“Never make fun of the geeks, one day they will be your boss.”
There was a time where being called a ‘geek’ was seen to be derogatory but what was once an insult has in time evolved into a new definition, one to be embraced. The stereotype of a geek is usually a male with a tight buttoned up shirt, glasses cello taped in the middle frame due to being broken by a bully and a comic book lunch box full of food free from nuts. Every now and then a collective of committed individuals make it their personal mission to smash through the stereotypes and this quite nicely gets us on to Chelsea and Rebecca and their project; ‘Liverpool Girl Geeks’, who are abolishing pre-disposed images in style. So what is Liverpool Girl Geeks we hear you ask? Liverpool Girl Geeks mission is to gather a community of ladies of all generations in Liverpool engaged with and inspired by Technology, Gaming, Design, Programming and Digital. You’ve heard of Orange, you’ve heard of Blackberry and you’ve definitely heard of Apple, Liverpool Girl Geeks is a fun way to get your five a day.
Chelsea was mid-way through a masters degree in Social Media where she was given the task to build a community. We swear tasks have gotten a lot harder in University, we just had to now and then turn up back in our day and make sure our colouring in was well within the lines. After being inspired by a Manchester & Birmingham version of the girl geeks, Chelsea was well on her way to creating her little utopia. She is currently a digital marketing manager for the formidable app developing company; Apposing, located in The buzzing Baltic Triangle, who recently won the esteemed title of ‘Digital Business of the Year award’ and clients casually include BBC, Land Rover and Channel 4. It can be agreed that Chelsea knows her stuff and she is firmly in the market where it is all happening. Whilst marketing for the Studio School she noticed a trend that they were failing to attract females to their school and further research and interviews with women in the tech and digital sector only made her realise the extent of the problem. The market was saturated with males and out of the apathy she instantly felt, a dream was born where she was at the forefront of inspiring young ladies to have careers in these kind of markets. She wanted change, and not only to make the market more equal, she wanted to bolster our current economy whilst consequently strengthening it for the future. Hearing that Chelsea did all this with a friend adds a more personal and heart warming touch to events. Rebecca, initially from Northampton, came to Liverpool in 2007 to study English Literature at the University of Liverpool. After a Masters in Victorian Literature later she joined the world of work in 2011 for the North Liverpool Academy, firstly working in the Enterprise team and secondly in Marketing and Events. She proudly co-created Liverpool Girls Geeks in 2013, taking inspiration from the Manchester Girl Geeks movement to provide women of all ages the opportunity to meet to talk all things tech. Liverpool are often disregarded when it comes to the world of ‘tech’ but we are well aware of a few emerging companies that are leaving their footprint in many places and aim to put Liverpool on the map in the process.
With Liverpool Girl Geeks strong tech and gaming pedigree, they recognise that the women of Liverpool are in need of an events like this – offering inspiration, support, guidance and feedback. They have a diverse range of events and the next one on the 15th July is focusing on wearable and Fashion technologies, based in The Studio School on Greenland St. The event will be a ‘bring and brag’ type of event, where companies will showcase their work, projects and products in their own stand. Girls can then go around the stands asking questions and seeing their projects in the flesh. There will be keynote speakers and a networking event as well as refreshments during the evening. Chelsea and Rebecca hope by the theme they’re setting that ladies of all ages will attend and be inspired by future technology. Being interested in fashion doesn’t mean you have to be a designer and stick pins in dresses all day, you can be one in the form of apps, blogs and website building.
Liverpool, prepare to hear a lot from the girl geeks over the next few months as they have some exciting projects coming up. If you’re a female in the Liverpool area get in touch and you have our full consent getting your geek on. We are currently in the process of campaigning for someone to make a male-orientated version called: ‘Liverpool Lad Geeks’. We imagine there’d be a disco at some point where both parties met up and where segregated by gender and a table of sorry looking sandwiches whilst Steve Jobs quotes echo from the speakers. Could be worse, we could be a nerd.
Follow them on twitter , check out the website and get involved in their future events.