Oprah Winfrey. Andrea Jung. Tyra Banks. Indra Nooyi. Jan Fields. What do these women have in common? They are some of the most powerful women in the world right now. And when I say powerful, I mean top-notch, intelligent, ambitious, changing the face of the business world powerful! Can I get a shout out to girl power, or what?

Strong, powerful women have always been around. But nowadays they are getting more face time and recognition for the work they do, and it seems that everyone has their eye on them. With the world paying close attention to their every move, these women have to put their best foot forward and dress the part. Take a look at Samantha Jones from Sex and the City. Not only is she a successful business woman, but she knows how to sport her Loubs and Birken in all the right places.

I'd like to add another name to my list of strong and powerful women. Sunny Woan - corporate attorney turned fashion designer. In July of 2009 Sunny launched her fashion label Taryn Zhang New York. Dedicated to making the perfect handbag or briefcase for that corporate woman, Taryn Zhang "finds inspiration from the accomplished, sophisticated, fiercely independent professional, with an emphasis on bold, balanced lines and silhouettes."

Woan's story is something you could write a screen play on. Her story screams fearless and uninhibited. Woan grew up in upstate New York, in a little town called Vestal. "I received my undergrad degree in Creative Writing and Rhetoric, and then went on to law school. I was serious about academics. In law school I was on Law Review and after graduation, published my research and writing in a handful of law journals, many on Asian American jurisprudence."

Her success in law school paved Woan's way to a position as general counsel for an international global investments firm. But Woan had a dream that was far from the world of law or politics. The fashion world was beckoning to her, and she couldn't resist.

"Sometimes it really feels like I woke up insane one morning, decided I would launch my own label, and that idea took on a life of its own, got crazy out of hand, and here we are now." For Woan, Taryn Zhang is more than just a fashion label - it "represents an ambition, a dream that many people who thought they knew me scoffed at as something I'll never achieve, so I had to pursue it to prove that I could."

The label's name, Taryn Zhang, also holds a significant meaning to Sunny. In retrospect, Taryn Zhang is Sunny's way of sticking it to the man (or in her case, refusing to adhere to her cultural norms).

"My husband and I were at that time in our lives when parents start bugging you about spawning their grand-babies. I couldn't have agreed more. It was the right time to conceive. So I conceived of my baby corporation, which turned out to be a girl, so I named it as I would a daughter. I'm not sure if other girls have a secret list of prospective baby names, but I do. I consulted that list and decided on Taryn. Zhang is my husband's surname."

Have I mentioned that Woan is fearless?

Taryn Zhang's look emphasizes the bold and sophisticated. Just take a look at the current line and you'll understand. Woan wanted the line to highlight real women in the roles of the successful business women. But that proved to be a bit of a challenge at first: "When I started, I thought I had this really swell idea of naming each handbag after personalities. Turns out that idea isn't as creative as I thought it was. A lot of other designer labels out there do that. I just didn't know because I was never engaged with industry happenings.

However, a lot of the personalities these labels opted to name their bags after were... not always the traits I'd agree were positive traits to celebrate in women. The Tramp, The Gold-Digger, and I hope I'm just making those names up as hypotheticals and they don't actually exist... Anyway, so I thought about the traits I would want to celebrate in women. Those traits inspired the Alpha Collection designs. The design of each bag is an expression of the personality it's named after (The Ambitionist, The Executive, The Catalyst, The Peripatetic, The Precisionist, and The Workaholic)."

It became clear to me that Woan must have had the presence of a strong and influential women in her life. Her fearless attitude had to have stemmed from somewhere. And I was right: "Both of my grandmothers persevered through and survived what I can best describe as "Joy Luck Club-esque" you-are-damned-because-you-are-woman situations. How they could have endured what they did and still be so elegant, calm, cool, and collected is simply beyond the scope of my comprehension. Their stories were the first stories I heard as a child about strong women. The aunties in my extended family are all high-profile career women who beat many (often sexist) odds to get where they are now. My mother is a force of nature and also very inspiring."

But women were not the only figures shaping Woan's image of women as strong, independent and fierce. Her father played just as a significant role as the women in her life: "Growing up [my father] never ever let me use the "just a girl" excuse to get out of doing something I felt was too overwhelming. I remember him taking me out in the backyard to teach me baseball, not softball. He'd dust the cobwebs off his post-graduate textbooks on physics and would make me read them when I was in high school. I credit his philosophy and the intellectual way he nurtured his daughters as why I came out the way I did."

Woan seems to have an unlimited supply of ambition. I wondered if there are any plans for expanding Taryn Zhang: "At this stage of the game, it depends on the success of the handbags. I've already been designing and looking into the viability of manufacturing Taryn Zhang silk scarves and long viscose scarves. I would also love to dabble in business stationary, portfolios, and office related accessories."

Launching her own design label did not come easily to Woan - "If you think starting your own line is an artsy thing to do, you're wrong. It's all about business savvy."

Her advice for for those who want to start their own fashion label? "You need to be multi-faceted. You need to be good at math, and know accounting, not to mention math is a huge part of pattern-making. You need to be good at writing, because when you first start off, you'll be writing all your own press releases, press kits, query letters, and company and product information blurbs. You need a strong sense of branding and marketing. You need to be good at public speaking and know how to pitch your line in 60 seconds to a buyer. You need to know law, how to read a contract, know how to protect your intellectual property rights. And in this day and age, you also need to be tech-savvy, and school yourself in e-commerce. Finally, you need strong interpersonal skills, and know how to navigate social situations to develop your network."

For those future fashion label entrepreneurs Woan hasn't scared off yet, she insists that it's more than worth it in the end. "Starting your own fashion label is rewarding and will probably change your life, turning you into a stronger, tougher person. To ensure success, though, start with the right set of expectations. It's not about attending runway shows, sipping champagne on yachts, or sketching beautiful silhouettes in a posh Manhattan office only when you're so inspired. There's a lot of nitty gritty, and if you're not prepared for that, don't become an entrepreneur."

So what's the one fashion item Woan just can't live without? High heels. "To this day I still cannot walk properly in them; and they are so uncomfortable; and they do not promote any of my conceptions of feminism therefore rendering me a hypocrite; and my foot-bound grandmother would probably roll in her grave if she knew what I was voluntarily eagerly happily subjecting my feet to, but I love my 3 and 4 inch toe-pinching, spider-vein-causing pumps." (It must be a girl thing, because Sunny, I totally understand where you are coming from.)

Just as every mother has a dream for her child, Sunny has one for her's: "My goal is for Taryn Zhang briefcases to be the go-to work bag for high-powered professional women." Her dream also includes some big names carrying her designs: Oprah, Andrea Jung, Indra Nooyi and of course Michelle Obama!

Taryn Zhang will make its debut appearance in Canada in Spring of 2011.