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.
I’m sorry this week is just one giant promotion fest for all the things the Mighteorites and I are working on. I promise, very soon, we will get back to the business of talking about entertainment, feminism, business and life and career. But for now, I need to promote one more thing. And if I’m being honest, I’m very excited about this thing.
Today I am introducing the Internet Video Masterclass. A new web show that my team and I have brought into the world to help give brands, businesses, nonprofits and everyone in between, the tools they need to make better internet video for any and all platforms.
You can watch all of the videos here on our website.
Or, better yet, you can Subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you get all the latest. If you like these, I’ve already written season 2. And Beyonce may or may not be the theme of one of the episodes.
This is what we do every day at Mighteor: we make great internet video and we come up with ways to get it seen. I would be kind of failing myself and the entire premise upon which my business was formed if I was not growing and continuing to expand the usefulness of video content. Many of the things we talk about in the series are topics that we regularly discuss with our clients in planning their video strategy, and while I’m nervous about giving away all our knowledge, I’m truly hopeful that it opens the doors of possibility for other big things in Mighteor’s future.
So here is how you can help me out this week. Share the series with your friends. Your professional contacts. Your Twitter feed. The more we get this out there, the happier I will be.
And yes, I am aware that I’m a total goober in these videos.
No. I don’t know how to be less of a goober.
On five separate occasions this year, people have asked me some variation of this question: How did you find your mentors?
And usually I stammer out some combination of: I met them through a job. Or through a recommendation from a boss. Or through a networking organization. But the truth is, really, how I met these people is that I put myself out there to meet them. And then, I really, really talked with them. It was like I was dating them. I courted them. I complimented them. I asked them to “be mine,” in a sense.
As one of my last professional acts of 2015, I was on Levi Weinhagen’s Pratfalls Podcast. It’s a wonderful show about the literal and metaphorical pratfalls of being a creative person living a personal life, which can come with relationships and children and parents and siblings and friendships. On the show, we talked about mentors and it strikes me that there are two kinds of mentors in my life. The ones that I’ve talked about above were a certain type of valuable relationship, but the ones I’ve been exploring more recently have a different kind of makeup. I call them, Mutual Mentorships.
It’s sort of like the concept of the squad, but blown up even bigger. It’s this notion that we can break down the structural expectations we have about what mentorship looks like (one person with all the knowledge comes in and provides someone else with knowledge) and expand it to be about a more collaborative exploration of everyone’s unique talents.
Mutual Mentorship says: No matter what your title, role, salary, bonus plan, career path, education - you have something to offer others professionally.
It’s funny, in all other areas of work and play and love and relationships - we stray away from the concept of top-down hierarchy because it’s largely considered ineffective at best and downright foolish at worst. It disincentives listening because it communicates that some people have more to offer than others. And it perpetuates traditional power structures by reinforcing the idea that you have to have a certain amount of it in order to be worthy of giving other people advice.
Deconstruct that idea and suddenly the available talent pool for “mentors” grows exponentially. People that have asked me to “mentor” them have often taught me just as many things about myself. Defining our relationship under traditional power dynamics limits what I can take away, which frankly, is a lot. It undermines mentors too, because it suggests that we don’t have the ability to expand into bigger roles or evolve our thinking even on topics which we are considered to be the “experts.” Perhaps challenging who can be a mentor would allow us all to broaden its value.
Now back to the question of finding mentors. I suspect the reasons this question comes up is because many a person is looking to improve their network in 2016. New Year’s has that effect of making people want to be more goal-oriented. And finding those powerful mentors is important and can change your life. But don’t let that be the only network you build this year.
Consider investing just as much time and effort building a mutual mentorship society in the circles you already live and work in. Invite former colleagues. People you’ve hired. Vendors you’ve collaborated with. Friends who you admire professionally. Old professors. Your yoga instructor. The diversity of the group will help to establish a powerful sense of “We” - and what the “We” can offer one another is beautiful.
Alicia Gibb is an artist, an engineer, a rule breaker and a hardware hacker. She’s also the founder of Lunchbox Electronics, a company that creates innovative and playful products with imagination and a hardcore passion for open source hardware. It’s R&D plus art and a healthy dose of geekiness.
And get this: Gibb created Build Upons—LEGO-compatible, light-up bricks. Put us on that pre-order list asap.
In the meantime, check out this stellar lady geek’s Q&A with us!
Q: What was your inspiration for launching Lunchbox Electronics?
A: I decided to start a company to fund my R&D habits and enable me to mass manufacture products. Lunchbox Electronics is an R&D Lab inspired by art and engineering—my two backgrounds. I mostly just wanted to invent things, sometimes artsy, sometimes engineery, and sometimes just plain silly. Having my own company seemed to be the easiest way to accomplish that.
Q: What’s your current favorite Lunchbox Electronics toy?
A: My favorite toy that we manufacture would be our Stop and Go Soldering Kit. It’s a DIY soldering kit that you can keep playing with by integrating it into your existing LEGO sets once you build it.
My favorite “toy” as in favorite piece of equipment at Lunchbox Electronics is definitely the Lulzbot 3D printer.
Q: When did you discover you were “geeky”?
A: When I was 5, I dressed up as an engineer for Halloween, when I was 6 I went as a robot. I think I knew at a pretty early age.
Q: If you could take any fictional character out for a drink, whom would you choose and what would you drink?
A: I would take out a minion for a job interview, because I have a lot of manufacturing to do! I would probably order a banana shake for solidarity since minions are into that whole banana thing.
Q: What would you tell your 13-year-old self?
A: I would tell my 13-year-old self not to get deterred by a few bad apples out there and trust my gut to go into science - but if I had done that, I might have been too busy being a research scientist at NASA to start my own R&D company. So I guess I would just tell my 13-year-old self that she is awesome!
Emma Bauer is a Being Geek Chic Contributor. Clearly, she’s got great taste. She is a PR enthusiast, dog lover, tea drinker, art appreciator, and of course, aspires to Be Geek Chic. Follow her on Twitter: @emmalynnbauer
Lady Geek of the Week Christina Clawson’s Geekyloot.com fuels our most nerdy shopping habits. And we love her for it.
As you can read in her interview with us, she launched Geekyloot.com, a blog and online shop, out of a passion to contribute to geeky culture with a feminine focus. Geekyloot.com is in its early stages, so if you have opinions, thoughts, or would like to share your geeky shopping wish list, get in touch with Clawson! You can find her on Twitter @geeky_loot or Facebook.
Read on; shop on, lady geeks! Because you know that Baymax keychain is already in our shopping cart…
Q: What was your inspiration for launching Geekyloot.com?
A: My inspiration came a few years ago when I was looking for geeky items on some popular websites and dismayed by the lack of items that were created for women and girls. It seemed like geek culture catered more to men, and as a geeky girl that disturbed me. I made a vow that when I was able to I’d found a store that catered specifically to other geeky girls and I do my best to curate and offer items that celebrate the women that inspire me, and the woman that I am. Everything I buy or put on my site is something that I would want if I saw it at another shop. The more that geek culture grows, the more widespread it becomes, and it is my hope that stores and websites will offer just as much female merchandise as they do male.
Q: When did you discover you were “geeky”?
A: At a very young age I was made fun of by my siblings and my peers at school because I’d rather sit and read a book or comic than play a sport (although I later played sports, also). I enjoyed things like Star Trek and Star Wars, science experiments, collecting rocks, and creating art. I loved to dress up as my favorite characters and act out scenes from my favorite TV shows. I was invested in the things I loved, and in our society that illustrates being labeled as geeky. I’m proud to be geeky.
Q: If you could take any fictional character out for a drink, whom would you choose and what would you drink?
A: What a difficult question this is! If I had to choose, I would pick Xena from Xena Warrior Princess. She is one of the strongest women I’ve ever seen on TV. She has had an incredible life, and faced daunting adversity from so many angles and yet managed to overcome every situation using her mind, her body, and her formidable skills. Her story is one of redemption and I find that inspirational. She is the embodiment of girl power and is loyal to her friends. I know I’d hear amazing stories if we shared a cask of temple wine!
Q: What would you tell your 13-year-old self?
A: I’d tell her to be courageous, to study hard but to learn about things outside of school because life itself is a great teacher. I’d tell her to follow her true passion, and not just what other people want her to do. I’d also tell her to wait on dating because its not as important as she thinks it is. Also, to love herself and to keep playing tennis.
Q: What’s the title of your memoir?
A: Overcoming Adversity: Beating Fibromyalgia One Day At A Time
Emma Bauer is a Being Geek Chic Contributor. Clearly, she’s got great taste. She is a PR enthusiast, dog lover, tea drinker, art appreciator, and of course, aspires to Be Geek Chic. Follow her on Twitter: @emmalynnbauer
Kina McAllister is a scientist (currently at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center—a lab researching gene therapies), entrepreneur, and empowerer. Her mission? Even the playing field for women in STEM careers. Her strategy? Champion girls to discover the engaging and awe-inspiring aspects of STEM in their own way, on their own terms.
McAllister is the creator of StemBox, a monthly subscription science box for girls. Every month, girls receive a box that activates a STEM topic in a unique and hands-on way. Each box contains the necessary equipment and tools for the experiment or activity, as well as a link to corresponding videos featuring explanations from a real female role model working in the field.
Pretty amazing, right? But here’s the thing: McAllister needs some help to make StemBox a full blown reality. Help a fellow lady geek out on Kickstarter, and feel good about your role in empowering girls through STEM.
And read on for our interview with McAllister, which includes a darling story about a 10-year-old girl single-headedly saving the Yucca Mountain…
Q: How did you discover your passion for empowering girls through STEM?
A: I’ve always loved science, probably since I was 5 or 6 when my folks bought me a cool microscope for Christmas. There’s something so satisfying and empowering about tinkering, experimenting, and problem solving to get things done and learn about them. I followed my passion for science throughout my education all the way to college. During that time I had interactions with people who held onto preconceived notions of what a scientist should act and look like and those same people never failed to point out that I was not what they considered a scientist to be since I clearly don’t fit that stereotype they had.
At times I felt so insecure about myself and my career that I didn’t think anyone would take me seriously and that I was just wasting my time. But then I thought back to all the moments in my life where science had brought me so much joy and purpose and I knew I was doing the right thing with my life. The emotional connection to STEM I had created at such a young age and the support I had from those close to me are what kept me in the field and I realized that not all girls have that in their lives.
About two years ago, a
friend who I had relayed this story to invited me to give a 5 minute Ignite
talk which forced me to really focus and narrow down my experiences into a
concise message, which was a huge help in figuring out what I wanted to do to
make my experience something that could help young girls. It was after that
talk that the idea of StemBox was conceived and from there it just felt natural
to continue my message on through this project.
Q: What do you hope to accomplish through StemBox?
A: I would honestly consider this project a success if just one girl who had StemBox growing up found me later in her life and said “Stembox is what made me interested in science, and gave me the courage to stay in the field."
It is so scary being a minority in anything, let alone a woman in STEM where sometimes people don’t even know where your gender’s bathroom is! I want StemBox to give girls a tactile and emotional connection to science. I want girls to get their hands on these experiments, try the protocol if they want, but then go nuts with it and see what other questions they come up with and to test them! These boxes aren’t meant to test girls on their intellectual abilities, though we offer resources to girls wanting to learn more. So many kids have such a negative reaction to STEM in school and tend to avoid it as much as possible. StemBox removes the pressure and gives kids the freedom to play with science and explore. I want those happy and exciting moments of discovery with StemBox to fuel girls to keep going when the going gets tough in their high school chemistry classes, the time they are the only girl in the room, and when they think they don’t belong in STEM because they don’t have any female role models in the field to look up to.
Q: Most gratifying moment thus far as the creator of StemBox?
A: It would probably be the moment the girls in our prototype workshop were at the point in the DNA Extraction protocol where they were precipitating out DNA. It’s that "aha!” moment for them when the can actually see what DNA is and it’s something they’ve done all on their own. The pride and excitement on all of their faces is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget. That moment, is what StemBox is all about.
Q: When did you discover you were “geeky”?
A: The moment my mom hid my petition to keep nuclear waste out of Yucca Mountain from me because I took it with me EVERYWHERE and asked EVERYONE to sign it. I was this 10 year old on a kick to save this mountain and even had a dedicated table at recess to get other 9 and 10 year olds to sign it. Eventually she gave it back when she realized her mistake, but I get it. Haha, I can’t believe she didn’t take it sooner, I would harass complete strangers at my sister’s soccer games about it.
Q: What would you tell your 13-year-old self?
A: On a social note: Don’t worry about the really embarrassing stuff you did in school. They make for REALLY good party stories down the road when you’re an adult.
On an academic note: There is SO much more to science than academia. There are tons of career choices that require creativity and originality. Keep playing around with stuff and exploring your talents!
Emma Bauer is a Being Geek Chic Contributor. Clearly, she’s got great taste. She is a PR enthusiast, dog lover, tea drinker, art appreciator, and of course, aspires to Be Geek Chic. Follow her on Twitter: @emmalynnbauer
