The other day, I read a blog by Diana Adams (@adamsconsulting) called “Twitter’s Top 75 Badass Women.”  This wonderful article – which can be read at http://tinyurl.com/Top75Women – detailed 75 great ladies on Twitter who have a passion for their jobs and share it well.  As Ms. Adams wrote:

“We got together and compiled a list of the women who inspire us on a daily basis on Twitter. This list is different from most of the ones you’ll find. These aren’t the most popular women, or the women with the most followers. This is a list of women who are making it happen day in and day out, and they are tweeting their butts off in the process. They share and care consistently, and are always there to engage with their followers.”

The article is a good read and I highly recommend it, however I was quite disappointed to see that not one #avchick made the list.  An actress, several PR types and even a DOG made it, but none of our awesome ladies of AV.  Thus, I have taken it upon myself to remedy this lapse.  I hereby present, “Twitter’s Top 5 Badass AV Women!”

@avwriter – Let’s start at the top, shall we?  AVwriter – aka Linda Seid Frembes – simply rocks. As the name says, she’s a writer who has written for all of our big industry trade mags: ProAV, Sound & Video Contractor, Systems Contractor News, and rAVe Publications among many others. She has done freelance writing for many major industry manufacturers and Infocomm International itself, plus she maintains her own blog atfrembes.com where she opines on a variety of industry topics. What makes her the queen of Badass AV Women, however, is her Twitter presence.  She actively tweets many times a day on engaging, entertaining and educational topics, not all strictly AV-related.  On the AV front, though, she created the #avnews hashtag, the #AVtweeps Daily paper and – just yesterday – organized and moderated the industry’s first ever AV Twitter chat, #avchat. Plus, she’s good people.  As I said, @avwriter simply rocks.

@juliejacobson – Another name waaaaaay up there on the list is Julie Jacobson.  She co-founded EH Publishing in 1994, has worked on all their major publications and currently serves as Editor-At-Large for their flagship publication, CEPro.  On Twitter, she created two different daily aggregate papers: JJ’s Home Tech Daily and What CE Pro’s Tweet.  Those dailies alone provide TONS of excellent info and stories for folks in our field, but her regular tweets are engaging and entertaining as well.  JJ is definitely someone to follow, even if – like me – you don’t necessarily play in the custom, resi or consumer markets.

@GreenA_V – GreenA_V is known to mere mortals as Midori Connolly, owner of Pulse Staging in San Diego. Her name may also be familiar to you because she is the go-to gal in the industry for advice and articles on Green AV.  She’s on the Green Meetings Industry Council, operates our industry’s first 100% sustainable AV staging company and has written and spoken on the topic of Green AV at Event Camp, the Elite Meetings Alliance, ProAV magazine and more. Her tweets tend to follow a similar theme – Green, sustainability, and incorporating those ideas into AV, events and staging – but all are very educational and engaging. Worth a look!

@AVJessica – In the real world, AVJessica is better known as Jessica Lane Spicer of AVI-SPL’s Tampa office.  Day in and day out, Jessica can be counted on to provide wildly entertaining tweets, chock full of links, pictures, and amusing observations on topics pertaining to the AV industry as well as soooo far from the AV industry that Hubble would be needed to find it again.  Whether sharing current events, funny videos or even justsquee-worthy pics of fuzzy animals to brighten a dull day, you won’t be bored if AVJessica is in your Twitterfeed.  Plus, she’s fun to party with at Tweet-ups and industry parties… and I’ll even forgive her (and her fellow AVI-SPLer, @AVKrystle) for “stealing” my Twitter naming scheme! ^_^

@GinaSans and @rebecatrautner – Okay, so this makes six, not five, but I like these ladies so much I just couldn’t cut one!   Gina Sansivero is a Long Island, NY, small business partner who sells AV and loves Green AV topics.  Rebeca Trautner is a New Jersey girl who handles PR for Middle Atlantic Products.  Both supply fun and funny tweets on a variety of topics daily, from sports to music to pets and weather… but usually amusing and at least of passing interest to other AV folks.  Plus, well, they’re just fun chicks!

So there you go! AVDawn’s list of Twitter’s Top 5 (okay, 6!) Badass AV Women.  There are tons of other #avchicks on Twitter though, who are also worth a follow and are mentioned below.  Did I miss any? Let me know your favorite badass AV woman on Twitter!

Manufacturer / Rep Firm #avchicks: @KellyLODonnell  @Chief_Kelly  @Chief_Laurie  @Chief_KarenS  @MarlaSapphire

Integrator #avchicks: @AVKrystle  @latoyashonmoore  @hking

Consultant #avchicks: @TotemMedia  @AmyinAustinTX

News, Media and PR #avchicks: @christinep24  @saraabrons  @SCNMag  @kimberlyfab

Association #avchicks: @abav  @shanameydala  @WomeninCE  @WomenWhoTech

BONUS! #geekchicks not in AV but worth a follow: @CaliLewis  @geekgirls  @geeksugar