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.
Friends, life has been crazy exciting recently. Between celebrating new wins with our business and enjoying the very first days of summer, I am proud to say that I’m involved in a lot of amazing and inspiring stuff over the next few months.
And wouldn’t it just be delightful if you were part of that? Or we could meet? I would love that. One of my favorite things in life is meeting my internet friends IRL. (I mean, one of my best friends is someone I met on Twitter!)
Here’s where you can find me and my film this summer:
Thursday, June 9
Victoriana Showing with Q+A at the Sie Film Center
Denver, Colorado
Tuesday, June 14
Networking at The United State of Women Summit
Washington, D.C.
Thursday, June 16
Victoriana Showing on Facebook Live
(Followers of the Being Geek Chic page only - so go “Like” if you don’t already!)
From Minneapolis, Minnesota
Thursday, June 16
Showing at EFP Denver at the Bug Theater
Denver, Colorado
Saturday, June 25
Victoriana Showing for Private Audiences
Online
*If you wish to take part in this online screening - please email [email protected]
Wednesday, June 29
Speaking at 1 Million Cups
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Thursday, June 30
Speaking at Ignite Denver
Denver, Colorado
July TBD
Victoriana Showing with MNWift
Minneapolis, Minnesota
September 15 - September 18
Showing Northstar Science Film Festival
St. Paul, Minnesota
This list will be updated in the coming weeks as more things become confirmed, but please reach out on Twitter if you’re around for any of it. As always, tweeting @lizgiorgi
And thank you for dealing with a little bit of shameless self-promotion today.
Since I was a little girl, I’ve been told I was bossy. By teachers. By family members. By fellow kids. And you know what: I knew it was a negative thing. It wasn’t a mystery. People don’t say: “you’re bossy” with a smile on their face. They say it with disdain. They say it as a criticism. They say it because you aren’t behaving the way they expect or want you to behave.
For a long time, I shirked from the word. In fact, all those words above… those are all words that have been said about me in performance reviews at various jobs. And you know, I used to feel really badly about that. The thing is: perception is not reality. We all come to our work and our lives with a point of view and approach that is all our own. Some is nature. Some is nurture. But no matter how much you nurture me, I’m never going to be a quiet person. I’m never going to be a sensitive person. And that’s not a bad thing! On the flip, being quiet and sensitive isn’t either. It’s just part of what gives us the skills to do what we are best doing in the world. It is what equips us to contribute to society.
Which is why I recently started to embrace the word, bossy. Ask Webster’s what a boss is and the meaning is clear:
boss – bôs,bäs
Noun: person in charge of a worker or organization. a person in control of a group or an organization.
Adjective: excellent; outstanding.
Bossy has a bad wrap. And you know what? I am those things. When Sheryl Sandberg broke the world with the introduction of Lean In and the idea of #BanBossy - suddenly - we shed light and opened a whole new conversation in our culture on the negative nature of the word. On a basic factual level, Sandberg is right in her observation: “We call our little girls bossy. Go to a playground; little girls get called bossy all the time - a word that’s almost never used for boys - and that leads directly to the problems women face in the workforce.”
Her notion is that if we ban the word, we will start to recognize the leadership qualities in little girls earlier on. And I hope she’s right. However, I’m always in favor of a little rethinking and redefinition. I think instead of banning the word, perhaps we should own it. Maybe we need to #EmbraceBossy
Just look at all these amazing women who have been told they were bossy:
“Am I bossy? Absolutely. I don’t like to lose, and if I’m told ‘no,’ then I find another way to get my 'yes.’“ - Naomi Campbell
“I’m not bossy. I’m the boss.” - Beyonce
“Don’t waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions; go over, under, through, and opinions will change organically when you’re the boss. Or they won’t. Who cares? Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.” - Tina Fey
“I’ll be bossy and damn proud! Banning words, please. Try banning the system that produces polices that promote inequity.” - Rosa Clemente
“I was an optimistic person; really bossy, gregarious and outspoken. ” - Mamie Gummer
“I just love bossy women. I could be around them all day. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody’s passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn’t mind leading.” - Amy Poehler
And that’s a short list of those that were brave enough to talk about it. There are many, many more, I’m sure who have risen to power in politics and business and entertainment who have been called bossy behind their backs and to their faces. It’s just that simple.
I’m ready to #EmbraceBossy. How about you?
I’m a female CEO. In production. That caters to tech companies. This intersection of tech + production means I’m rare. Add the fact that I’m the boss onto all this and I’m like a pigeon with peacock tails. As a result, I hear a lot of weird shit. Weird shit I don’t want to hear anymore. So I thought I’d helpfully create a list.
1. Are you the Founder?
*This is almost always after I have introduced myself to them as, “Hi, I’m Liz, the founder of Mighteor.” I don’t know how to make it more clear that I am, in fact, the founder of my company.
2. Do you want to have a family?
*Most humans do. Did you ask the male founder over there that question?
3. Do you have men on your team?
*Yes. Of course I do. I also have women.
4. Do you have a technical counterpart?
*I operate cameras and edit and animate. I am technical. What is the counterpart to that? Production is a technical thing.
5. So is this a female empowerment thing?
*Seriously?
6. Are you the makeup artist?
*Fun fact: I know just as many male makeup artists as female makeup artists. They are are tremendously talented at their job. Their gender has nothing to do with it.
7. Oh no, you’re the hairdresser?
*See above. Same thing applies.
8. Do you want to get someone who can help me with this shot?
*I am the director. I approve shots. I will help you with the shot.
9. When will you have a family?
*See number 2.
10. How long do you want to do this startup thing?
*This one almost always comes on the tails of questions 2 or 9. I assume it’s because people think I will quit when I want to have a family.
That’s just my very quick list of things I’ve been asked in the last 6 months. I’d be curious to know if other women out there can add onto the list. I think we should. Consider this our PSA: things you don’t need to say to women in tech. Or production. Or tech production! Or in entrepreneurship!
Some people have asked why this is even a thing: It’s a thing because this is coded language. In the strictest sense: when you look at it as a series of words and punctuation, it doesn’t read as any kind of sexist or inflammatory language. But when taken in context with the larger questions at hand, it becomes clear that I’m being asked these questions BECAUSE I am a woman.
Together, we can make the world a little less ignorant.
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.
Girls don’t like science. AHEM.
Girls don’t want to be scientists. COUGH.
Boys don’t want to play with or as girls. BARF.
True Fact Time: LEGO’s Research Institute set, you know, the one with all the female scientists being rad, came out last Friday and as of this morning - It’s TOTALLY SOLD OUT.
This is a True Fact, despite:
1. LEGO instituting a one per household purchase limit.
2. LEGO releasing a second set from LEGO ideas - the Exo Suit (not something they often do) in a very similar price range. In all fairness, the ExoSuit did come with one male and one female minifigure.
3. Guardians of the Galaxy destroying at the box office at the same time as their new LEGO sets were released.
There are moments when I am just so damn tired of talking about this problem. This huge disconnect between reality and media/corporate speak about what girls like, are interested in, want, etc. And I know I’m not alone on this. It can be exceedingly tedious to live your life a certain way and be told repeatedly by media (hi Marvel!), corporations (hi LEGO circa 2012!) and talking heads (hi every damn dude in Hollywood!) that your way of life, your way of viewing the world, your interests are not actually your own. That, in fact, they belong to one gender.
And so when something like this happens, it gives me hope. Because ultimately, the world (and specifically our media and our corporate culture) responds to money. And clearly, so many of us went out and expressed ourselves with our cash this weekend. Go us. And yes, I got mine and I can’t wait to build it.
