The other morning I was at work when I received a text from a good friend. It said, “Really, Bri? A Hooters girl?”
I knew he was talking about I Want Her Job.
Then a little later on I had a phone call with another good friend. She said, “It took everything in me not to write a nasty comment on your blog. I really enjoy coming to your site, but I don’t feel like working at Hooters inspires anybody. I am a teacher, and I work with kids all the time to find out what it is they really want to do. Do you really want girls to say they want to grow up and be a Hooters girl? I think that’s just degrading.”
My response to both of them was this, “Did you read the profile?”
The first friend had not read it, and once he did, well, he seemed to understand it a bit more.
The second friend I mentioned read the profile and didn’t change her mind.
She felt like the job was degrading to women and couldn’t believe I would promote it on this site.
I then asked her, “Well, if next week I featured an interview with an anchor from ‘The Today Show’ or the editor-in-chief of a magazine, would you read it?” “Yes, of course,” she said. And I responded then by saying, “Well, then it didn’t change your mind about the site?” “As long as you don’t feature a stripper … ” she responded before we changed topics.
Here’s the thing. When I made the decision to feature Saskia, I thought about it for a night. I didn’t make a quick reaction. While her job is not one that I had a targeted plan to feature, I was impressed with her viewpoint and her entrepreneurial spirit. Saskia doesn’t just work at Hooters. She trains other girls, she runs a website that gets as many as 500 views a day (which, for the record, is not easy … ) and furthermore, the website that she created led to an opportunity for her to write for the company’s magazine. I admire that drive.
As someone with a background in journalism, I was taught to always consider all sides of a story. The job of a reporter is to not insert your own voice and to present two sides … and even if I couldn’t find the other side of the story, I had to actively seek it out. Now, with blogging, I feel mainstream news has tried to insert more of an opinion into what they do. And beyond that, writers are looking to have more of a voice. Opinion counts these days, but sometimes it’s still best to step back and be the publisher of content that strikes a chord with people, without inserting your own thoughts. And with I Want Her Job, I am striving to motivate, but also to feature women in all types of jobs. Who am I to say what kind of jobs people should love?
The other thing about this site is that as long as you’re a woman, you can be featured if you can convince me of one thing — that you really, truly love your job. And while I realize some jobs appeal to some people and other jobs don’t, I think there’s something interesting in the fact that Saskia has to wake up every morning and no matter how she feels, she has to look her best. As a woman, I’m sure you can understand how exhausting that can be. There are some mornings when I just don’t care if I have mascara on my lashes or if my hair is curled. I’m just not into it for one reason or another. And the fact that she does this is interesting to me.
The bottom line is this: I Want Her Job is here to feature women with all types of jobs who love what they do. We’re also here to support one another. So, keep the comments coming, because we’re not just profiling women who love their jobs, we’re starting a community that has an opinion and motivates us as women.
And if we can’t be one another’s biggest cheerleaders, then who will be?
4 comments
I love that you posted this. Not that you have to always justify your actions, but it’s important to let people know your motivations sometimes, and as a pretty liberal woman I can truly respect and appreciate your inclusion of a Hooters girl. I think being a modern feminist you have to take into consideration that not everyone has the ability to be as picky with their career choices, and it sounds like Saskia is taking what she’s got by the horns and steering it in the right direction. As a hard working woman (and an IWHJ alumnus!) I can totally respect that.
This keeps I Want Her Job real.
Comment by Becky Mair on November 3, 2010 at 10:14 am
I always enjoy reading the profiles of the women that you feature. Maybe it’s because I’ve worked in different jobs, maybe it’s because I understand that someone has to work these jobs and that everyone deserves to be celebrated in their jobs as long as it’s not illegal or destructive. As a woman who has had to take the jobs that others thought were beneath them, knowing all the while that I had more within me, a veritable creative/talented beast just growling and clawing to get out I appreciate reading about women who love what they do and do it with passion. There will always be those who have certain ideals about certain lifestyles, choices and positions of employment, I always feel bad for these people because I’ve found that some of the most intriguing people with the strongest characters are the ones that people tend to snub at first glance. Thanks for the website, you have a fan for life.
Comment by Veronica Victorian on November 3, 2010 at 10:43 am
I understand the negative reaction to Hooters and I think my profile made that pretty apparent. I’m not expecting people to suddenly love Hooters because of my profile or my blog, but that’s never been the point. The whole point is that I offer a differing view point that creates discussion. Whether it changes minds is not up to me, but at least I presented something that made you think about it for a minute in a light you perhaps hadn’t considered. It’s not about drastic change – though I have seen that – it’s about seeing something from a different angle.
Had I “just” been a Hooters Girl, I wouldn’t have wanted to be featured. But that’s not what I am. I took a job, that people often view as detrimental to women and turned into an opportunity to be creative and innovative. I took something seemingly negative and turned into a mojor niche for myself. While using my body is a small part of what I do – like a model, or a dancer, or a plethora of other things – I found a way to make it much more about my mind. I created major opportunity from something even I thought was anything but that. Suddenly I am being paid to write for a major publication and have a blog that actually makes money (not easy at all). I have a truly standout entry on my resume that I highly doubt anyone else has. And that is the real point.
I’ll be back to be featured in a few years when all that drive lands me a job that the public deems more acceptable. Until then I’ll be using it to differentiate myself, even if it is just as a Hooters Girl.
Comment by Saskia on November 4, 2010 at 8:29 am
Well put, Saskia. Love your drive and intelligence. You have a whole community here who will support you on your way to the top. We’re all in this together! And p.s., congrats on the first article!
Comment by brianneburrowes on November 10, 2010 at 10:40 pm