Since we’ve become such a connected society, I’ve noticed that my idols are more local. They’re reachable, and I may even have talked to them. Maybe its my age, but my idols aren’t billionaires (well – at least I don’t think they are) or global popstars – instead my idols are nearby, within my reach and guess what? They’re all women! I thought about this a few months ago and thought I’d save writing about it until this womens day. As my little tribute.
First off – by idol I mean a person that truly inspires me. It’s a person I draw strength from. I don’t want to be this person, I’m quite happy with who I am. But these people help me to strive for things I really want to do. I feel inspired when I’m around them or reading/hearing their work.

So as a tribute on womens day I’d like to say thank you to:

Jill Walker Rettberg–

– of course! Who didn’t see that coming?!
Jill just seems to get it all right.
She’s always giving lectures (although I’ve yet to experience one actually). She writes books like they’re blogposts – or seems to at least. Look out for Digital Culture, Play, Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader due in May and Blogging in August. Jill’s an excellent writer. She has that rare and wonderful ability to make things that are extremely difficult to understand, straight forward and even interesting. That’s always a true sign of brilliance in my book.
Last year, when I was trying to do my own ‘stuff’ after mundane days at work – I drew so much inspiration from Jill. Reading her blog and keeping up with her work, played a little record in my head “Stop your wining and just do it!”

She’s also just such a genuinely warm, nice and fun person! She and her husband are the kind of people you dream about inviting over for dinner!

Aleks Krotoski –

Aleks is a journalist, blogger and an academic all at the same time. I met her at the State of Play and actually uttered the words “I’m such a fan!” – it’s hard to say those words without seeming like a complete nutbag!
Anyways, I love the way she’s convinced The Guardian that all this social technology stuff is interesting news. She’s brilliant at making things seem simple and she’s a great question person. You know what I mean? Great at asking the right questions. And they’re all such interesting questions, which reveal a smart mind at work with great thoughts about the future. Aleks knows what to ask.
She’s also done some amazing research in Second Life and I’m keen to see what she does next.

Alice Taylor –

I’m not sure what to write about Alice except she’s a brilliant blogger and she does some great work for the gaming industry! She’s probably the most forward thinker on Public Broadcast Gaming – and omg – how can you not admire something like that! I’ve always admired her way of being such a gamer geek and keeping her femininity so out there.

To me the true heroins of today are the ones who dare to venture beyond the comforts of genderspecific roles and still be true to their nature. I love that. Way too often women have had to ‘blend into’ environments that aren’t typical to their gender. And I absolutely adore these three women who are far from ashamed of being women, instead they embrace it and bring it with them on their professional quests. Yes – I do mean quest. Because it seems to me that these women love what they do and they love to learn more. They dive into subjects and are eager to learn more and they seem like they have such fun doing it. They’re not afraid to share and all of three of them make it seem like fun being – sorry gals – but geeks, I guess. Excellent role models for all girls and women everywhere – I think!

Right – this list should be longer – and I have a few names up my sleeve, but alas – this should be published today!

I definitely want to send a big hug to my fellow chixors! Love and admire you all!

Huh – this is rather worrisome isn’t it? All my role models are female gamers – huh. I’ll see if I can remedy that by next year!