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.
Meet Megan Gotch, aka The Nerdy Girlie. She lives in sunny San Diego where she anticipates her favorite event of the year: San Diego Comic Con. She blogs about this anticipation over at The Nerdy Girlie. Head over to her blog for tips on what to wear, who to photograph, what to pack, where to park, what to watch for, etc. Don’t plan on attending SDCC? Head over to The Nerdy Girlie anyway. Her tips her applicable to many different conferences, and her witty writing and adorable photos are definitely worth checking out.
Gotch also blogs about nerdy passions like Doctor Who (check out her premier party with Being Geek Chic printable napkin rings!), Dexter, Entertainment Weekly, and a subject near to my heart: ballet!
Need more Gotch? Find her as @thenerdygirlie on Twitter and Instagram. And check out her interview with Being Geek Chic to discover when she first realized she was a geek and what she’d tell her middle-school self.
Kicking off April’s Lady Geeks is Jill Pantozzi (@TheNerdyBird), a lady with a huge amount of geek cred. For starters, Pantozzi keeps a personal blog over at Has Boobs, Reads Comics. On her blog, she’s interviewed the likes Arthur Levine, co-editor of our beloved Harry Potter series, and Helen Slater, “Supergirl” actress from the ‘80s, just to name a few.
Pantozzi also provides witty commentary on topics such as the evolution of Neville Longbottom, the less-than-stellar debut of Spiderman on Broadway, and connections between Jurassic Park and Justice League.
Impressed yet? Did I mention Pantozzi was profiled on National Geographic’s Comic Store Heroes, a comic book documentary centered on NYC’s Midtown Comics? Yeah.
Oh, and we can’t forget to mention yesterday’s big news. Pantozzi and a plethora of other cool ladies’ 2012 anthology Chicks Dig Comics
was nominated for a Hugo Award yesterday.
Finally, Pantozzi’s the Associate Editor of The Mary Sue, the blog we know and love as “A Guide to Girl Geek Culture.” Ps: Don’t read The Mary Sue? Give yourself a quick slap on the wrist and head over there now! Or, perhaps after you read Pantozzi’s interview with Being Geek Chic…
Q: What has led you to your passion?
A: I almost feel as if I was destined for this path from birth. We can blame my mom for starting me off with the original Star Trek when I was very young but I always had an affinity toward geeky pursuits. Originally I was headed toward a regular, boring journalism career then I found out I could write about Doctor Who and comics for a living and I was sold!
Introducing our Lady Geeks of the Week: Tansy Roberts and Heidi Richardson Evans of Doctor Her, “a blog about all things Doctor Who, from a feminist perspective.” But Doctor Her is just one of these two ladies’ many respective projects.
Tansy Roberts is the author of Splashdance Silver (published when she was 20!), the Creature Court trilogy and Love and Romanpunk, among many other books. Furthermore, Tansy is one of the hosts of the Hugo-nominated science fiction podcast Galactic Suburbia, and the recently launched all-female Doctor Who podcast Verity. This lady is a whirlwind of geek chic fervor.
Heidi Richardson Evans is an artist, writer, and mom living in West Virginia “in a house made of mismatched reclaimed bricks.” When I asked Heidi to be a Lady Geek of the Week for BGC, she was fantastically over-the-moon, and put together a special treat for us: a TARDIS inspired makeup look.
Doesn’t she look amazing? I, for one, am particularly impressed, as every time I pick up vibrant eye makeup, I emerge looking like a 7-year-old who found her older sister’s eye shadow pallet from Claire’s. Yes, I speak from experience both as a 7-year-old and as a 22-year-old.
While I work on channeling the accomplishments of these ladies, you chic lady geeks out there should check out Tansy and Heidi’s interview with BGC on their love of our main man this month, Doctor Who:
Q: If you had to choose one Doctor to arrive on your doorstep and ask you to be a companion, who would you choose and why?
TR: Five, because then I could be fairly certain to get a room to myself on the TARDIS, and other companions to chat to. Though there is precedent that if I pick Eleven I can bring my partner and children too, so that would be fun.
HRE: Ten. 10. TEN! tennnn….10!!!!Ten(nant.)
I’m a NuWho fan who’s barely seen the original series. I was very taken with the show’s concept during Christopher Eccleston’s season as the Ninth Doctor, but I fell seriously in love with the character when David Tennant stepped into the role. His characterization of the powerfully complex emotions of the Doctor is heartbreaking. I’m so taken by the subtle beauty of his performance and he’s definitely “my Doctor.”
She’s tattooed, fond of brews and she’s got some moves. Introducing this week’s Lady Geek of the Week: Leslie Stewart (aka Darling Stewie). She’s a “20 something Northeastern Pennsylvania web designer, super geek girl, costumed fancypants, voiceover enthusiast, convention going LARPer, kawaii fashion fanatic, coffee addict, toy collector and meme-obsessed chick.”
Over at Darling Stewie, she blogs about cartoons, cats, geeky couture, costumes, and more. Bonus: Giveaways on Stewart’s blog are a plenty!
Q: What has led you to your passion?
A: I’ve always loved design and the Internet, so my passion is primarily geekery plus internet. I love writing, drawing cartoons, and creatively expressing myself on the internet so that’s how DarlingStewie.com was born - my ultra geek cute blog.
In addition to that, my geek passions were fueled by awesome friends. We collaboratively made each other geekier by having anime watching parties, playing D&D, and always talking about geek nonsense. We all started LARPing (live action role playing) together and it was a combination of friends hanging out and being geeks. That’s how I met my awesome boyfriend. It was love at first Elven sight.
Q: Proudest achievement?
A: My current proudest achievement is joining the ranks of Antipode Geek Bellydance and performing at geek/anime conventions across the East Coast. We are scheduled to perform at Genericon in Troy NY March 1-3 - a Super Mario Brothers Bellydance. It’s a super fun group of geek girls who put on creative geek belly dances! I absolutely LOVE bellydancing, and the combination of dance with fangirl geek topics like science fiction (Doctor Who, Firefly), video games (Sonic, Zelda), or anime (Utena, Sailor Moon) makes it that much more fun. Check them out at AntipodeBellydance.com and Facebook.com/AntipodeBellydance, please and thank you. :)
Q: If you could take any fictional character out for a drink, whom would you choose, and what would you drink?
A: Probably Louise from Bob’s Burgers, a tiny little maniac after my own heart… We’d drink something with lots of sugar and caffeine in it.
Q: When did you first realize you were “geeky?”
A: Christmas morning 1993 … this was when I received my first Nintendo… and first Mario Brothers game. This was the moment when I first start the conversion to geekdom. As I entered my teenage years, I noticed the other girls were interested in the world of the superficial: shopping, supermodels, and cheesy chick flicks… but my interests included the world of the supernatural and the superhero: cosplay, science fiction, comics and cartoons, and Dungeons and Dragons. Truth be told, I’d take a D20 over a day of shopping any day.
Q: What would you tell your 13-year-old self?
A: Keep calm and geek on, Little Stewart.
Q: What would be the title of your memoir?
A: “BRB, Larping: A memoir.”
Need daily, quippy bursts of Stewart? Follow her on Twitter @darlingstewie!
Emma Bauer is a Being Geek Chic Contributor. Clearly, she’s got great taste. She is a PR enthusiast, history scholar, tea drinker, fashion devotee, and of course, aspires to Be Geek Chic.
Follow her on twitter: @emmalynnbauer
Did you notice that many of the Oscar Nominated Animated shorts this year are about relationships? New love. Old love. Companionship. Seems like a fitting week to be thinking about those kinds of things. Here a few if you haven’t seen them:
I’m also so very, very thankful for all the nice readers who have taken the time to fill out the Being Geek Chic survey. No pressure, but if you haven’t done so yet, I’d appreciate it if you could take a minute and tell us why you love to read this site or hate to read it. In that cause, you must love to torture yourself with dorky quips.
Can we talk about building community for a second? It’s freaking hard, but hot damn, when you find your army - it’s rewarding. I’ve been doing this blog for nearly 3 years and before that I had another satire blog I ran for about 2 years and it’s the thing that I find so difficult. There’s alot of other really great lady bloggers out there on the internets and if you aren’t reading their blogs, I recommend them. It’s like a dose of joy for me each week and I’m especially happy these ladies are around:
That’s five. I’m only scratching the surface with this short, short list. Tell us about your blog in the comments. How can I know if I like it if I have never visited? Brag about yourself for a minute. I give you permission.
Do something crazy this weekend. Get a tattoo. Have a fruit cocktail. Spend the entire day in your PJs playing Professor Layton. Whatevs. Just enjoy yourself.
My scribblings can be found on the Internets:
Easy DIY: Cord Coordination
Before & After: An IKEA Bracket Turned Wall Sconce
Yum! Edible Spoons
