I might get teased for being a PollyAnna or seeing the world through rose-colored glasses, but I’m totally okay with that if it allows me to open myself up to positive influences and strong people who do good.

At some point at every Affiliate Summit I hear talk of how the men outnumber the women. While that is definitely changing over the years, the fact remains that although the number of women may be fewer, the quality and strength in those women is amazingly high. Here are just a few of those amazing women in affiliate marketing that everyone should get to know because they inspire me every day.

Missy Ward is pretty much the queen bee of affiliate marketing. She has the knowledge, the connections, and the enthusiasm to make everything that she does successful. As one of the co-owners of Affiliate Summit, she is the face (and voice!) that everyone recognizes. I owe so much to Missy and the doors that she has opened for me.

Connie Berg is like the big sister of affiliate marketing. She was doing it long before most of us and was willing to share with us what she knew. If you haven’t read her story, you need to check it out. She’s a true example of someone pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and succeeding where others were not.

Deborah Carney is the self-professed “mama” in affiliate marketing. If you haven’t heard her name before, you will definitely hear it a lot more as the moderator of the new Affiliate Summit forum. She’s had experience as both an affiliate and an affiliate manager, which gives her some really unique perspectives.

Kim Rowley. I was always a little intimidated to introduce myself to Kim because she is so well-known and respected in the business and always has a group of friends around her. Now that I have gotten to know her better, I understand why!

Lisa Riolo. Lisa is one of the smartest, most articulate women whom I have ever met. She has seen so many facets of affiliate marketing that her knowledge of our industry is unbelievable. She continues to innovate and bring new ideas to our business.

Lisa Picarille. I used to be REALLY scared of Lisa. Why? Because she is one of those women who is confident and smart and self-assured. I was afraid that if she met me, she would think I was just a giggling little girl. As I’ve come to find out, Lisa is actually one of the warmest, most trust-worthy people you will ever meet. She has such interesting perspectives that I could sit and talk to her all day and never grow tired of learning from her.

Cindy Ballard. She may not work for me anymore, but she is still an active part of the affiliate industry. She can negotiate with affiliate managers like no one I have ever seen or probably will ever see.

Rebecca Madigan. When I first heard about Rebecca, I thought that she was just some woman who the PMA hired to do administrative work. How unbelievably wrong was I? Rebecca’s roots at CJ make her an absolute wealth of industry information and she will be the first person to jump in and help you make connections when you need them.

Affiliate managers. There are many female affiliate managers and network employees who always go the extra mile and are such a pleasure to work with that they have become friends. Off the top of my head: Teresa Tao (Shoebuy), Kristen Grace (BuyCostumes.com and Celebrate Express), Kim Salvino (buy.at), Amy Ely (buy.at), Jessica Sander (Shareasale), Melissa Salas (Buy.com), Carolyn Tang Kmet (Groupon), Karen Garcia (GTO Management), Wendy Palmer (Rextopia), Anne Fognano (all-around Wonder Woman), Jill Swartwout (GirlyChecks), Liz Gazer-Proudfoot (Growthspurt Media), Sarah Beeskow (Sharesale), Sarah Bundy (AllInclusiveMarketing).

Fellow affiliates. I love reading what these women write and seeing how they always find fresh was to earn money in affiliate marketing! TrishaLyn Fawver, Jen Goode, Heather Sokol, Amanda Orson, Judi Moore, Lori Herron, Heather in Beautiful BC, Char Polanosky, Rexanne Mancini, Shannon Weidemann, Laura Parvey-Connors (I think an affiliate now? Awesome either way!), Julie Vazquez, Sabrina Malone.

Industry influencers. I can’t profess to actually know how each of them earns a living, but I know that they are smack dab in the middle of our industry as movers and shakers:  Stephanie Lichtenstein, Melanie Seery, Sharon Mostyn, Kellie Stevens.

Then there are women whom I do not know but wish that I did. I hear such great things about them but haven’t had the good fortune of meeting them yet. Rae Hoffman-Dolan (Sugarrae) and Eva Klein are high on that list. (I know I kind of met Eva at the SAS party but it doesn’t count because she didn’t know who I was!)

I’m sure that I have left out a lot of great women in our business. Feel free to add them in the comments! I would love to know more about them. Affiliate marketing is an industry FULL of strong, intelligent, hard-working women. And our numbers are growing!!