Kiwi women taking the world by storm

Pip Brown, aka Ladyhawke, is taking the music world by storm. Photo / Supplied

It's been a big week for our women on the global stage. While

Helen Clark

has been

confirmed today

as the official head of the United Nations Development Programme, and National MP, Korean-born

Melissa Lee

, made the online list of the most beautiful female politicians in the world currently polling at a respectable number 52, pop star

Ladyhawke

was playing her own kind of cool Kiwi diplomat role.

Pip Brown

, aka Ladyhawke, played at New York's Bowery Ballroom last night and blabbed in an interview with

The Village Voice

earlier in the week that living in New Zealand was "like being in Iceland, or something."

Like the

Conchords

before her, Ladyhawke is drumming up some positive press in New York and like all good cultural ambassadors, finds herself promoting, or explaining, her homeland at the same time.

She said: "New Zealand is basically at the bottom of the world. It's right next to Antarctica. It's only like a couple of hours from Antarctica and only a couple of hours from Australia. And it's tiny. The entire country only has four million people. There are only a couple of big cities in New Zealand and they're not even that big. The rest is just small towns."

"I grew up in a small town, and it had about 18,000 people. There was no record store in town - just a CD store that only got CD's in 1996 and when it got stuff, it was just top 40. So you couldn't hunt for music. We were basically exposed to our own music scene, which has always been really amazing. I think that's why we tend to describe ourselves as isolated. It's a bit of a culture shock when we leave New Zealand for the first time."

Here's my top 10 list of Kiwi women making a name of themselves (and us) overseas:

1.

Helen Clark

will head the United Nations Development Programme.

2.

Melissa Lee

was named as a hottie politician on the world stage in an online poll run by Spain's 20 Minutos newspaper.

3.

Ladyhawke

is making it big in New York and London, and even made

Perez Hilton

's favourite list.

4.

Anna Paquin

is receiving rave reviews for her role in the hit US TV show

True Blood

, and for romancing her co-star Stephen Moyer.

5.

Lucy Lawless

has US fans miserable since she announced a six-month sabbatical. She took the family to Ecuador on an eco tour and is now in Godzone with her family.

6.

Anna Hutchison

and her boobs have been voted the hottest things on Aussie TV since their debut on Underbelly.

7.

Simone Kessell

is also a star on the hit Aussie show starring as Kiwi drug trafficker Isabelle Wilson.

8.

Melanie Lynskey

has branched out from the

Charlie Sheen

sitcom

Two and a Half Men

and will be starring in three upcoming movies:

Away We Go

,

The Informant

and

Leaves of Grass

.

9.

Rachel Hunter

is making wedding plans to husband #2

Jarret Stoll

and will appear in upcoming movie

A Fonder Heart

alongside

Burt Reynolds

,

Darryl Hannah

, J

ames Brolin

and

Shelley Long

.

10.

Kylie Bax

was Spy-ed last month looking gorgeous at her husband

Spiros Poro

's photography exhibition called

Under Exposed

at B-Train Studios in New York.

Rachel Glucina

Pictured: Kiwi singer Ladyhawke.

Photo / Supplied