Im Rahmen des DIY-Festivals Fake it… till you make it wurde am 14. Mai das internationale Frauennetzwerk für Kreative Berufe SheSays auch in Österreich gelaunched. Die “Mother Superior” (Eigendefintion) Laura Jordan Bambach (UK) war zu Gast in Wien und stand für ein kleines Interview zur Verfügung, das hier v. a. dazu dient die Basics von SheSays aus erster Hand erklärt zu bekommen.

Why did you start SheSays?
Ale and I were both in charge of hiring designers/creatives in our agencies at a really busy time, and started discussing the fact that we weren’t seeing any CVs from women coming through the door. We thought than rather than just lament about it, we should try to change things.

What are you trying to accomplish?
To increase the flow of women entering digital creative industries, to provide mentoring, advice and networking opportunities, to raise the profile of senior women and in so doing provide female role-models in the industry, and to celebrate the hidden talent of women already in the business (we have our annual Golden Stiletto Awards)!

As I understand you regard yourselves as digital creatives? Do you draw a line between advertising and communication (media agnostic) in general?
One has to draw a line somewhere to talk to people in an authentic way. Of course these issues are present in the broader industry as well, but digital is what we know, and it has its own set of problems to overcome (in terms of the tech stuff) that we wanted to be able to speak about. To open it up further means that we can’t be as focused on our discussions and events. This of course changes per country and city.

In which countries can we find SheSays?
US (LA, NYC and SF just about to start)
UK (London)
Australia (Starting towards the end of this year we hope, once our contact’s twins get a little older)
Austria (Vienna)
Plus we have a connection with She Creatives, a sister network in Sweden.

How did you get in touch with SheSays Austria?
They got in touch with me! Theresa and Sweet Susie approached.

How often do you meet and how do you communicate within the network?
Once a month. Plus our mentoring scheme “Who’s Your Momma”, where we pair people up to meet as much as they need to, on a one-to-one basis.
We’re in the process of launching a new site which is much more community-minded. At the moment is mostly through email lists, but also Facebook, Twitter, and we’ve been playing with a Ning site too.

How do you communicate to the outside world?
Email, Social networks, through our sites and through promotions at other industry events. By making content and virals and generally bouncing around a lot and giving the industry a bit of a stir…

Is there a point in time when SheSays might become obsolete?
We’d like to think there’d be a time when we could open up and be more inclusive, but wouldn’t it be great if something that started out as a women’s network actually became a leading digital creative network one day? Still lots to do at the moment, and things are changing slowly.

Laura Jordan Bambach is Executive Creative Director at LBi London, and founder of the She Says network. She built her first website in 1994, and has been working at the innovative end of digital ever since. She blogs at optimistprime.wordpress.com, and you can follow her on Twitter @laurajaybee.

Die österreichische Ablegerin von SheSays ist unter siesagt.org (und via Facebook) zu erreichen.