What IS Women In Comedy?

Victoria Elena N
Feb 5, 2016
5 min read

Great question! It seems there's been some confusion about who we are and what we do here. Women In Comedy is a non profit organization to empower, connect, and advocate for women in the comedy industry. We do that in several different ways and we are just getting started.

To give you some history - Chicago Ladies in Comedy (CLIC) existed for a handful of years (from about 2007-2015) and was turned over to Women In Comedy in 2015 under new leadership and vision. CLIC and Women In Comedy merged to become what it is now - with a goal to create a national network of female comedians across genres so that we can help one another achieve the careers we dream of.

Everything so far has been done on a volunteer basis and the organization runs solely on donations and contributions by the current members and community members who make small donations.

We operate under three main pillars which are 3 easy words to help you remember what we're here to do:

EMPOWER

We aim to empower women in the comedy industry by providing online and real life resources to women seeking a professional career in the comedy industry. We empower through education, events, and awareness of opportunities that may advance their professional development.

CONNECT

We aim to connect women in the comedy industry to other industry professionals through forums, networking events, our lady list directory, and other opportunities. Through connection, women are able to cultivate relationships that will enhance their career.

ADVOCATE

We aim to advocate on behalf of women in comedy by educating industry leaders on ways to prevent and eliminate obstacles and barriers for women in the comedy industry. We strive for gender balanced casting, programming, and hiring. #wewant50

This is the mission statement:

"We believe in educating, empowering, and connecting powerful, ambitious, hilarious, and talented women in the comedy industry through resources that foster their professional development and advancement. Through our online and real life community we promote the creation of personal relationships, business relationships, and mentoring relationships in order to advance and increase women's voices, presence, and pay scale in the comedy industry."

10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT WOMEN IN COMEDY

1. In 2015, Victoria Elena Nones noticed that there were a lot of women hungry to connect to other women in the industry. It was clear that we didn't have many professional avenues to do this. Sure - there were parties, and shows, and classes where we meet women and stay in our own circles, but it was clear to Victoria that women wanted to CONNECT. Women needed space to share concerns that only they were experiencing in this industry. And there was a clear lack of professional avenues to come together to do this.

2. In 2011, Chicago Ladies In Comedy officially became a non profit to serve women of the Chicago community under the leadership of Rebecca Grossman and a handful of board members. These women and men worked tirelessly to try to provide forums, events, and workshops to the women of the comedy community. Eventually, things slowed down for CLIC, life took over and the organization's efforts dwindled from about 2013-2015 - leaving a few remaining legacies such as Gilda's Club workshops and some "Breaking the Mold" events. In 2015, Rebecca saw what Victoria was launching and asked if Chicago Ladies In Comedy could be handed over to Women In Comedy since Rebecca no longer had the time, energy, or knowledge to turn CLIC into what she had once envisioned. Victoria was thrilled to see that CLIC existed and now the two have become one with the same vision for a national hub that women in the industry can use to CONNECT. Rebecca remains as an associate producer to help carry out the shared vision.

3. Women In Comedy is focused on providing free or low cost resources to women and girls seeking a professional career in comedy. While things are just starting out, the goal is to EMPOWER women through online and real life resources such as a directory of women, classifieds, a calendar of all female shows, jobs, places to submit, and more. In real life we look to EMPOWER by providing workshops, forums, discussions, and classes that can help women get paid to do the work they love.

4. Women In Comedy is focusing 2016 on CONNECT. We have to build our community first before we can take the steps to get where we want to be. Identifying how vast our community is - where we are- and what we want, is the first step of many. Under the leadership of Victoria, Women In Comedy has already implented a hugely sucessful speed networking event with over 70 attendees in Chicago 2015, and has upcoming events February 9th and 11th in 4 major cities. We plan to hit every major U.S. city by the end of 2016. Let's CONNECT!

5. Women In Comedy is providing FREE networking events because it's important for women to CONNECT and EMPOWER themselves to take their careers beyond just the fun nightlife, or $300 classes many currently experience. To allow women to learn how they can turn their art into a money making career instead of a hobby. Victoria believes much of that will come from relationship building and education. Since Victoria has an extensive background running her own 5 star rated company, she is confident she can help Women In Comedy become a thriving non profit that can provide jobs to women in no time.

6. Women In Comedy is run by a group of volunteers, a board of directors, and an executive director. They will be opening up nominations and elections to create a rainbow committee to ensure a diverse and powerful group of women are helping to make decisions and carry out the actionable items to make change for the women of our industry.

7. Women In Comedy has already started receiving requests for paid jobs and has been distributing these opportunities to women to EMPOWER them economically and on their path to success in this industry.

8. Women In Comedy exists to ADVOCATE. To speak up for the women of our community on issues they are scared to voice, or feel they don't have a voice in. We will ADVOCATE to break down barriers for you. We believe that women make up more than half of the U.S. population, and therefore should makeup at least half of all writer's rooms, TV shows, Stages, Open Mics, Headliners and more. #wewant50

9. Women In Comedy exists to ADVOCATE. To have conversations with decision makers about creating the changes that women in the community would like to see in order to have happy and healthy careers.

10. Women In Comedy exists for you. So come join us - because this is only the beginning of great things to come. And we'd love for you to take an active part in it. Together - we can do anything.