25 black women who have made a difference in business.

TERRIAN BARNES-BRYANT For 35 years, the International Franchising Association tried opening doors to minorities. Then it found Terrian Barnes-Bryant.

A 13-year IFA veteran, Barnes-Bryant fud the formation of the Women's Franchise Network and the Alliance for Minority Opportunities in Franchising to gain entry for blacks in this $813 billion industry. At 38, this VP of minority and women's affairs helps members start minority vendor supplier programs and network with minority firms.

What's next? Getting franchisors to create in-house formal recruitment programs. "There's no one-stop shop to increase our involvement," says Barnes-Bryant. Unless, of course, it's Terrian.

JEWELL LaFONTANT-MANKARIOUS is a woman of many firsts. But you won't hear it from her. The ambassador-at-large and U.S. coordinator for refugee affairs says it's not "important to be the first if you don't open doors so other blacks and women can enter."

She's the first woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court, a founding member of the Congress for Racial Equality and the first black woman to be elected to a major corporate board, Jewel Foods, in 1968. Since then, she has been named to 16 other boards, including Revlon and Equitable Life.

At 72, she still possesses a need to make a difference. And if it bears the burden of being the first-she says, "So be it."

SYBIL C. MOBLEY Move over, Yale and Harvard. Sybil Mobley, dean of Florida A&M's School of Business & Industry, is on a mission, and she's had 20 years to prepare for it. Since Mobley, 68, became dean in 1974, the historically black university's B school has been hailed as one of the nation's top five business schools.

Its professional development program models corporate America with 23 in-house "companies," such as an investment firm, insurance company and television station.

Their reputation is helping the school leap onto Wall Street. Any minute, the school expects the Securities and Exchange Commission to grant Mobley's SBI mutual fund the go-ahead to start taking investors.

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON has more clout as a nonvoting delegate in the House of Representatives than many of her ballot-toting peers. During her four years as head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Norton cut in half the backlog of 130,000 affirmative action and discrimination cases. Under her charge, the Carter administration enforced workplace laws such as the Equal Pay and the Age Discrimination Acts.

When Republican rule set in, Norton, 56, taught law briefly at Georgetown University. Fearing the total dismantling of the EEO movement, in 1990 Norton won a seat as the Washington, D.C., delegate in the House of Representatives to continue her efforts for equality in the workplace.

DOROTHY E. BRUNSON The first black female owner of a radio station, Dorothy Brunson sprang into television land in 1986 as one of the first black female owners of a television station, WGTW Channel 48 in Philadelphia. Although the station is now in last place, Brunson plans to launch WGTW into the top spot.

In 1979, media titan Brunson seized control of WEBB, a Baltimore radio station that was last in the ratings. By 1984, she had raised ratings and profits and purchased two more stations. Two years later, she sold her three radio stations and took on television.

Only 200 television and radio stations - barely 2% of the industry - are black owned. Brunson, 56, is a role model for all black would-be station owners.

SUZANNE de PASSE may reign as the most powerful black woman working behind the scenes in Hollywood. But it took the CEO of de Passe Entertainment over 20 years to be crowned.

When she was barely out of her teens, Suzanne de Passe shone as the creative assistant to Motown icon Berry Gordy, helping Diana Ross and the Jackson Five achieve immortality. In 1989, she moved into the mainstream with her Golden Globe, Emmy award-winning miniseries, Lonesome Dove.

Mentor Gordy left the partnership two years ago, but the newly formed de Passe Entertainment kept producing hits. Now 46, what's Lady de Passe's next step? To end the age-old Hollywood process of "convincing a white man that this is a good idea."

DOROTHY I. HEIGHT As a young woman, Dorothy Height was beckoned by historic black female liberator and educator Mary McLeod Bethune to get involved in the movement. Height not only got involved, she took the reins.

President of the National Council of Negro Women since 1957, Height has inspired black women to rise above the limitations placed upon them. Her work has been heralded with many honors, including an award from the Congressional Black Caucus for her "decades of public service to people of color and particularly women."

Her mentor and friend, Bethune, continually exhorted NCNW members to "leave no one behind." At 82, Height is still keeping her promise to uplift all women.

PHYLLIS A. WALLACE During the civil rights marches and sit-ins of the late 1960s, Phvllis A. Wallace, the former chief of technical studies for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, worked to enforce equal rights in the workplace.

Her book,Equal Employment Opportunity and the AT&T Case, chronicled one of her greatest feats: how she helped beat the bluechip company, in a 1973 racial and sex discrimination suit.

Also, in 1973, Wallace took her vision of economic equality to the halls of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She became the first woman to gain tenure at the Sloan School of Business. She remained professor emeritus until her death in 1993.

MAXINE WATERS People who don't make a lot of noise don't get very much. Unless they voted for Rep. Maxine Waters.

Waters has been fighting for women s causes and civil rights since 1976, when she was in the California State Assembly. She moved into the House of Representatives in 1990, with nearly 80% of the vote. The 57-year-old founder of the Black Women's Forum is one of America's most powerful politicians. On Congress' Small Business Committee, Waters initiated making separate categories for women and minority business set-asides, and helped Los Angeles attain its black business set-aside goals. She also sponsored loan guarantee programs that hit $10 billion two years ago.

OPRAH WINFREY says being able to communicate with people is power. And the talk show queen is powerful.

Her syndicated television show reaps $180 million a year, and $103 million of that is seized by her television production company, Harpo Productions.

Winfrey, 40, recently won a network power struggle, capturing more creative control and bigger bucks for her top-rated show, which is syndicated until the year 2000. She's also busy buying up her distributor, King World. She's already one of its largest shareholders, holding a million shares.

Clearly, Winfrey does not believe in failure. "It is not failure if you enjoyed the process," she says. Oprah's having a ball.

Fifteen other pioneers deserve accolades for the work they've done to broaden the path for minority business.

Cardiss Collins (D-Ill.), 63, the longest serving African-American woman in the House of Representatives, is lauded for her work requiring the Federal Communications Commission to address the barriers that impede minority and women ownership of communications businesses.

Geri Duncan-Jones, 35, has been the executive director of the American Health and Beauty Aids Institute since 1988. Under her leadership, AHBAI, the force of black haircare and cosmetics manufacturers has realized the most fiscally sound years of its 13-year existence.

Franchise queen Lonear Heard has seven McDonald's restaurants, which raked in $11 million last year. After managing her late husband's firm, James T. Heard Management Corp., solo for 13 years, Heard, 52, was crowned McQueen.

Alexis Herman, 47, assistant to President Clinton and director of the White House office of public liaison, spent 1977 to 1981 heading the Women's Bureau at the Department of Labor, where she also chaired a task force that monitored minority bank deposit programs and contracts to minority- and female-owned businesses.

Michele J. Hooper, 42, first made her mark as president of Baxter Canada. Now she's president of Caremark's International Business Group, a $1.4 billion division charged with expanding operations in seven countries.

Marilyn French Hubbard, 47, is president of the National Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs. For the last 16 years, she has been helping female business owners succeed by creating a sound networking and support system that is 3,000 members strong.

Joan B. Johnson, 64, of Johnson Products Co., the pioneer of black hair care products, made history when she sold her firm to IVAX Corp. for $67 million last year. Johnson built the 40-year-old empire with her husband before winning it all for herself in a divorce settlement.

Brenda J. Lauderback, 44, is president of U.S. Shoe Corp.'s Footwear Wholesale Group, a $2.6 billion marketer of shoes such as Easy Spirit, Capezio and Bandolino.

Harriet R. Michel, 52, president of the National Minority Supplier Development Council Inc., has been linking 15,000 minority businesses with corporate buyers for the last six years. In 1992, Michel's efforts helped put $21 billion into her minority businesses pockets.

Joann H. Price, the former president of the National Association of Investment Corp., brought Specialized Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs), formerly called MESBICS, onto the nation's agenda. She helped SBICs raise millions in venture capital during her 14-year tenure.

Ernesta Procope has been the First Lady of Wall Street for 40 years. The founder of the first and largest minority-owned insurance brokerage firm, E.G. Bowman Co. Inc. pulled in $35 million in premiums last year. Sylvia Rhone, 42, is CEO of EastWest Records, a division of Time Warner's Atlantic Record Group. Under Rhone's leadership, EastWest rose from being a $50 million venture to an $85 million firm, launching such acts as En Vogue.

Brenda Schofield, a longtime veteran of corporate America, is the general manager of the Corporate Women's Network, a group of 2,000 black female executives and administrators who brainstorm ways to chip at the "concrete" ceiling. Schofield spends her days as corporate manager of affirmative action for Kraft General Foods Corp.

After starting as a bank teller in 1955 and rising to president in 1983, Julia W. Taylor, CEO of Mechanics & Farmers BaDk, is now responsible for $113 million in assets. Her bank is ranked No. 10 on the BE FINANCIAL 25.

Dorothy Terrell, 48, serves as the president of SunExpress Inc., the direct marketing arm of Sun MicroSystems, the $3.6 billion leading provider of computer workstations.