The Guardian posted their Women of the Year list online today, which is an interesting collection indeed. Their selections are much more deserving than those on many other lists I’ve seen, some of which only seem to celebrate fame and beauty. Although I often have trouble remembering the events of the previous 12 months by the time it comes to this time of year, I decided to try compiling a list of my own.
I wanted to come up with a selection of 10 wonderful women who have inspired me in one way or another this year. I’ve stuck to amazing women I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in real life, but there were many more I could have featured if I’d broadened the scope. In fact, there were many more I could have included full stop! I did decide to stick to a list of 10 and so, without further ado, here’s the Rarely Wears Lipstick Women of the Year 2011!
- Amanda Jones – A super-busy social entrepreneur and coffee addict, Amanda spends her days helping thirsty children and still manages to fit in side projects, like organising the SHINE unconference. She has exciting new things planned for 2012 too!
- Cate Sevilla – Running BitchBuzz.com, hosting workshops on blogging, writing for Emerald Street, looking glamorous, and yelling at idiots on Twitter is what Cate does best. And we love her for it.
- Beth Anderson – Perhaps London’s premier musical pedal-powered vegan artist/geek, Beth has spent 2011 battling the money demons and has succeeded in banishing them. She has also entertained and educated her many Twitter followers along the way.
- Ayten Mustafa – The lovely Creative Director of Ayten Gasson was playing the time-consuming parts of ‘bride’ and ‘mum’ this year, yet she still managed to find time to show me her studio and help me make a garter as a wedding gift for my sister.
- Helen Arney – One of my great discoveries of 2011 has been Festival of the Spoken Nerd, of which Helen is one third. She’s a singer, songwriter, comedian… and she’ll be on stage at the fantastic comedy charity event Sex Appeal in the new year!
- Rubyyy Jones – Runner-Up in this year’s Burlesque Idol competition, Rubyyy is a performer who is bringing something different and creative to the cabaret stage. She’s been working hard on her hilarious and rather saucy acts this year, so make sure you see her in 2012.
- Sarah Cook – When she’s not running Hub King’s Cross or stage-managing various events, Sarah has been doing a fair bit of ass kicking with the feminist gang over at Bad Reputation. Mess with her at your peril.
- Ali Brumfitt – Not only does Ali create and perform some bloody excellent poetry but, get this… Ali also lives on a boat. Yes, a BOAT! ‘Nuff said.
- Poppy Dinsey – For a while, I thought that Poppy’s job was to keep me entertained on Twitter. Thankfully she managed to set up WIWT without leaving that particular social network. Not sure what I’d have done otherwise.
- Fiona Deane – My sister bought a house, planned a wedding and completed the first part of her MBA all the the same 12 months. If she has time when she’s finished her dissertation, I think I’ll ask her to host a small seminar on time management, as I could do with some tips!
Image of Rubyyy Jones taken by Echo Moss at Barelesque in October 2011. Image of Helen Arney by Mihaela Bodlovic.
Mine are a bit more mainstream. Polly Harvey for sticking to her artistic guns and winning, Hayley Turner for proving that nice girls can come first too, and Dr Vandana Shiva as always for telling the truth.
Good choices and great reasons. It's good to be inspired 🙂