Never before has a documentary delved into why the female millennial generation is stepping back or giving up in their careers. Though recent studies prove that a millennials ambition and confidence drop soon after starting their careers, it happened to director Ashley Maria.
Due out in 2016, Pioneers in Skirts™ is a feature documentary that aims to advance the conversation about women in the workplace. The film follows our director, award-winning filmmaker Ashley Maria, after she discovers she lost her pioneering attitude in her career.
With a camera in hand, Ashley decided to find out why this was happening to her? She soon learned she wasn’t the only twenty-something that felt that way…and it wasn’t just happening in the film industry.
Pioneers in Skirts takes an honest look at the solutions for women now, and for future generations. The film uses interviews, statistics and story-telling to discuss career obstacles women deal with, such as biases, stereotypes and wage discrepancy, in the American workforce.
A recent Bain & Company report revealed after just two years of working at their first job out of college, women begin to lose their aspiration and confidence. A recenT Deloitte report revealed millennial men are significantly more likely than millennial women to say “leadership” was an individual strength – though the women ranked their skillsets as extremely high when they graduated from university. Both reports show that something changed during the first couple of years of a woman’s career.
The film will feature some high profile researchers and industry experts, such as Lucy Sanders (NCWIT), Catherine Hill (AAUW), Brad Feld (Foundry Group), Kat Cole (Focus Brands), Major General Heidi V. Brown (U.S. Army Strategic Command), and many others. A Kickstarter campaign was launched to raise the funds necessary to complete this documentary.
Pioneers in Skirts is about solutions for women who are experiencing setbacks as they are pioneering their career paths, for the allies who support them, and for the next generation of girls who want to grow up being anything they want.
The Pioneers in Skirts Kickstarter campaign can be found here:kickstarter.com/projects/ashleymaria/pioneers-in-skirts-the-documentary.
For all Pioneers in Skirts media inquiries, to request specific information, or to schedule an interview with Director Ashley Maria, please contact pioneersinskirts[@]gmail.com.
About Ashley Maria
Ashley Maria is the director, producer and co-writer for the feature documentary Pioneers in Skirts™. With over 10 years of experience in film and television production, Ashley Maria is a writer and director, as well as a freelance production sound mixer based in Los Angeles, California.
She is an award winning director; winning awards at highly acclaimed film festivals around the world. Ashley Maria was awarded the prestigious Directors Guild of America award for her film, Friday Night Fright™ in 2010.
In 2014, Ashley Maria was featured by the DGA as a director who represents “the future of women in film.” Find out more by visiting: www.ashley-maria.com.