Rachel Ellis, now currently a sophomore attending class at Northeast Community College, is the only female in the audio recording program.
Since this program is predominantly male, Ellis feels as though she must work harder to, not only live up to the expectations of the class, but also to exceed the expectations of those who doubt her because of her gender.
“Sometimes it’s hard being the only female. When I’m doing a few of the live sound shows, people tend to make assumptions,” said Ellis.
By assumptions, she is referring to the age old assumption that women somehow lack the intelligence, muscle mass, etc. to perform tasks that males normally perform. Not to imply, of course, that everyone feels this way.
“Just because I’m a female, it doesn’t mean that I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
Ellis has also experienced situations in which it takes people a while to realize that she is the sound person.
She feels like she is underestimated a lot, not only because she is female, but also because she is a small-built girl. There are times when people relate gender and size to intelligence as well. Most of the time, Ellis says, people were surprised by her intellect.
However, aside from the struggles, Ellis is proud of what she does because it is, forthe most part, more gratifying to be the only female.
“It gives you motivation to try even harder than most of the people in the program.”
She does not let other people’s points of view keep her from doing the things that make her happy, nor does she let the fear of being the only one get in the way of achieving her goals.
“People will always make assumptions about you by how you sound or how you look, or by what gender you are.”
So then, if it is unavoidable, why bother with worrying? It wastes too much energy. Ellis believes that since judgment and doubt are inevitable, rather than succumbing to pressure and giving up, the best thing to do is to keep moving forward and prove doubters wrong.
For other women who want to enter a field like Rachel Ellis’, take her advice:
“Go for it. Having two different genders in a program can bring more skills to the table.”
There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you put your mind to it.
