Every year, the International Women's Media Foundation honors extraordinary women who express their leadership and vision through journalism. Meet Khadija Ismayilova of Azerbajian and Asmaa AlGhoul of Gaza We came away inspired and awed by their commitment and courage. For bios of each of the women, go to www.iwmf.org.

One woman in particular Khadija Ismayilova, an Azerbajani journalist, is under immense pressure to stop investigating Presidential corruption in Azerbajian. Her stories air on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty the only independent media in Azerbajian. We have interviewed countless women with the help of IWMF - women whose dogs have been slain on their front step, whose children have been threatened, who have lost body parts to car bombs -- but never have we sat in the studio with a woman whose willingness to defy the power that would destroy her so impressed us. In our interview she said: If they want to kill me, they can kill me.

You can find a 60-minute unedited version of the interviews with Zubeida Mustafa of Pakistan, Khadija Ismayilova of Azerbajian, and Asmaa AlGhoul of Gaza on SoundCloud. http://soundcloud.com/deadlinela/international-womens-media.

The IWMF honored these women in Los Angeles on October 29, 2012.