Feminist Management + Wrangling
PAST WORK
Doing It
Edited by Karen Pickering
Doing It was released in 2016, and is a bold, explicit and unapologetically feminist look at sex. The collection is edited by Karen Pickering, and celebrates the diverse experiences of having, loving, and pursuing sex.
During the planning and writing phases of Doing It, Jess worked alongside Karen to pitch the book to a series of publishers, secure a publishing deal, contact a series of potential writers, and work with confirmed contributors to ensure deadlines were met. In addition to this, I was also lucky enough to publish my own chapter in the book, entitled “Sexual pleasure and empowerment: A brief (her)story”.
Cherchez La Femme
A Melbourne-based feminist talk show
Cherchez La Femme was a long standing monthly feminist talk show that tackled complex, intersectional topics related to contemporary feminism. At CLF, Jess worked as an executive producer to managing stakeholders both within and external to the CLF team, and to ensure that each month’s show ran smoothly.
SlutWalk Melbourne
An annual feminist march
Both Jess and Lizzie have worked on the SlutWalk Melbourne team, assisting with the organisation of the march on three separate occasions.
SlutWalk is an annual march to protest slut-shaming and victim-blaming and relies on volunteers to continue to run. During their time at SlutWalk, both Jess and Lizzie were part of the team that organised the annual fundraiser to assist with funds for the march, and the march itself. Extensive networking, stakeholder consultation, and community outreach are required in these roles: it’s a role that requires a serious commitment to the cause.
Girls On Film Festival
An explicitly feminist film festival
GOFF has run since 2014 and is the brainchild of Karen Pickering. As an unambiguously feminist film festival, GOFF centres the lives of women from across the globe and brings to the fore their unique and varied stories.
At GOFF, Jess worked in a consulting role to assist with social media promotion and stakeholder liaison.
I Am Not A Unicorn!
A Emma J Hawkins’ Melbourne International Comedy Festival theatre show
‘I Am Not A Unicorn!’ ran across the 2018 MICF season, and was performed by Emma J Hawkins and directed by Maude Davey. Exploring what life is like at 103cm short, ‘I Am Not A Unicorn!’ defied stereotypes and challenged perspectives.
Jess’s work for Emma involved the creation of a long-term social media and publicity plan for the show’s duration, and the ongoing moderation and management of Emma’s social media platforms.
Retro Futurismus: Brave World
A theatrical production from Maude Davey, Anni Davey, Anna Lumb, Teresa Blake, and Gabi Barton
Brave World was a 2018 show from the Melbourne-based Retro Futurismus troupe of five, and ran across July at fortyfivedownstairs. Praised as being "wild, political, beautiful, and weird", Retro Futurismus come together as an act of resistance and renewal, pioneering a new vaudeville that was responsive to current political events and philosophical ideas.
As their social media managers, Bossy handled the social media presence and planning for the show in the months leading up to the three week run. This included the creation of a long-term social media budget, event promotion, copy creation, and the ongoing moderation and management of the show's online spaces.
Threshold was a 2017 exhibition by Melbourne painter and jeweller Stacey Korfiatis, in which she challenged not only the conventional take on how a painting is presented, but also how both women artists are regarded and how female subjects are displayed in the male-dominated art world.
The six paintings in the series of sculptural oil-on-canvas female nudes incorporate the raw wooden frames into the artwork themselves.
Testimonials
Karen Pickering
"Working with Jess has been one of the great joys of my professional life. We share the same values around feminism, community and social enterprise, and her commitment to efficiency and better workflow is second to none. So if you want to realise some big dreams, without getting sidetracked by the details, Jess can help you make it happen."
Van Badham
"Without Jessamy, I literally would not know what day it is."
Katherine Firth
"Working with Jess has transformed all the aspects of writing that were distracting me from the work of getting good words down onto the page and then making them better words. Through Jess and her recommendations for other equally excellent people to work with, my writing finances, book proposals and writing deadlines are sorted, so I can get my head down and finish my next book."
Nina Jankowicz
"Jess was prompt, polite, and professional when dealing with my media requests and bookings for events. More importantly, she helped me ask for what I'm worth and prioritise my engagements, keeping me on track, on deadline, and sane during extremely manic work periods. I highly recommend the invaluable services of Bossy Management!"