Wonder Woman of the Week: Alison Levine

This week's Wonder Woman is one of the most accomplished mountaineers in world history. Alison Levine is a wilderness survival expert, mountaineer, explorer, and all-around badass. Levine spent high school and college working restaurant jobs attempting to climb the proverbial ladder into a career path that could help her brake the "glass ceiling." After working jobs for Mattel and pharmaceutical companies, Levine earned her MBA in Business from Duke University before joining Arnold Schwarzenegger's election campaign for his reelection bid in 2003.

In 1998, Alison Levine conquered her first peak at Kilimanjaro, but it was her 2010 Everest conquest capped a career of mountaineering that completed a quest to conquer the tallest peak on each continent. Her feats also included skiing to both the North and South Pole and leading mountaineering expeditions. In 2002 for example, Levine was leading an all-women team to conquer Everest, but- when extreme weather set in- Levine was faced with the difficult choice of continuing or turning back. Levine ordered the team to turn around and managed to save several lives because of her choice. In her post-climbing career, Levine became an adjunct professor teaching leadership courses at West Point- the military academy for training officers in the US military.