Overlook These Women At Your Peril
…because I will hurt you. Just kidding. But if you do, it will hurt me because they are awesome. This is an excerpt from an interview I did with Gelf Magazine for tonight’s “OVERLOOKED: Women In Media” panel. It namedrops a skinny little slice of women that I find awesome. If you’re in the ‘hood tonight (that ‘hood being DUMBO), please come! Guys: It’ll be an awesome place to meet chicks.
Who are some of the most under-appreciated women in media today?
Oh God put me on the spot. Okay well let’s start with Jen Bekman - who is not only fierce as hell, she OWNS this territory: A few years ago she hit the roof when Tokion announced a huge conference lineup with not a single woman. She put out the call for qualified women that could add to any panel on pretty much any subject - and got the most massive power list imaginable. So I bow before her dominance in this area.
That said…I don’t just talk the talk, I walk the walk - allow me to refer you to this Charitini post of mine from March 25th! In it I list some fabulous women who are awesome, like Lindsay Robertson (late of Videogum), Rachelle Hruska (at the time I wrote it, you could call her “overlooked” as a killer founder and a rockin’ powerhouse - not anymore, Ms. NYT profile CNBC go-to Cosmo Fashion Week supastar!), Jenna Wortham from NYT Tech/Media (hardly “overlooked” but considering how the giant shadow of David Pogue could blot out the sun, well, you decide). Other than that, I dunno, lemme namedrop: Rachel Syme from the Daily Beast? Alisa Leonard-Hansen from iCrossing, whose thinking on social media is so advanced it makes my head hurt? Ellie Rowntree from Rocketboom? Nichelle Stephens and Rachel Kramer Bussel, who built this powerhouse CUPCAKE blog that totally dominates (try googling “cupcakes”), yet are constantly impressing me for their prolific-ness (prolificity?) across a huge whole other spectrum of media? Verena von Pfetten, former HuffPo Living editor (and Canadian!), now Senior Lifestyle Editor at Air America? Natasha Vargas Cooper, who does amazing stuff at the Awl and disappeared way too soon from Gawker (like all women!)? I’m running down my mental RSS and it is packed. Stephanie Smith, Irin Carmon, Jessica Coen, Jessica Pressler, Rebecca Traister, Rebecca Dana, Rebecca Fox, Emily Nussbaum, Maureen Tkacik, Maggie Shnayerson, Doree Shafrir, Melissa Lafsky, Keli Goff, Meghan Keane, Corynne Steindler? (Update: Jessica Amason, Rachel Sterne, Amanda Dobbins…! Sheelah Kolhatkar!) It’s also packed with up-and-comers that I can’t wait to watch emerge, like Ruthie Friedlander and Katie Baker and Jessica Gold Haralson and Regina Nigro. I’m psyched.
Do you think that this under-appreciation is a remnant of blatant sexism from a past generation that will die out in time, or a chronic sentiment likely to continue?
It’s already dying out. This panel is about hastening that process.
