Dr. Joy Beverly, one of the resident faculty members at Eaton Residential College, invited Girls & Gear’s April Dobbins to be the featured speaker for their college speaker series. The goal of the series is to introduce residents to faculty and professional staff from all areas and to open a dialogue about careers paths and creative/academic work. Dobbins was asked to talk to students about the School of Communication’s film program and her own film projects. Students were from a variety of schools and backgrounds, but most of them had some interest in film or the arts–possibly as something to pursue later in their academic and/or professional careers. Dobbins spoke about her experiences as a woman working in a predominantly male field, and also about the struggles and benefits of her non-traditional path to filmmaking and artistic creation. 

She screened footage from her Alabamaland project, and she also screened clips from her short films. She discussed ways that women could be more confident on set, and the challenges of working a full-time job as an artist.