If seeing an individual like yourself in a role or profession you hope to enter is critical to believing you can succeed, then certain industries, or at least the representation of certain industries, don’t provide much support or hope for young women.

In an effort to change the conversation, Guilford Public Schools is opening the Guilford High School (GHS) performing arts center on Thursday, Sept. 28 for a screening of She Started It, a documentary focused on highlighting and empowering female entrepreneurship.

The documentary film, directed by Nora Poggi, follows five women from across the globe over the course of two years as they pitch ideas, build teams, try to bring products to market, fail, and get back up again. The film includes commentary from big names in the industry such as White House CTO (Chief technology Officer) Megan Smith and the first female engineer at Facebook, Ruchi Sanghvi, but also focuses on female underrepresentation in entrepreneurship, from the limited number of women-owned companies to the lack of female role models to the minute amount of capital funding made available to women-led companies.

It’s a film that is undoubtedly timely, but why bring it to Guilford? As Guilford, and numerous other districts across the shoreline and the state, look to align their science curriculum with next-generation science standards, Baldwin Middle School science teacher Kristin Skelly said the film fits well with the district’s mission of focusing on science education and how it can expand opportunities for students.

Skelly said the film’s Executive Producer Jana Shea, a Guilford resident, reached out to her about screening the film in the district and Skelly said the message of the film aligns with many of the core principles teachers try to instill in students.

“The film encourages young women to investigate the natural world and to design and build systems to enhance different experiences they are having,” she said. “…In the classroom I know we are constantly encouraging all students to build and apply their knowledge.”

Skelly said the film does a good job of showing the value of trial and error, with the understanding that failure happens and that learning how to pick yourself back up is key. Skelly said that is a skill the district is trying to instill in students today as students are exposed to new concepts and ideas.

“My hope is that by exposing students to STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math]-related activities in the classroom and exposing them to this film, it will just encourage them to explore their dreams and develop their passions for maybe a field of work that has been traditionally associated with men and to know that they can do that as well,” she said.

A panel discussion is to follow the screening of the film with Poggi and local female business women including Mary Jo Kestner, AIA, partner at CK Architects; Noemi Zelanski Kearns, owner and creative director of Ink&Pixel Agency; and Pat Lore, creative director of Headline Productions.

All three local panelists said they are pleased to participate in this panel to show young women the potential that exists for women in the field. Kearns said when she was in college, her design courses were filled with women, but after graduation, she couldn’t find a single woman-owned or woman-led design company, so showing young woman in the community a successful female business owner or entrepreneur is important.

“It’s beneficial for young people to be able to have mentors and know that there are people out there that they can reach out to and talk to and see themselves in,” she said. “Whether it’s talking at the school or establishing programs, I think we can’t even guess what the impact will be on these young women and I am very proud to be a part of this.”

While the program is geared towards young women, Kearns said boys and men are a big part of the conversation as well.

“I think that it is as critical as a parent of girls as it is parents of boys to make sure that there is no such thing as gender bias,” she said. “These are people [in the film] who had great ideas and the education and the grit to actually bring it to fruition. That, to me, is what was most exciting about the film. The fact that they are women is great, but I am for empowering anyone with a great idea.”

Kestner said while representation is a focus of the film, there is also an emphasis on perseverance.

“I think it is important to see a movie where these are successful people who are doing things where it is not an issue about gender, it is an issue of determination,” she said.

The documentary film She Started It shows at the Guilford High School Performing Arts Center, 605 New England Road, Thursday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. All Guilford residents and residents of surrounding towns are welcome to attend. The event is free of charge and admission is on a first come, first served basis. Space capacity of the arts center is 600.