Top 20 PR PowerWomen go Everywhere -- the W-List

German psychologists Jana Ehrhardt and Eve Ehrhardt wrote a book titled Good Girls Go to Heaven, Bad Girls Go Everywhere. With a catchy title and a simple concept they describe how some women tend to feel the need to believe that someone else should take care of them. The authors get into the historical and cultural reasons why. For the purposes of this post, let's remember that asking permission first may not get you places.

A button given to me by leadership consulting company Corporate Hope quoted Laurel Tatcher Urlich with "Well behaved women rarely make history". I think what the title and quote say is that there is still a difference in perception that comes with being a woman. Well, there is, and it means that it comes with a different sensibility to everything. That is good.

Meet the Top 20 PR PowerWomen. Extracted from Todd And's (now in partnership with Ad Age) Power 150 list of marketing and PR blogs by Kami Huyse at Communication Overtones a couple of weeks ago, this list represents as diverse a universe as you can find in the blogosphere. The statistic Kami drew out is valid pretty much all over the place. Go to Fast Company Expert blogs where I post every Thursday and count the males and female bloggers -- 26 to 6.

I know there are more women bloggers, for the PR and marketing profession, these are the Top 20:

• What’s Next Blog B. L. Ochman
• Diva Marketing Blog Toby Bloomberg
• BlogWrite for CEOs Debbie Weil
• Communication Overtones Kami Huyse
• Forrester’s Marketing Blog Shar, Charlene, Chloe, Christine, Elana, Laura & Lisa
• The Origin of Brands Laura Ries
• Branding & Marketing Chris Brown
  
• Customers Rock! Becky Carroll
• Conversation Agent Valeria Maltoni
• Corporate PR Elizabeth Albrycht
• The Copywriting Maven Roberta Rosenberg
• CK’s Blog CK (Christina Kerley)
• Spare Change Nedra Kline Weinreich
• Marketing Roadmaps Susan Getgood
• advergirl Leigh Householder
• Brand Sizzle Anne Simons
• Kinetic Ideas Wendy Maynard
• Flooring The Consumer C.B. Whittemore
• Presto Vivace Blog Alice Marshall
• Email Marketing Best Practices Tamara Gielen

I come late to the party, others have preceded me in expressing why this is a great starting point. C.B. Whittemore, CK, Becky Carroll, and Roberta Rosenberg, also co-authors of The Age of Conversation, wrote posts for the occasion. It is indeed the age of conversation. Tom Peters and Kevin Roberts have been saying it for years better than I ever could -- women rock at conversation.

Maybe we can start a W-List to help us all discover great blogs authored by women. Adding to CK's:

• Moda di Magno by Lori Magno
• Get Shouty by Katie Chatfield

Many of you may already know a few not on the marketing list:

• Deborah Schultz by Deborah Schultz
• The Engaging Brand by Anna Farmery
• Liz Strauss at Successful Blog by Liz Strauss
• Manage to Change by Ann Michael
• Lorelle on WordPress by Lorelle VanFossen
• Inspired Business Growth by Wendy Piersall
• Back in Skinny Jeans by Stephanie Quilao
• Learned on Women by Andrea Learned
• eSoup by Sharon Sarmiento
• Management Craft by Lisa Haneberg
• Productivity Goal by Carolyn Manning

Also check out newer entrants:

• Modite by Rebecca Thorman
• Tech Kitten by Trisha Miller
• Get Fresh Minds by Katie Konrath
• Conscious Business by Anne Libby
• Narrative Assets by Karen Hegman

I have enjoyed getting to know these ladies and think their blogs would make a fine addition to RSS readers.

If I left out anyone, I'm sure you or the women I inadvertently left out of the list will be able to add to this one. Top 20 + 13 + 5 = the beginning of the W-List and more great blogs and link love. What other great blogs are out there authored by women? To link forward, simply copy all these links into your post and add yours.
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UPDATE: Krishna De at Krishna De's BizGrowth News was the first woman to pick up the list, put it in alphabetical order and add some of her links. She aptly renamed the effort The W List: aka Women Who Blog. She adds:

• Wiggly Wigglers authored by fellow Podcast Sister Heather Gorringe
• The Blog Angel aka Claire Raikes
• Wealth Strategy Secrets by Money Gym author and Founder Nicola Cairncross.

The first always deserve honorable mention. I'll be keeping track off line so feel free to link back or trackback to this post to signal your participation.

Comments

[Rebecca Thorman]

Thank you for including me on this fabulous list. Blogging has certainly encouraged me to speak my voice more often, both online and off.

I am looking forward to diving into other thoughts and opinions from women, and broadening my reading list!

[Karen Hegmann]

Valeria,

Many thanks as well for adding me to the list. You are definitely an inspiration and a role model to someone new to the blogging world!

Blogging has opened up my eyes to a whole new world of opinions and ideas. It also teaches me how to express my ideas to a "virtual" audience...a new concept for someone who is used to communicating in person.

Kudos to my fellow bloggers and readers...and...may the conversation continue to the benefit of all!

[Valeria Maltoni]

Rebecca -- you are a gem -- good writing and clear thinking. As you consider visiting other blogs, consider sharing the links with your readers. That's how you can help spread the word about these accomplished and nice people; and give everyone an incentive to come visit you ;-)

Karen -- I remember my first posts well. Thinking that nobody was going to read my stuff. One of the beauties of blogging is that opinions are a good thing. My most outspoken readers have given me the gift of challenge. Spread the link love!

[Katie Konrath]

Valeria,

I think a W-list would be a great idea. I've found myself looking for quality blogs by women many times and it would be good to have everything centralized. I'm excited to go through the blogs you mentioned and find a couple more for my rss reader!

Thank you very much for mentioning me here as well.

[ann michael]

Hello Valeria!

Thanks for including me on your list (it is truly an honor coming from you!).

26 to 6 - wow!

It always amazes me when I see stats like that. I know so many intelligent, experienced and collaborative women that I never understand how we lag (as a gender) that far behind in the stats.

What do you think?

[Valeria Maltoni]

Katie:

Before we centralize, it will be fun to spread the links through many of the blogs mentioned here. That's how we grew the z-list, each participant took the previous list and added their own choices onto it and so on.

That is also a great way to invite other bloggers to check out your site. Just like you did here. Feel free to take the list, publish it and add other blogs authored by women onto it and pay it forward.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Ann:

Maybe we don't know about great blogs written by women? That's why I thought we would give the W-List a chance. Join in!

[Kami Huyse]

What a great idea, a fantastic way to pay it forward!

[B.L. Ochman]

Valeria - thank you so much for including me in this distinguished list of accomplished women.

However, I don't consider myself a flak and I think many, if not most of the women here probably don't either.

I would be proud to be on a list of Power Marketing Women, but I have great disdain for the frequently ethically challenged and often clueless way PR is practiced by most in the field.

Sigh.
BL

[Valeria Maltoni]

Kami -- thank you for starting all this. I do PR as well as marketing. At the end of the day I call it communications and everyone wins ;-)

B.L. -- I thought it appropriate to preserve the original name and intent of the list extracted by Kami. In the end the classification matters to a point. We're all in marketing and sales to a certain degree, especially those who run a business of their own. What matters is that we have a great group of thinkers and writers and they should be celebrated.

[David Reich]

Thanks for compiling this, Valeria. I'll try to check these power women online.

Hey BL, not all p.r. people are clueless and ethically challenged. Some are, I'll admit, but don't knock the whole field. I, for one, do not fit into that mold you put p.r. people into, and I know many others who don't either.
And weren't you once a "flak" yourself, some 20 years ago?

[Trisha]

Valeria,

I offer my sincere gratitude at being included also - and such an amazing list! I am honored, and feel I have a lot to live up to.

I agree with Karen - you have been a great inspiration already to me, and opened my eyes to a number of very interesting topics and concepts. You've turned up the heat on all kinds of ideas and opinions that are now percolating like mad within my head....which, to paraphrase Martha Stewart, is a good thing!

I look forward to a great many conversations to come.

[C.B. Whittemore]

Valeria, I love what you have created! Thank you.

[Steve Roesler]

Congrats and much deserved, Valeria!

As I was running down the list I realized how many of these women are already in my RSS reader.

I'm feeling sage-like :-)

[Krishna De]

Valeria - thanks for pulling together the list. It's great to see so many quality content blogs and I look forward to seeing the list growing.

We might all want to use a consistent tag - I used W list.

[Valeria Maltoni]

David -- I am chuckling and the friendly banter on PR. Frankly, I think every single profession has its dark side ;-)

Trisha -- Thank you for your kind words. Creativity can serve us so well at work and in life. It can help us build resiliency and humor. Do spread the word. Krishna did a great job with the alphabetized list so you can take that, add her name to it and her suggested contacts plus your favorite blogs authored by women.

[Valeria Maltoni]

C.B. -- I'm quite pleased with the idea myself, if I may say.

Steve -- you are a smart person, among the many other qualities of yours ;-)

Krishna -- welcome to the conversation and thank you again for being the first to pick up on the opportunity. I am curious to see how the list travels.

[ahs]

Hi Valeria:
Thanks so much for including me---I'm pleased to be included in such impressive company and happy to have the opportunity to discover some new favorites.

[Tiffany Monhollon]

What a fabulous idea! I discovered this list while writing a post about personal branding for women. I'd love for you to check out my blog, Little Red Suit, since I've recently joined the ranks of "women who blog."

And it looks like I have some required reading to get to - that's quite an impressive list!

[Valeria Maltoni]

Anne -- thank you for stopping by. I remembered your blog from the Z-List as well ;-)

Tiffany -- welcome to the conversation and adding interest to a W-List (aka Women who blog). Let's make the list go viral!

[Tiffany Monhollon]

My additions to the W List are posted on my blog. Check them out, and enjoy!

[Toby]

Valeria - Ditto. Great resource. The question - "Where are the women bloggers?" was the catalyst that began BlogHer and although we've made great strives there is still a way to go. Here are a few more women who have been doing amazing working in the space since at least 2005. http://tinyurl.com/yvwo95 and a link to BlogHer's blog roll of business related blogs - http://tinyurl.com/yvuu37

Women are blogging and our numbers are strong .. seems our challenge is in visibility .. especially if women don't know where the women bloggers are. Appreciate your efforts to develop this list and thanks for including me as part of this talent group.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Tiffany -- thank you for paying this forward. And to all readers of this blog, do check out Little Red Suit, I have already found a couple of idea-generating posts.

Toby -- Thank you for the links! Alas my timing with joining the blogosphere has not allowed me to attend a BlogHer yet. There is a wonderful post conference digest at Horse Pig Cow by Tara Hunt http://www.horsepigcow.com/2007/07/30/blogher-and-getting-back-to-what-matters/

[Toby]

Valeria - Remember last March when we met up at the happy happy hour that CK coordinated? It was like seeing old friends and our conversations began paragraphs into the discussions not just first sentences of who are you and where do you live? That's what it's like at a BlogHer conference but with hundreds of women.

[Avery D]

Hi Valeria -- Great list of great bloggers! Just to get on your radar, check out our firm's blog at http://viaspire.blogs.com. Heather is our author providing insightful posts we are passionate about here at Viaspire. Due to her efforts, Viaspire's blog is currently ranked on Todd's "honorable mention" list - hopefully approaching Power 150 status soon. Her efforts have also put us up for nominations at the Blogger's Choice award for best marketing blog and best blog design. Thanks for featuring this amazing group of women. They are all apart of our daily feeds!