Alex Scott has long been a hero of mine. The number of barriers she’s smashed through in football, in media and in her life is remarkable. So you can imagine the sheer giddiness I felt when she came along to Laces to surprise the girls (one her day off which I might add, making her even more of a legend).
Thank you so much to the Female Lead for making this happen.
Over the past 6 months, Hackney Laces has been working with Sisterhood, a brilliant social enterprise that builds confidence in young women, and London Football Journeys, a charity that uses film and football to strengthen communities.
Through workshops and co-design sessions, Sisterhood has worked with the girls teaching them how to film and edit. And, empowering them to tell their stories as female footballers.
When I joined Nice and Serious, out of twenty people I was one of four women. It seemed strange to me that an agency that’s so values driven in their work would have such a gender imbalance. After speaking to the team about it, I was told that we get so many more male applicants than female. This is a reflection of the industry but it shouldn’t define the industry or be accepted. So, Nice and Equal was born as an experiment to understand what some of the underlying issues were and if there was anything we could do to fix this.
“We asked some kids to do some chores. And then paid the girls less than the boys. Just like in the real world”.
There are 146 numbers saved in my phone with the prefix ‘JAFC’ — Just Another Football Club. When I set up Hackney Laces 6 years ago, that’s what we were. A single club for girls in my borough. And now it’s morphed in to so much more.
Woman are underrepresented in the creative industry. Study upon study shows gaps in pay; job function; seniority …
I work at Nice and Serious. As a studio of 17 in London and 3 in New York, we have 6 women. 3 are in project management roles, 2 creatives and one in senior management. Whilst we are above industry average, we know there’s so much more to do. There’s also so much more we need to understand about the issue. Why aren’t we getting more job applications from women? How can we attract women to both us as an agency and the industry as a whole?
In this film, an older generation of women share their experiences of inequality and their hopes for future generations. Now, girls can do anything – even run for president of the USA.
Why is the future female? Because talent has no gender.
Huge thanks to U-dox for producing this and including me beside such inspiring women.
“I photographed Haiti’s strength — its women.” – Thibault Carron
Photographers Mikaël Theimer and Thibault Carron have taken some stunning portraits of women in Haiti as part of their Humans of Montréal project.
In addition to being a Pentagram partner, brilliant designer and all round inspiring person, with a huge heart, Marina willer also makes films. And her latest one is the the most personal story she’s ever told.