and graduated with an MA in economics in 1972.

Througout the 1980s, Arianna established herself as an author writing for the National Review, as well as publishing biographies on Pablo Picasso and Maria Callas.

In 1986, she married the oil millionaire and political aspirant Michael Huffington, whose name she would retain even after their divorce in 1997. During this time Huffington moved with her husband to California and earned prominence as a champion of conservative values – campaigning alongside Michael in his 1992 bid for a seat in the House of Representatives.

At the turn of the century Huffington’s political stance began swaying further to the left, as she described herself as a “progressive populist.” In 2003, following the removal of California governor Gray Davis, Arianna announced her candidacy for governor under an Independent ticket. Despite the fact that she had removed herself from the race, her name remained on the ballot in the election, taking fifth place out of 135 candidates.

In 2005, she launched the left-leaning news aggregate site the Huffington Post, which would become one of her most successful ventures to date. Today, the site is one of the most trafficked and respected news blogs on the web, earning her a place on Time’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.