One of the most powerful publicists in town, Magrino heads up the PR agency that bears her name. She's best known for serving as Martha Stewart's pal and longtime mouthpiece.

Long Island native Magrino attended Skidmore and spent a decade in the PR department at Crown Publishing before going out on her own. In 1992, she founded the Susan Magrino Agency with her younger sister, Allyn. Martha was one of her first clients: Magrino had worked with her at Crown, which published Martha's first book, Entertaining, in 1982. Since then, Magrino's worked alongside Ms. Stewart through thick and thin and built a successful PR agency that handles dozens of other clients in the fashion, beauty, dining and hospitality.

Magrino's client list spans media (Harper's Bazaar) fashion (Dennis Basso) dining (Alain Ducasse, Sirio Maccioni's Le Cirque), home furnishings (Preston Bailey) and liquor (Dom Perignon, Imperia Vodka). Her most famous client, of course, is Martha, whom she advised both before and after the domestic diva's spectacular fall. The events of 2004 put pressure on the relationship—Stewart was believed to have been unhappy with Magrino's crisis management skills and brought in another agency to pitch in—but Magrino provided Martha with a shoulder to lean on throughout her year-long ordeal. The PR vet has been back at Martha's side since her release, guiding her through a tumultuous experiment with reality TV (and a feud with Donald Trump), new book deals, TV shows, magazines, product lines, and more. [Image via Getty, with Martha Stewart and Alain Ducasse]