Who’s Who Geek Edition: Christy Black

I decided to do a set of mini interviews with people I’ve interacted with and have extraordinary backgrounds. Many I’ve met via Facebook and many I’ll meet when I attend SDCC for the first time this July. Next up is beautiful lady inside AND out, Christy Black!

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Name: Christy Black
Online Handle: @Geek6Christy
Sites: LXL and Healthy Is the New Skinny
Age: 32…as least for a couple more day.

L: You work with HealthyIsTheNewSkinny.com, a site that promotes positive self-image. Why do you think society places such pressure to be socially “pretty” or “skinny”?

CB: I think it’s based in media holding us all to an unrealistic idea of perfection. The images we see and strive for aren’t even real, they’re manipulated. Yet we are being told that if we look a certain way, we’ll be happy. That just isn’t the case. I think girls and women in the geek culture are fighting an extra battle. We’re being held to this ideal but also being told that if we are that ideal there is no way that we are “true geeks.”

L: Well said. Do you have any tips for those of us who feel down about ourselves?

CB: Reaching out to those around you. I helped found the League of Extraordinary Ladies (LXL) with a handful of women I knew from Twitter. I can honestly say that those women have changed my life. We started the LXL to help others find that same type of friendship and support within the geek community.

They help me on a daily basis to remember that there is only one me, and that alone makes me beautiful and valued.

L: As a very new member to the LXL community, I have to say, that support from female peers is invaluable. Since you seem like you’re doing something amazingly cool, what kind of projects do you have in the works?

CB: I’m currently in the process of making a cylon raider piñata. It’s taken over my kitchen table for the last week. I’m really excited about how it’s turning out.

L: A cylon! That’s fucking cool. Everyone has a science fiction property that means the world to them, be it Star Wars, Back to the Future, or even E.T. What’s yours?

CB: I have a few. The Piers Anthony Xanth series. My Dad read this to us on the roof of our house when I was little. It always has a special place in my heart. Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Roger Zelazny’s Amber Chronicles, and Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. I remember exactly where I was, what I was wearing when reading Ender’s Game. I think it’s what cemented geekiness into my personality.

L: I just finished the Ender series and wow. Those books make you think about everything! Who would you name as a positive role model for all of us geeks, be they in literature or film?

CB: Katee Sackhoff. She’s an amazing actor who hasn’t conformed to Hollywood’s expectations. She’s 5’6 and 140 lbs. I 100% believe that she can kick ass!

L: I ask this question of everyone, so be honest: If aliens landed in front of you and, in exchange for anything you desire, offered you any position on their planet, what position would you want? I know I’d crap my pants.

CB: Intergalactic Travel Agent. Of course I’d have to visit all locations prior to recommending them to my clients.