Our special guest on this episode is Ashley. Ashley Maria is a Filmmaker living in Los Angeles and she makes movies for a living. She is making a documentary called Pioneers in Skirts. It has been her passion project and full-time project for the last few years. Outside of this project, you can find Ashley working on set, teaching others and working on her next narrative. She is always looking for other stories that she wants to tell. About Pioneers In Skirts The documentary, Pioneers In Skirts, started 5 years ago after Ashley started her career in film. She saw that the potential for her career as a director in Hollywood was not very good. She came to the realisation that less than 4% of the studio directors in Hollywood were women. The percentage of women who are producers, cinematographers and sound people is slightly higher. "I don't see how I can really play a role in this if I'm not going to get opportunities because it looks like my other colleagues aren't getting opportunities either." This was Ashley's conclusion after evaluating the culture at the time. She started thinking that after many years of film school this is not for her. Luckily, she has a Mother who knew that film was Ashley's passion since the age of 4. Her Mother told her that there is something going on. something deeper. You see Ashely's Mother faced the very same challenges when she started her career many years ago. For 5 years she decided to work towards finding a solution. The conversation in the culture of male-dominated professions at the time was that women needed to work harder to succeed. Internally, Ashley knew she was working really hard but she did not get the expected return on her investment of hard work. As a result, the film grew from just being advice to women entering male-dominated professions. The film now addresses culture, especially the American culture that is preventing women from really succeeding in their chosen careers. The Authenticity of Pioneers In Skirts Ashley proposes that this is a genuine and authentic story of what's going on in women's careers right now. The film investigates what we can do in terms of strategy and solution to give women the chance they deserve. As a society, we talk about what is going on internally and externally. Young women coming out of college are often stunned by what's going on in terms of the biases and sexism but they don't realise that this is happening. They get into their careers with the same or higher level of ambition and potential as their male counterparts and it only takes 2 years for their ambition to plummet by 60%. These young women look at their careers and potentials and they think that maybe it is not as good as they expected or dreamed. This is the backbone behind the film Pioneers In Skirts. It is reclaiming those dreams and careers with tangible advice. Giving them steps to take and true stories about what happened to other women and what to do to address the biases. Ashley's own story is in the film. What Do You Enjoy Most About Your Career? She loves telling stories and working with her crew especially on the passion project. Pioneers In Skirts is an independent film. This means that they have a small and very limited budget but it also means that they get to control the trajectory of the project. Ashley works hard with a team that believes in the topic. So they help elevate the project to a quality similar to high budget movies that you can find in Theatres. This means you'll get a mix of great mix of great quality together with a ground roots type o...
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