The first that came to mind sports women which is probably due to recently reading related books:

Jessica Ennis - her autobiography was really inspiring following all the turmoil she went through as a child due to being mixed race, to her severe foot injury just before Beijing 2008 which meant she had to pull out. How she became incredibly depressed as a result of that and then how show bounced back and went on to win gold at London 2012. Even just the little things like the trout she got for being small or not conventionally pretty.

Laura Trott - Her personality is so infectiously bubbly and down to earth for someone who became a world champion before the age of 20 and a double gold medalist. She seems so grounded and a real inspiration to younger people to go out and do something with their lives rather than hang around on street corners etc.

Although there's also...

Jade Raymond. One of the original brains behind the Assassin's Creed series who went on to become the Managing Director of Ubisoft Toronto. She was also on the receiving end of a disgusting amount of flak from the gaming community when she was first associated with Assassin's Creed yet kept on going. It's great to see such a strong female figurehead in the industry.

And of course...


Amy Acker - For no other reason than she just seems like a genuinely nice person. (SPOILER)Possibly because I have a total girl crush on her too