Aaron Lee
[dropcap style=”style1″]M[/dropcap]alaysian talent, Aaron Lee is an extremely interesting figure who has become well known for his social media advice, which he gives freely not only on Twitter as @AskAaronLee, but his blog which is updated frequently.
He is a regular on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and even Pinterest, and writes regularly on sites like The Huffington Post.
Lee gained notoriety as the social media talent behind Binkd (Facebook promotions platform), and has even created an online women’s clothing retail company with his girlfriend. He’s very much a generous renaissance man, which is why we forgive him for calling himself a ninja!
Adam Smith
[dropcap style=”style1″]W[/dropcap]ell known for his blog, ASmithBlog which showcases Adam Smith’s advice on living a purposeful life. Smith is a public speaker who teaches people about leadership, communication, creativity, and time management through discipline, and of course, using social media to better connect with others, but Smith has most influenced us with his advice on relationships. Smith speaks openly about his own family and shares his personal life in an effort to help others to improve their relationships, both personal and professional, as part of a purposeful life. He is the host of the popular Purpose Podcast and tweets daily from his @asmithblog handle.
Amanda Quraishi
[dropcap style=”style1″]A[/dropcap]manda Quraishi is one of the most selfless people you’ll meet in a lifetime, and she has worked hard at every step to give back to her community. Quraishi is the web administrator for Mobile Loaves and Fishes, which takes catering trucks filled with food and clothes directly to the homeless in the city to afford them basic dignities. Trust us, she goes above and beyond in her role at MLF and is becoming one of the most recognized voices on homelessness in her city.
She is involved at InterfaithActivism.org, blogs at muslimahMERICAN, is the Principal Web Strategist at BlogathonATX, and founded Central Texas Muslimaat which is designed to help Muslim women make a difference. She is a brash cusser, a non-profit queen, a web strategist like no other, and one of the most fun people you’ll ever tweet with (find her at imtheq).
Amber Osborne
[dropcap style=”style1″]D[/dropcap]igital media strategist, Amber Osborne, has worked with startups and international brands alike and is admired for her marketing skills and magnetic personality. She’s known as MissDestructo on Twitter, proof that she doesn’t take herself too seriously (a rare trait in the social media world).
You’ve probably seen her on stage at tech and PR conferences, or in major news outlets, and you’ll be hearing about Meshfire (where she is the CMO), a social media management tool designed for collaboration, ensuring your team is always in sync, in real-time, as events happen.
Amy Lombard
[dropcap style=”style1″]W[/dropcap]e knew we would be Amy Lombard fans forever when she posted online that she nearly ruined a photoshoot with real life models because she wanted to photograph a fountain, “because art,” she said. Awesome.
Five years ago she up and moved to New York to pursue her BFA in Photography from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and she is already exhibiting her work around the globe.
She captured our attention when she published Happy Inside, a glossy book featuring photos of people in IKEA, writing that as a photographer, she is “not necessarily interested in staging reality so to speak. Instead, what I am interested in is someone else’s idea of a staged reality.” Genius.
Keep clicking for other influencers you must meet:
Linda Bernstein
January 2, 2014 at 2:22 pm
So many terrific people here! I love this list.
Christopher S. Penn
January 2, 2014 at 2:40 pm
Thanks for including me! Much appreciated.
Ted Rubin
January 2, 2014 at 3:50 pm
Honored to be included 🙂
Miriam Slozberg
January 2, 2014 at 4:05 pm
Very honored to be included! Thank you.
Amber Osborne
January 2, 2014 at 4:27 pm
Honored to be included among those who inspired me to get into this industry. Thank you!
annhandley
January 2, 2014 at 4:45 pm
This list is stuffed full of people I’m lucky enough to call friends, as well as many who have influenced *me*. Thanks for adding my name to the roundup.
Charles E Gaudet II
January 2, 2014 at 5:51 pm
Thank you for the honor! I’m both humbled and grateful to be included among this least of extraordinary people.
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
Liz Strauss
January 2, 2014 at 7:31 pm
Thank you, AGBeat, for the thought and work that went into writing about all of us. You captured the people who have influence not just their resumes, making this fun to read. I’m honored that you included me.
Michelle Poccia
January 2, 2014 at 8:34 pm
This list is chock full of GENIUS! Congrats to all who are on it! And thanks AGBeat for my 2014 Stalker List!
Danny Brown
January 2, 2014 at 8:56 pm
Nice to see such a diverse group, and appreciate the fact you took the time to share reasons why people might want to connect, versus a generic “OMG, these guys are just awesome, y’all!!”
Cheers for the kind inclusion, and Happy New Year!
J Philip Faranda
January 2, 2014 at 9:33 pm
I hope to meet Michael McClure in person someday! He is remarkable.
Belinda Summers
January 2, 2014 at 11:00 pm
Gee! A bunch of people I look up to. 🙂 How I wish to be one of them someday.
Matt Hixson
January 2, 2014 at 11:38 pm
This was a great way to start the year. Thanks for including me.
Belinda Summers
January 3, 2014 at 1:00 am
Gee! A bunch of people I look up to. 🙂 How I wish to be one of them someday.
Lucretia M Pruitt
January 3, 2014 at 3:02 am
Some of my favorite people on here… Glad to see AGBeat and I agree on so many awesome people as influences!! Congrats for a solid list and kudos to some awesome folks.
Lucretia M Pruitt
January 3, 2014 at 3:02 am
Some of my favorite people on here… Glad to see AGBeat and I agree on so many awesome people as influences!! Congrats for a solid list and kudos to some awesome folks.
Michael Q Todd
January 3, 2014 at 6:37 am
Great list and especially great endorsements well done for taking the time and effort have subscribed to you
S. Anthony Iannarino
January 3, 2014 at 10:39 am
Thanks so much for including me on this all-star list! I am honored!
Heather MacLean
January 3, 2014 at 11:34 am
Great list. Nice to see some really familiar faces as well as some new ones.
agbenn
January 3, 2014 at 1:36 pm
As the Founder and Publisher of The American Genius, I certainly do not want to sound callous, and text can be so impersonal. We hear your feedback, and have noted it for future reference. When we see people, we see human beings, whatever their race or gender.
In saying that, our pick if we were considering race or gender ie. a particular Hispanic Influencer, it would have undoubtedly been His Holiness, Pope Francis. However, because we’ve covered His Holiness, several times in the past month, it gave way to another open spot out of hundreds of thousands of potential people we considered one by one. To be quite honest, I actually had to go back and look and read every entry to see if anyone was or wasn’t Hispanic.
For the record, I am Hispanic, and I am honored to have our team present this list as it is, and with innocent hearts. We do know several of the persons you’ve mentioned and do hold them in very high regard.
So thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback and encouragement, and we look forward to meeting and getting to know a few on your list. 🙂
Brian Hansford
January 3, 2014 at 1:47 pm
So nice to see some new faces in a list. It gets old seeing lists with the same names over and over just to get SEO juice.
agbenn
January 3, 2014 at 2:01 pm
Maya, bless your heart for sharing your kind thoughts and ideas with us. We agree with your sentiments profoundly, and thank you for recoginizing the complexity of what we’re presenting through our lists. We’ll take your idea and have the team bounce it around and see if we can’t do something as meaningful more often. As you know, things become passe when over done, even when done well. For the record, you influence me in thought provoking ways, and that’s not easy to do with a guy like me.
Happy New Year, and kick 2014’s ass!
tracysestili
January 3, 2014 at 5:19 pm
I love listening to Brian Carter speak. He’s not only funny, but real. Plus he presents data in a way that you didn’t think of. Glad to see he made the list and a few of my other faves. 🙂
Eve Mayer
January 4, 2014 at 5:47 pm
Whoa, I’m so lucky to be on this list! Thank you very much for thinking I’m somewhat as cool as all those respected peeps!
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