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.
We live in the era of glamorized startup life. More young people idealize Silicon Valley than Hollywood at this point and with good reason. That’s where all the happening happenings are happening. Or at least, that’s what we think. For women, there’s also a lot of sexism and harassment happening.
This infographic gives a quick and simple checklist, but let me elaborate for a moment if I can. If you are about to dive into the world of startups in any city on the globe, there are some things you should do to ensure you are walking into a positive and healthy working environment:
1. Do Your Research: What happens inside the walls of a company and what the world hears isn’t nearly as protected anymore as people might think. There are so many ways to research a company, but I suggest the following: do a Google News search to get a sense of the kind of media they pursue. See how reporters, who are supposed to be third party eyes, are viewing the company.
Get on social media and see what the top execs use their Twitter feeds for. If you can find your boss, even better. See if they say positive things or ever engage in pettiness online.
Reach out to former employees who have similar backgrounds to yours and ask for their honest and candid assessment. Some people may decline, but it’s worth the effort if you find someone who is transparent.
2. Ask Questions: When you go into your interview, keep in mind that you have the right to interview them as well. Ask if you can see their company handbook. Ask about HR reporting policies. Be very specific about finding out what low level employees have to say about their work. Ask if you can talk with some of their employees.
If they are too small to have many of these things thought through, which is often a reality in startups, that’s OK. Don’t be worried. Instead, pursue their thoughts on future plans to ensure that they create a productive working environment for every employee. The more open they are, the better.
3. Be Honest: There’s a reason why you are asking all these questions: There is a reputation in tech that isn’t so great. By being forthright about that, you are revealing that you care not just about yourself, but the larger cultural problem.
People often accuse me of asking too many questions. I think it’s because they don’t know why I’m asking them, so when I sense awkwardness about it, I qualify the question. In this case, I would say:
“Tech startups don’t have the best reputation for treating women and people of color fairly. Do you consider this when building your teams? And if you do, what is your vision for creating an inclusive environment for all?”
4. Identify a Mentor: People often wait to be introduced to a mentor. Instead of waiting, start thinking about it now. If you’re going to take on a startup job, you should find another woman working in a startup who you can turn to when you have questions or concerns.
Remember, people don’t have all the time in the world to be a mentor, so be flexible and creative! Offer to help them with something! Send thank you cards! Be helpful so they want to help you.
5. Be Brave: If you take this job, and you should if it’s the right environment, then you need to remember to be brave throughout your time working there. Whatever you do, don’t turn a blind eye to bad behavior. Face it head on and go through the proper channels to address it.
If you need help with that, you can find my story here. I promise it won’t be easy. I promise you will doubt yourself. You are not required to be a hero. You are just required to reveal the truth.
Finally, if you are having a hard time being brave, seek out help! There are so many amazing organizations out there, including Women Who Startup and local women’s Chambers of Commerce who offer companionship and support. It really is true that you can find strength in numbers.
Alright, so have you worked at a startup? What did you do to find the right fit?
Emojis can not replace the impact of the human voice. The other day I was telling a friend how I have somehow started equating unexpected phone calls with danger. How seeing certain names on my phone screen immediately causes me to think: Who is dead?
This is completely insane. And it’s because we have slowly degraded the importance of the phone call in our society. Communication has become attached to our fingertips and divorced from our voice. And as the people in my life who have relied on those phone calls have slowly left this world, I find myself talking on the phone with loved ones less and less.
Nielsen reports that 18-34 year olds in the United States are driving the decline of the dial. For the better part of the decade, the number of minutes we spend talking on the phone has decreased by double digit percentages every single year. And baby boomers are the only age demographic that have actually maintained their talk habits over the last few decades.
Maybe this is why we are all so damn stressed all the time? There have been countless occasions in my professional life where weirdly inarticulate or unclear emails got misinterpreted as anger or frustration or resentment. A face to face or phone conversation later always quickly revealed that the ambiguity and lost emotion of straight text caused the strife, not the content.
This isn’t easily fixable. I spend a lot of time on the road, which means I am just as guilty as anyone for sharing details of my life with friends, family, clients and colleagues through texts and emails. It’s easier. It’s faster. It’s multi-taskable and interruptible. And then there’s that whole, “who’s dead?” conundrum adding bizarre weight to the act of picking up the receiver and hitting call.
Truthfully, all I wanted to say in this post was: if you haven’t talked to someone you really love in a while, pick up the phone and call them. They may not answer. They may think an emergency just happened. They may not even remember what your voice sounds like. It doesn’t matter. Make a point to call someone you love. They probably miss hearing it.
I’m kind of a weirdo about managing cords. I hate having unorganized cables and nonsense because, frankly, it can also easily get lost or destroyed and replacing an Apple power cord is ridiculously expensive. And really, there is nothing inherently adorable about cord management… But there are definitely some great options out there if you’re willing to hunt and do a little DIY.
So my first tip is actually a shopping tip. But it’s a good one. Go check out the iCat and iMouse cord wraps/cases for Apple power cords. They come in a variety of sizes, but my favorite is easily the iCat for the MacBook power cord. They are less than $10 and while not the most durable of all the cases, they do make up for it in Happiness Making.
My second tip actually comes from my personal archives. One of the things that commonly happens to me is that I lose track of what cords are for, so I use Washi Tape
to label cords according to their devices. Washi tapes comes in so many cute patterns and colors, it would be a shame to miss out on the opportunity to make those cables at least 20% more fun as well. That tip can be found here, but yeah, it’s pretty damn straight forward.
My favorite cord trick of the year is easily this one: Use LEGO Minifigures
for holding cords in place. GAH! SOOOOOOO CUTE. Honestly, why didn’t anyone think of that sooner? I’m told it stretches the hands out slightly over long periods of time, but hot tip: you can buy replacement hands at the LEGO store or on eBay.
So what’s your cutest cord management trick ever?
I re-watched the Hunger Games last week after seeing the new trailer for Catching Fire and I have to admit that I haven’t given Suzanne Collins and her story much credit. After a few months of utterly bland movies at the box office, I was reminded that we are on the cusp of some really fantastic film. And Catching Fire is sure to be near the top of that list. So let’s celebrate with a freebie!
The astonishingly talented Natalie Willoughby sent me the sweetest email asking if she could create something for BGC readers and we agreed that Katniss was a kick-ass choice. I think you’ll agree that Natalie knocked it out of the arena, so to speak.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR NEW KATNISS WALLPAPER
If you love this wallpaper (and why wouldn’t you?) then you can follow Natalie on Twitter @spcebaby and on Tumblr at Leia Shot First. Go follow and say thank you for the great freebie!
What other tech freebies would you like to see around here?
I wanted to update you about crossing off some of the items on My Grand List of Geeky Goals. Trouble is… it’s not the super sexy stuff. Alas, still an accomplishment. And even the smallest of accomplishments should be celebrated. So what have I done?
7. Back up (and continue to back up) all my writing and photos
This turned out to be the biggest job I tackled over my holiday vacation. I just sat down, sucked up the cash and installed Google Drive on my computer. I actually really, really love it. So much so that I’ve stopped using Microsoft Word altogether.
Would I recommend it? Absolutely. And now I can sleep at night knowing that my Wizarding World of Harry Potter vacay photos and England photos and random puppy videos will never disappear.
19. Build a better portfolio site
If you’re going to get people excited about hiring you, you have to give them the goods. So now I’ve got lizgiorgi.com up and running to let people know what I do day to day.
I used Squarespace to build the site and yes, I highly recommend that service as well. Very affordable. The templates are easy to edit if you know how to code and even easier to use if you don’t. I’m not in love with the interface at all times, because I like to code the CSS and HTML and be able to preview things right away instead of reloading the window, but if you aren’t going to do that - then this may be even more ideal for you.
I’m 10% done with my list. Only 18 more things to go this year! Do you have a grand list of geeky goals?
