Anna,
While I recognise the political shrewdness of your decision and also applaud and sympathise with the desire to read and learn a great deal more under the guidance of others who have also done these things, I do experience an attack of nausea and rebellion which I know you will understand and even share to some extent.
I'm a real snob. I always wonder about those who have to flaunt their background instead of their work, but I have no power to assist you, (or me) to become published. I too have edited poetry ezines and I did pay attention to names whose work had pleased me in the past but I couldn't give a tinker's cuss whether they had graduated with fanfares or been kicked out of every institution in the English-speaking world. I know you are right. That is how it is. In the end self-respect is what matters most and I'm foolish enough to think that integrity counts for something in poetry. It is possible to be sincere and a politician at the same time. Robert Frost proved that and the scene has become even more repulsive in recent years.
You wrote that you are "picky" about villanelles. I am too. Many of us are.
I guess what matters most nowadays, if recognition and publication are to be achieved, is the same killer instinct that athletes are supposed to have.
Good luck
Janet