My picks:

1. Claudia Donovan (Warehouse 13) because she is a badass genius. In her late teens/early 20s, making her an excellent role model, including as a survivor of mental illness. Additionally, fun hair.
2. River Song (Doctor Who) because she is also a badass genius. The more you learn about her, the more you have to respect her. Additionally, the best hair in the world.
3. Liz Lemon (30 Rock) because she is strong and brilliant while also being flawed enough to be completely relatable.
4. Ellen Morgan (Ellen) because I will never get over “The Puppy Episode” and everything that followed. Also, according to AfterEllen, the show was the “first sitcom to revolve around a lesbian character” and “first time lesbian sex was explicitly discussed on a primetime television series” and that’s all very important to both me and history.
5. Gwen Cooper (Torchwood) because she is a badass woman who consistently stands up for what she believes in and insists on living a ‘normal’ life while having one of the craziest jobs in the world. Additionally, I love Welsh accents, so.
6. Lola Sonner (Charlie & Lola) because she’s a little girl with a gigantic imagination, and refuses to let anyone or anything spoil her fun. The show is animated beautifully, but I guess that’s not particularly relevant, but that is why I started watching it.
7. Sarah Jane Smith (Doctor Who) because she was, both in her Classic and New Who runs, a fantastically driven investigative journalist. Plenty of the Doctor’s companions “run off” during adventures, but when she ran off, it was always to do something important and useful because she was brilliant.
8. Leslie Knope (Parks & Rec) because she is passionate about her friends and job and provides a relatable character who can, as you learn from her mistakes as she does, be a great role model.
9. Patti Mayonnaise (Doug) because I’m feeling nostalgic and I always looked up to her when I was a kid. In retrospect, she was a pretty cool character to look up to.
10. Naomi Campell (Skins) because of this scene. Everything else she did as well, but particularly because of The Speech.