Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
Jill Soloway doesn’t know it, but she made my day yesterday.
I was having an emotional, stressful, frustrating day. I was questioning why I took on all the stress of starting my own company. My fraud syndrome (this crazy disease I invented that convinces me that I’m shite at everything) was quietly showing symptoms of an ugly return. I was fraught with stress about why I decided to direct my first ever narrative short the same exact summer as I was making big changes at Mighteor. Oh, and then on top of that, I’m leaving the country for 5 weeks at the end of August and that means my to do list is a horror show right now.
Yeah, I’m bonkers. But Jill. Oh Jill. She saved me. She reminded me why:
“I just want all the female creators to keep an eye out for that thing that says don’t do it, it’s not good enough, it’s not ready and you’re not right, and know that that’s the uninvited guest that’s always going to be there in your unconsciousness. That’s a product of growing up other, of growing up as not the subject. You think there’s something wrong with your voice all the time.”
Mhmm. Yeah. That was the voice that was ringing in my ears. And it reminded me of something I needed to write for our Mighteor blog. The entire team is doing an exercise right now so we can get to know each other better and so our clients and potential clients and collaborators can understand our point of view as creators. This is what I wrote about WHY I LOVE PRODUCTION:
“As a woman, I never thought I could be a director. It sounds crazy to me now, but other roles were where I saw women working, so I followed those. When I worked as a P.A. at PBS and saw women working as Associate and Executive Producers, I assumed that would be the trajectory for my career. But things changed because of good mentors. And not even female ones. When I worked for the University News Service, I was finally shown a different path when a colleague took it upon himself to teach me modern editing. (Things had changed a lot since college…) The same year, YouTube came out and our team had tremendous success with the platform. My boss encouraged me to keep following the online content path and it led me to a leadership position there.
After leaving to work at a Minneapolis agency, I realized I didn’t want editing and producing to be my ceiling. Those jobs are vital and crucial and important. But, for me, having ownership over the story became my passion and my purpose.
At Mighteor, I direct nearly all our shoots. And to be honest, our clients are kick ass, so they don’t mind. But I have noticed that I am not just a minority in the cities where I work as a director, I’m also a minority in the tech scene, which we are also a part of because of our DNA as an internet company. On several occasions, my roles as director and CEO have been met with looks of surprise and shock. Being a female in not just one, but two male dominated industries used to frustrate me, but now it excites and motivates me.
So I love production because I have a purpose here. There is meaning here. There are stories to tell here. There are female perspectives that should be tapped here. And I’m glad Mighteor is on the forefront of doing that.”
You can read Jill’s full post on Wifey.TV here. I guess I just wanted to say, Thanks, Jill.
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