Do you feel like there's potential there to sort of,
I don't know, foster better female relationships
even with each other or am I overreaching a little bit?
I tend to do that sometimes.
No, you're not overreaching at all.
Actually, that's been our goal from the beginning.
I not only wanted to develop a merchandise line
for female sci-fi fans,
but it's been very important for me from the beginning
to develop a community for female fans.
And that's why on our website, you'll see we have our blog,
we have our Facebook page, Twitter page,
YouTube page, Twitter page,
and then we also, a couple of marks in,
we designed our message boards to create a community.
And actually what's happened,
and I met a couple of the gals this weekend,
there were several younger fans
that were kind of, what's the word I'm looking for, sorry.
They didn't talk about their love of Star Wars
or they didn't know any of the other females
that like Star Wars in their school
or in their church groups or whatever.
They thought they were alone.
And because of these message boards, it connected them
and now there's a whole group of young fans
that have now connected purely because of her universe.
And they literally talk every day.
They even have a name for their group
and they've become really great friends.
They're setting meetups and that just warms my heart
because that's something that's been a goal of mine
from the very beginning,
is to let these girls be proud of what they like
and be open about it and not just shy away from it
because people say Star Wars is for boys.
So I'm really excited about that
and I definitely think we could do more.
It's something that we have a major stereotype
to break down and I feel like we've just touched
the tip of the iceberg.
I love that you mentioned the breakdown
of major stereotypes.
My next question for you is,
what do you think the common misconceptions
about female Star Wars fans are?
I know that I experienced a lot of them.
I'm older, you know, I'm almost 30
and the biggest miss, really, okay, August 30th.
On the 30th, mine's September 22nd.
We're like practically the same age.
That is so crazy, wow.
Yeah, cool.
I guess I'm used to because of some of the stuff
that I cover and my life as a journalist,
you know, I'm always doing like Star Wars, Star Trek,
any kind of conventions.
Sometimes people are like, oh, you're almost 30
and you're still doing this,
which is kind of another one of the misconceptions,
which is there are all these older male fans,
but for some reason people tend to be surprised
when they find out who I am
and what I do in my age specifically.
So do you run into, I mean, you must hear stories
all the time from your fans
or people who visit her universe.
What do you think some of the common misconceptions
about female Star Wars fans are?
Yeah, well, I actually have some homework for you
because this, I think you'll be very interested in this
and actually you may already know this,
but if you go to some of the top Star Wars
and sci-fi sites as an average,
most of them are run by women.
Yeah, you wouldn't think that,
but the majority of them are run by women
and I also think the biggest misconception
is that some of these outlets where all of the fans
are getting their news from for a field
that is predominantly what the stereotype considers
to be guys is actually run by women.
So they're getting their information from women.
That's great.
I found that to be a very interesting point.
People are like, I've been in the Midwest my whole life
and so it's tempting to think that the rest of the world
feels as isolated as you feel at times.
And so maybe the thing that people like me,
bloggers and journalists should be saying
is that, oh, we should have more.
Maybe we should just be saying,
oh, you wouldn't believe how it is balanced.
There are women, like maybe we should be spreading that more.
I actually, that's an excellent point that you just brought up.
I think it's, we should stop the complaining
and actually ask everybody to step into the spotlight
because I think we'd be surprised
with how many women actually are fans,
actually are the ones making it happen,
actually are the ones working in the field,
that if all of the women actually step into the spotlight
and when I say complaining, that's actually a bad word.
I know what you mean though,
like some kind of negativity.
Yeah, yeah.
We just buy into the stereotype and say, oh, it's for boys.
But maybe just put that stereotype aside
and say, you know what, let's do a survey here.
I'm curious, I'm a woman, I'm in the sci-fi field.
How many of us are there out there?
I think we'd be shocked because there's women
everywhere in the sci-fi field
and I think it's just, we've gotten so used to accepting
the stereotype, but almost like we feel it ourselves.
Exactly.
And speaking of younger fans, you talk very openly
about growing up with Disney and how much
that that inspired you as a fellow Disney lover,
as a Star Wars fan, I feel like I've learned
some of the same things that you talk about,
which is that allowing yourself to follow your inspirations
can lead to really good things.
And I can tell by the website that you really
care about empowering young girls, not just by protecting
them from, you know, like we're talking about,
like the dirtier things or the darker things,
but by directly empowering them to just go with it
and just be all about whatever it is that they're about.
I mean, can you talk a little bit more about, again,
I feel like I'm overreaching a little bit.
We're talking about, you know, merchandise in Star Wars
and sci-fi, but there is something more.
You referenced the Katie story.
Just talk a little bit more about what
you hope her universe can do long term for just
the empowering of young girls.
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, the biggest thing that I want to get out there
is that, you know, let me start with my favorite quote
ever since I was a kid was, don't dream it, be it.
And I literally got that on a hat when I was in third grade.
And it just really struck a chord with me,
because I grew up in Orlando where Disney teaches you
that your dreams can come true.
But there's a difference between wishing upon a star
and just having a dream and then making that dream happen.
And, you know, you can't just sit in your house
and on your couch and just, you know,
dreams are just going to fall into your lap.
I mean, every now and then that may happen, and that's great.
But for the most part, you have to work hard
to make your dreams happen.
And I think, so that's always been my goal, is, OK,
I'm going to set my dream, but then I'm going to be it.
I'm going to achieve it.
I'm going to do it.
And what's my plan to make that happen?
And so that's the goal.
And I think that's just spreading that mindset to young girls
and encouraging them, OK, what is your dream?
And what are you going to do about it?
How are you going to make that happen?
OK, you want to be an actress?
Well, are you doing community theater?
Are you auditioning?
Are you taking classes?
Are you getting yourself out there?
What are you doing to become that professional actress?
For example, our director of the Clone Wars, Dave Filoni,
he was just our special guest this past weekend
at Star Wars Weekend.
And he brought up a point that my parents have always taught me.
And the worst thing you can do to a young child
is tell them, no, you can't achieve that,
or no, you're not good at that.
And he said, if a child, for example,
he was talking about becoming an artist,
and all kids when they're young, they like to draw.
And everyone draws.
But then as they get older, people
make fun of their drawing and say, oh, you're not good at that.
Oh, your stick figures are funny.
They don't look good.
And automatically that kills a child's confidence,
because you're telling them they are not good at that.
And the goal is just, I was with my six-year-old
niece yesterday, and she loves to draw.
And her drawing isn't amazing yet,
but she loves it.
It's what she does all day.
So I was telling her, it's like, look,
you are so good at drawing.
You are such an amazing artist.
You should just keep drawing.
And I think that's the goal, is just
to encourage the young girls and the young fans.
Just keep at it.
If you have an interest in it, go for it.
Just practice.
And that's what Dave's daddy said.
If you guys think this came easy, you're crazy.
He said, I practice drawing every single day growing up,
every day.
I drew.
And I think that's what we need to convince the kids of,
is once you're dream, you need to practice.
You need to work hard.
But if you do that, you can make it happen.
Yeah.
And that to me is, that's true, healthy, honest empowerment
is teaching young people.
Or even, heck, older people.
Maybe somebody turns 40.
And they're like, oh, I've always wanted to be an artist.
But I was never encouraged.
You know, it's kind of never too late.
And I love, I think it's really interesting
that the Star Wars universe, the sci-fi universe,
the geek world, the underlying current underneath all of it,
and I include Disney in this, is that idea of, you can do it.
You can achieve your dreams.
Be who you are.
And I think it's really interesting
that you've picked up on that in a big way.
And you're moving it forward in this practical way.
I think even the website is kind of a demonstration
of that, which I think is interesting.
So it's like, you're giving girls an example.
You're not just telling them.
You're showing them too, which I think is really important.
Yeah, I definitely think it's one thing to talk about it.
But to constantly give tangible examples
to show the girls, hey, girls, here's
Megan Finnerty, she's the assistant, Jay Filoni.
She, you know, behind the scenes really does some cool things
and make things happen.
But look, she had to start at the mail room.
I mean, she had to start in an internship.
I mean, she had to start at the bottom and work her way up.
But, you know, she's sitting here telling you
after all of this hard work, it really
is worth it because look at the stuff that she gets to do.
That's great.
I love, I like the idea that buying a t-shirt,
and maybe this is just me wanting to hop on board,
if it is, oh, well, I like the idea
that buying a t-shirt is also making a statement sometimes.
And it's saying, I'm going to spend my money here and not
at Walmart until Walmart offers me
what I want to buy in the first place.
I like the idea that we would be influencing purchasing
patterns and retailers and programming.
And I think purchasing power, a lot of people don't realize,
is a big way to make an impact.
Yeah, it's very much at this point,
you're making a bigger statement.
Because we have so much to prove.
And our numbers are being paid so much attention to,
because we haven't debunked that stereotype yet.
We've done a great job, and we've proven a lot.
We've gotten people to pay attention,
and now we've just added sci-fi to the mix,
who they are so excited.
But we haven't debunked the stereotype yet.
So I guess I just ask girls to stick with us.
We're proving it.
We're not there yet.
But we're making huge strides day after day.
