The narrative project was about how well we could become story tellers and tell a narrative driven story. Through this project I created my first short film with no dialog and learned the a ton about making movies and editing them. I quickly became a master at rotoscoping in Adobe After Effects due to what my narrative required.
Lyrical Essay
You are a Stanford graduate. It took a lot of hard work to get where you are. But you are still having to prove yourself every day that you are capable of doing a good job.
You work for a tech company dominated by males. You are content with where you are because you have three women on your team who are amazing, but the steady rock that you stand on doesn’t shield you from the stormy weather. You see what goes on around you in the tech bro office that you are a part of. Men inviting other men to meetings – but not inviting you. Men in a majority of leadership positions – but not you. Men getting promoted – but not you. Men have the power.
You apply for a new position in your company and you know that you may be a little under qualified, but not by much. You want a chance. You want to get an interview. Even if you fail you want to make sure you tried. You go in with your resume and talk with someone who says you will be given a chance.
You weren’t given a chance. Not even an interview.
A man got the job.
Not even given a chance or an interview.
The worst part was that the position would have been reporting to a Senior Vice President in Human Resources. Someone who is active in the Inclusion & Diversity work happening in your company. Someone who is supposed to be helping by giving you a chance. Giving all women a chance.
Now you have to go home and tell your daughter that work was fine. You tell her that she can be anything. That she will have just as good of a chance at any job she wants as any other person. You believe that to be true, even if your current situation is different. You have to believe it will be different some day. Otherwise, hopelessness will take over. It hurts you to lie.
Your friends working in engineering tell you that they aren’t getting a chance either. The projects that will give them the experience and knowledge they would need to advance their careers are aren’t being given to them. Women aren’t advancing. Women are leaving. Dropping out of the workforce; dropping out of high tech jobs.
And after years of working. Going to conferences and presentations talking about the inclusion of women in tech. Little has changed. The chances still aren’t being given to women who deserve it. Women are stuck in miles of traffic while men speed through the carpool lane.
But doing nothing won’t change anything. So you continue to work for a better tomorrow. Work to make things different for your daughter who has not yet started her career. You hope that one day there will be true equality. And you are going to fight until that day.
