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Now here’s a young woman you must meet.

Trained as an engineer, hailed early on as a major KidLit blogger (that award-winning 200,000 hits-a-month “There’s a Book”), and frequently consulted as a Cybil’s judge, say, or as a board member of the BEA Book Bloggers Advisory, Danielle Smith turned to agenting just a few years ago. At Foreword Literary she sold the sensation, Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book). Now, at Red Fox Literary, Danielle is continuing to both create careers and extend them for authors and illustrators of picture books, middle grade novels, and young adult literature.

Don’t try to pin her down to a single style or a raging trend. Don’t build, for her, a box. Don’t be ashamed to name your dreams. Don’t come to her mid-career (as I have) worried that your mid-career is maybe, perhaps, oh no, more like your end-of-career.

Because Danielle Smith has a plan for you. And it won’t be the well-trod one.

How about this,she’ll say, in the twinkle of an email.

We have momentum,she’ll say.

Optimism fuels the goodness in my life, she’ll say.

And she’ll be right. About all of it.

Danielle is innovative. She’s connected. She’s thoughtful. She reads, she advocates, she suggests. Agents (great ones) do all of those things, but Danielle further distinguishes herself by her approach—a philosophy that puts kindness first.

Kindness.

Imagine.

It’s tough out there in the publishing world. It’s hustle and razzle dazzle. It’s solar blast and fizzle. It’s the hot new thing and the marketing slogan. Danielle somehow quietly stands above the fray. She sees what must be done and she does it—with integrity, with an open heart, with a deep desire to populate the world with good books.

By taking on books and authors she genuinely believes in, by celebrating their victories all along the way, by practicing the art of gratitude, by caring deeply about the power of stories, by bringing her whole self (and indeed, her two adorable kids, her test readers) to the task, Danielle has the capacity to restore one’s faith in the publishing business.

She has certainly restored mine.

Danielle Smith is a rising star. That Snappsy, her first sold book, has been featured almost anywhere a book can be featured, gained a gigantic fan base, and started a movement. Her line-up of recently sold books wouldn’t fit on this page. Her connections to TV, movies, and foreign rights surprise even those who know how excellent she is.

She’s no wheeler-dealer, this Danielle Smith.

She’s something more. Proof that excellence can also be the product of humanity, dignity, humor, and love.