Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Talented Tuesdays: Jenny Yang

It's Talented Tuesday! Each week, For Nerdy Girls features a digital innovator who inspires colorful women around the world. These are individuals who should be celebrated on a global level, so we'll start by talking about these changemakers right here.




Name: Jenny Yang

Twitter: @jennyyangtv

Website: jennyyang.tv

What she does: Jenny is a comic/writer and the co-producer of Dis/orient/ed Comedy, "the first-ever (mostly) female, Asian American stand-up comedy tour."




Why she's inspiring: Jenny shows her community that it's okay to wander off the path of being a "good Asian." When she started explore comedy as a career that would make her happy, she didn't like unwelcoming scene of "young white guys who always loved to talk about masturbating and smoking weed and why there's so many Latinos in Los Angeles." So, Jenny created her own scene with Dis/orient/ed Comedy, which features "unique comics of diverse race, sexuality and gender not often seen on mainstream comedy club stages." Very nice!


If you would like to nominate a digital innovator for Talented Tuesdays, please let us know in the comments, or email us at ForNerdyGirls [at] gmail [dot] com.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Talented Tuesdays: Janel Martinez

It's Talented Tuesday! Each week, For Nerdy Girls features a digital innovator who inspires colorful women around the world. These are individuals who should be celebrated on a global level, so we'll start by talking about these changemakers right here.




Name: Janel Martinez

Twitter: @janelmwrites

Website: aintilatina.com

What she does: Janel is a freelance multimedia journalist, CCO of 20/20 Shift, and the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Ain't I Latina, "an online destination created by an Afro-Latina for Afro-Latinas."

Why she's inspiring: Janel represents for the Afro-Latina community, a group who lives at the intersection of "yes, I'm black," "yes, I speak Spanish,""no, we don't all necessarily speak Spanish," and "I don't care what you think Latinas are supposed to look like." She created Ain't I Latina in response to the egregious lack of women of both African and Latina descent featured and recognized as such in media. (For reference, see Univision and Telemundo's programming for the brown paper bag test in action.) Janel has constructed a space "where millennial Latinas can celebrate their diversity."



If you would like to nominate a digital innovator for Talented Tuesdays, please let us know in the comments, or email us at ForNerdyGirls [at] gmail [dot] com.

Monday, July 18, 2016

Where's My Movie?: Rita Moreno

It's Where's My Movie? Monday! Each month, For Nerdy Girls features an inspirational individual who has changed the world but, for some reason, does not have her own biopic. These women are amazing human beings who should be commemorated as historical game changers in textbooks and statues and monuments. For now, we will discuss them on this internet blog.

(For comparison, Steve Jobs has been portrayed in 11 documentaries, four feature films, and one theatrical production. He created a company that sells phones.)




Name: Rita Moreno

What she does: Rita Moreno is an actor, singer, and dancer.




Why she needs a movie: Rita Moreno has been performing for 67 years and counting. For stamina alone, she deserves all of the applause. The last project I saw her in was an episode of Grey's Anatomy earlier this year, in which she played a forsaken wife who gained back the love of her husband after he sustained a brain injury. She is an inspiration to actors everywhere, especially to Latinas and women of a certain age, as a multi-talented individual who has persevered in spite of the limits that her society has tried to place on her.


 
Gina Rodriguez at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors


Idolized by previous Where's My Movie? luminary Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, fellow Nuyorican Rita Moreno has not only sustained an extensive career in an industry known for its lack of representation of so-called "ethnic minorities" and women over 40; she has also won all of its top awards: an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar (for West Side Story, featured above), and a Tony. And, like another previous Where's My Movie? luminary Dr. Maya Angelou, Rita Moreno has also earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Arts.

And, she was the animated voice of Carmen Sandiego!

Unless she cures cancer on Mars, I don't know what else Rita Moreno would need to accomplish to warrant a biographical feature film.

Coming to a theater near you: American EGOT: The Award-Winning Nights of Rita Moreno



If you would like to nominate a notable lady for Where's My Movie?, please let us know in the comments, or email us at ForNerdyGirls [at] gmail [dot] com.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Talented Tuesdays: Jamilah Lemieux

It's Talented Tuesday! Each week, For Nerdy Girls features a digital innovator who inspires colorful women around the world. These are individuals who should be celebrated on a global level, so we'll start by talking about these changemakers right here.




Name: Jamilah Lemieux

Twitter: @JamilahLemieux

Website: jamilahlemieux.com

What she does: Jamilah is a writer, speaker, and Senior Editor at EBONY.




Why she's inspiring: Award-winning blogger and black feminist Jamilah speaks out on issues of race, gender, sexuality, LGBT rights, and social justice. Her media influence reaches far and wide, from print to online publications to television appearances to social networks. 



If you would like to nominate a digital innovator for Talented Tuesdays, please let us know in the comments, or email us at ForNerdyGirls [at] gmail [dot] com.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Woke Bae Watch: W. Kamau Bell & Kevin Avery

It's Woke Bae Watch Wednesday! Each month, For Nerdy Girls features an inspired individual who uses their celebrity to bring attention to an area of social justice. These are activists and allies whose good work should be replicated on a global level, so we'll start by discussing these changemakers right here.

(Disclaimer: Featured baes are not necessarily woke in every aspect of social justice. Watch at your own risk.)




Name: W. Kamau Bell & Kevin Avery

Twitter: @wkamaubell and @KevinAvery

Website: wkamaubell.com and kevinaverycomedy.com

What they do: Kamau is a talk show host, socio-political comedian, and star of the woke United Shades of America on CNN. Kevin is a stand-up comic, actor, and writer for Last Week Tonight. These two friends and former roommates host a podcast together called Denzel Washington Is The Greatest Actor Of All Time Period.







Why they're woke: From 2012 to 2013, Kamau hosted Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell on FX, and later on FXX. On Totally Biased, which Kevin was the head writer for, Kamau discussed current events with a perspective on inclusion not often shown on television. His commitment to social justice and diversity in media was evident both in his words and deeds. Kamau's writing staff, guests, and stories reflected a variety of genders, sexualities, colors, ethnicities, ages, and backgrounds present in the United States population, unlike most writers' rooms in Hollywood, particularly in late night television. Kamau also allowed his comedic correspondents to speak for themselves on issues they personally had more knowledge about, like gender fluidity in fashion, South Asian and East Asian representation in America media, and being a woman.

Additionally, on their Denzel Washington podcast, Kevin and Kamau don't limit themselves to discussing movies. They also have cultural conversations similar to the ones found on Totally Biased, including regular dialogues on the plight of WBAs: Working Black Actresses.

And finally, Kevin helped write this:





If you would like to nominate a woke bae for Woke Bae Watch, please let us know in the comments, or email us at ForNerdyGirls [at] gmail [dot] com.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Talented Tuesdays: Ashly Perez

It's Talented Tuesday! Each week, For Nerdy Girls features a digital innovator who inspires colorful women around the world. These are individuals who should be celebrated on a global level, so we'll start by talking about these changemakers right here.




Name: Ashly Perez

Twitter: @itsashlyperez

Website: You Do You

What she does: Ashly is an actor, writer, producer, director, and buzzfeeder.




Why she's inspiring: Ashly is a funny, prolific lady--with hundreds of thousands of followers--who represents for multiple groups at the same time. Her latest web series, You Do You, features a rarely seen story: the process of a nonwhite woman discovering her queer identity and coming out.



If you would like to nominate a digital innovator for Talented Tuesdays, please let us know in the comments, or email us at ForNerdyGirls [at] gmail [dot] com.