Elle Magazine is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary with its October issue by profiling 25 “game-changing” women who are also in their twenties.

Gabourey Sidibe made the cut, and Sidibe even scored one of the four different covers.

When Elle touched down 25 years ago, Wham’s “Careless Whisper” topped the charts, “Back To The Future” ruled, “The Cosby Show” was number one—and a new generation of smart, talented artists, filmmakers, actresses, and activists were busy being born. What will these 25-somethings do with the next 25 years?

Check out the excerpts, and see the photos below:

GABOUREY SIDIBE

Credits: Nominated for best actress Oscar in 2009’s Precious; plays Laura Linney’s mouthy high school student on Showtime’s cancer-ishilarious dramedy, The Big C, and bully Latonya in the upcoming Yelling to the Sky.

On celebrating her twenty-fifth birthday: “Part of me thought it would be weird if people knew I was a grown-up playing a teenager in Precious. So I had a twenty-first-birthday party. We had drinks and went to a strip club called Shotgun Willie’s.”