churches we are in , and the structures of our teams .
BUILD A COMMUNITY I recently started leading a group of female technical artists in one of the FILO Coaching Cohorts . Most , if not all of these women , work on a team of all men and shared that the main reason they signed up for the cohort was so that they could talk to other women about tech gear ! They rarely find themselves in a situation where there is another female who can talk gear like they can ( and they are LEGIT - all the letter and number combinations you could imagine when talking about cables and light fixtures ).
I shared this with a male counterpart of mine and he was surprised and then humbled . He admitted that he hadn ’ t really ever “ talked gear ” with a female techie , they just weren ’ t present in the spaces he functioned in . Now his awareness of this group of women I have the honor to know , helps him to develop his own voice of advocacy for the women in our industry .
Alexis Leon
One night during our cohort , one of the women shared a way that she was trying to influence some change in her church . At one point she had to be sure that her listener knew she wasn ’ t implying that a woman should do something - she was apologizing for the space that she or another female might take up . I paused and looked at my zoom screen full of 10 gifted , knowledgeable , and passionate women who are leading the technical arts at churches around the country ( and the world , shout out to Hong Kong ) and then I said these words to them , “ I don ’ t know the last time each of you heard this , but you need to hear it now - you never need to apologize for what you bring to the table . You are fully loved by God right now in this very moment and every other moment . You are skilled and strong . I am sorry that we often find ourselves having to qualify or justify the skills we bring to the spaces we walk into , but God made you with intentionality to make an impact .” The knowing nods I saw fill the screen were a familiar sight .
Sara Venturi
Amanda Schleich