SHE STARTED IT
A film by Nora Poggi and Insiyah Saeed
2017, 52 & 60 minutes
2017, 52 & 60 minutes
No. 150
Documentary
Documentary
DVD includes the 52 min (K-12) and 60 min (college & library) versions, with closed-captions. A discussion guide is available here. For special K-12 pricing, please select the corresponding format above.
Description
An essential documentary on women tech entrepreneurs, She Started It upends the popular perception of a male-dominated Silicon Valley. Featuring interviews with leading female CEO's and entrepreneurs, it follows several passionate, trailblazing young women as they strive to launch their companies in the ruthlessly competitive world of high tech start-ups.
This engrossing documentary takes viewers on a global roller coaster ride from San Francisco to Mississippi, France and Vietnam, capturing these extraordinary women over a two year period as they pitch VCs, build teams, bring products to market, fail and start again. Along the way, it weaves in big-picture perspectives from women like investor Joanne Wilson; White House CTO Megan Smith; GoldieBlox CEO Debbie Sterling; and Ruchi Sanghvi, the first female engineer at Facebook.
Through intimate, action-driven storytelling, She Started It explores the cultural roots of female underrepresentation in entrepreneurship—including pervasive self-doubt, fear of failure, and risk aversion among young women. It exposes, too, the structural realities women face as they become entrepreneurs, including lack of female role models and investors, and the persistent dearth of venture capital funding made available to women-led companies.
This engrossing documentary takes viewers on a global roller coaster ride from San Francisco to Mississippi, France and Vietnam, capturing these extraordinary women over a two year period as they pitch VCs, build teams, bring products to market, fail and start again. Along the way, it weaves in big-picture perspectives from women like investor Joanne Wilson; White House CTO Megan Smith; GoldieBlox CEO Debbie Sterling; and Ruchi Sanghvi, the first female engineer at Facebook.
Through intimate, action-driven storytelling, She Started It explores the cultural roots of female underrepresentation in entrepreneurship—including pervasive self-doubt, fear of failure, and risk aversion among young women. It exposes, too, the structural realities women face as they become entrepreneurs, including lack of female role models and investors, and the persistent dearth of venture capital funding made available to women-led companies.
Festivals
Official Selection, Mill Valley Film Festival
Official Selection, SXSWedu Film Festival
Official Selection, GlobeDocs Film Festival
Official Selection, St. Louis Film Festival
Official Selection, Savannah Film Festival
Official Selection, SXSWedu Film Festival
Official Selection, GlobeDocs Film Festival
Official Selection, St. Louis Film Festival
Official Selection, Savannah Film Festival
Reviews
"That’s the perception filmmakers Nora Poggi and Insiyah Saeed are trying to upend with their new documentary, She Started It, because there are many who don’t fit that Mark Zuckerberg-ish mold. The female tech founders who are out there are seldom put in the spotlight.” – The New York Times
"She Started It aims to change Silicon Valley’s gender inequality problem... [It] focuses on what makes female entrepreneurs succeed – and inspires the next generation of girls to follow suit." – Fast Company
"The stories [in She Started It] will be inspirational to others facing similar roadblocks in the male-dominated world of technology." – Booklist
“An enlightening documentary…. Underscores the fact that
women still have a ways to go in the male-dominated tech field. Recommended.” –
Video Librarian
"The film can serve to motivate and inspire young people as well as educate them on where gender inequalities still exist. Further, it can serve to generate discussion in the classroom on how this inequality impacts everyone, and what can be done to promote increased diversity in technology (and other) fields. Recommended." - Educational Media Reviews Online
"She Started It aims to change Silicon Valley’s gender inequality problem... [It] focuses on what makes female entrepreneurs succeed – and inspires the next generation of girls to follow suit." – Fast Company
