Zhang Xin — SOHO China ($3.6 Billion Peak)

Zhang Xin worked in a garment factory in Hong Kong at age 14. She taught herself English, got a scholarship to Sussex University, then a master's at Cambridge. She co-founded SOHO China with her husband and built it into Beijing's largest commercial real estate developer — designing the Galaxy SOHO, Wangjing SOHO, and other landmarks that define modern Chinese architecture. At peak, she was worth $3.6 billion. She went from factory floors to reshaping the skyline of the world's second-largest economy. If that's not a self-made story, the word has no meaning.