Simone Giertz Interview by Email
By Matilda Fletcher
Simone Giertz describes herself as “Maker/robotics enthusiast/non-engineer. Have become somewhat of an expert in [lousy] robots. Swedish but sound American just to confuse you.” You may know her from her YouTube videos about robotics and Commander Scraps. My favorite project of hers is the Truckla, a DIY Tesla Model 3 that she transformed into a truck.
Matilda Fletcher
What does diversity and inclusion mean to you?
Simone Giertz
That everyone feels welcome and respected. An environment where you don’t have to think “did that person not listen to me because of my gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, etc?”
Matilda Fletcher
Have you ever encountered Discrimination? What did you say or do? When you had that experience what feelings did it bring up in you during and after the situation?
Simone Giertz
I haven’t experienced a lot of Discrimination, as far as I know. And that’s a part of the issue: you can’t really know what opportunities you would have gotten if you were a different person in the same situation. But I’ve definitely called people out on things that didn’t sit well with me. I got invited to speak at a conference, and during the preparations one of the organizers kept on telling me how much their billionaire CEO liked me, how he had personally requested that I come there, and even joked about that he might propose to me on stage. Afterwards I emailed and told them how uncomfortable that had made me feel. Was I brought there because I’m good at what I do, because this CEO wanted me to go on a date with him?
Matilda Fletcher
Did you have a positive outcome? What was that? Or was it negative? And what was that?
Simone Giertz
They received that email very well. The guy who had made the jokes personally apologized and said that he now understood why it would make me feel uncomfortable. Having people acknowledge your experience always feels good.
Matilda Fletcher
What would you do differently if you had the same encounter today?
Simone Giertz
I would probably had said something on the spot, rather than afterwards! But sometimes it takes a while to collect your thoughts and to realize “yeah that doesn’t feel right”
Matilda Fletcher
What have you done to shift the understanding of diversity and inclusion?
Simone Giertz
This is hard to explain, but I actually don’t like talking publicly about how I’m a minority in my field as a female builder and maker. I felt like every time I was giving an interview, or was on stage, everyone always wanted to ask me about what it was like being a woman. Sometimes [the] majority of the interview would be about my gender, and I think that can do more harm than good. Let me talk about my work instead! Being a woman is just a tiny part of who I am and what I do, and I prefer showing people that women can be really skilled, rather than talking about it.
Matilda Fletcher
What would you tell middle school girls now about discrimination? What would you have wanted to know about inclusion in middle school?
Simone Giertz
Discrimination exclusion is a wall, and walls are meant to climb.
Matilda Fletcher
What else do you want to tell middle school girls?
Simone Giertz
Make things! I don’t care if it’s videos, or furniture, or writing, or music or throwing toilet paper on a mannequin and calling it a dress. There’s no better feeling that following ideas and seeing what they turn into, and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Far from it! I personally think perfect things can be boring. I like flawed and funny!
Originally published 12/2020
Image from wired.com
