Growing up, Gloria Steinem loved to tap dance and dreamed of being a Rockette. Instead, she became the face of second-wave feminism and, in her words, “an entrepreneur for social change” for over half a century. The journalist, activist and founder of Ms. magazine, who spent decades breaking barriers, challenging power and reshaping the conversation about women’s rights, died peacefully in her New York home at age 92 after living a life that touched many. “Thank you for being the superhero,” actress and director Sally Field said on Steinem’s 85th birthday. “We are all forever grateful.”

At age 28, the Toledo, Ohio-born writer published the 1963 investigative story “A Bunny’s Tale,” on the exploitative conditions at New York’s Playboy Club. After participating in the New York abortion-awareness speak-out in 1969 – noting that she’d had an illegal abortion in the 1950s – Steinem became a dedicated organizer for women’s rights. By 1971, she had co-founded both the National Women’s Political Caucus (with fellow feminists Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm) and started the first women-run magazine, Ms., which became synonymous with a feminist worldview. And in 2005, Steinem launched the Women’s Media Center with Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan. Always a presence in pop culture, she made guest appearances as herself on The Larry Sanders Show and The Good Wife; and the award-winning limited series Mrs. America dramatized her role (played by Rose Byrne) in the unsuccessful fight to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and ’80s. Over the years, she popularized phrases like “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” (always giving credit to its originator, Australian writer Irina Dunn); “Self-esteem isn’t everything; it’s just that there’s nothing without it”; and “This is what 40 looks like,” her response to a male reporter’s claim that she didn’t look her age.

ZoomerMedia founder and CEO Moses Znaimer held a memorable interview with Steinem in 1968 for CBC’s The Way It Is.

While often defending her right not to have children, Steinem had many long-term relationships, including with director Mike Nichols, and was married to activist and entrepreneur David Bale, the father of actor Christian. Into her 90s, Steinem continued to write – her memoir An Unexpected Life will come out in September – and inspire. In April, she held the last of her famous living room salons, legendary for their frank discussions on masculinity and sexual desire, with the likes of Amy Schumer, Emmy Rossum and Meg Wolitzer. “I love that in your private life you walk the walk, advocating for women globally and also close to home,” Girls creator, author and salon attendee Lena Dunham once told her idol. “I love that you write like you talk and talk like you write.”