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Here are a few of the most influential women entrepreneurs, athletes, and reporters:

 

Shelley Smith is a five-time Emmy-winning reporter for ESPN, most recently for a long-form piece on blind USC snapper Jake Olson. She has covered just about every sporting event in existence, and has done many long-form features and investigative stories for a multitude of shows. A former writer-reporter at Sports Illustrated, Smith has written extensively for ESPN.com. She also has written three books – “Just Give Me The Damn Ball,” with former New York Jets and current ESPN analyst Keyshawn Johnson, “You Play to Win The Game,” with former head coach and current ESPN analyst Herm Edwards and “Games Girls Play: Lessons to Guiding and Understanding Young Female Athletes.” In 2016, She also was named Journalist of the year by Sports Illustrated (with TNT's Craig Sager) and by the Jim Murray Foundation. She also received the RainbowSports Life Beyond the Playing Field Courage Award from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the inaugural John Saunders spirit award. She is a three-time cancer survivor and the mother of Dylann Tharp, 32, a former all Pac-12 second team defender for Oregon.

 

Allisha Gray is a professional basketball player for the Dallas Wings of the WNBA. She won a national title with South Carolina and was the 4th overall pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft. She won the 2017 Rookie of the Year Award after her first pro season after overcoming an ACL and MCL injury. Allisha is a prime example of not only facing challenges and overcoming adversity, but coming back even stronger, with better shots than before.

 

Mirinda Carfrae is an Australian professional triathlete and an Ironman Triathlon world champion. Carfrae has achieved podium positions in six of her seven attempts at the Ironman World Championships: 1st-place finishes (2010, 2013, 2014), three 2nd-place finishes (2009, 2011, 2016) and a 3rd place. She also won the 2007 Ironman 70.3 World Championship. She has set a new course record for Marathon running 5 times throughout her career, including 2013 where only 2 men recorded a faster time. Professionally, the reigning Ironman World Champion expanded her horizons to Europe, claiming victory against a highly competitive field at Germany’s iconic iron-distance race, Challenge Roth, and confirming that all eyes will be on her yet again in Kona.

 

Only 22 years of age, Kendall Burton's story is nothing short of compelling. Being born with a cleft/lip & palate she went through 23 surgeries by the time she was 17. At age 18, she survived an acute ischemic stroke as a freshman in her first semester in college. As a determined young woman, she fought her way back onto the field. After transferring schools three times, she found her forever home at the University of Georgia which led her to achieve her dream of playing at the Women's College World Series. Kendall Burton is on a mission to impact lives with her story of resilience by sharing the most vulnerable and victorious times she has experienced.

 

Fallon Taylor is an American professional barrel racer who became the World Barrel Racing Champion at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in 2014. She made her first NFR debut when she was 13 years old in 1995, and her horse, BabyFlo, was named the Women's Professional Rodeo Association/American Quarter Horse Association WPRA/AQHA Barrel Racing Horse of the Year in 2013. She has 7 NFR qualifications and from 2013-2015 she won the Jerry Ann Taylor Best Dressed Award at NFR. In 2014, Taylor, her husband, and two of her best friends started the clothing line Ranch Dress'n. They initially included rodeo apparel including jeans, T-shirts, and saddle accessories. Ranch Dress'n also sells athletic wear, caps, outerwear, and youth clothing.

 

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