Show time

Clever Chicks and Dirty Girls

Kimberly Phipps-Nichol is betting on public support for her green initiative.

Kimberly Phipps-Nichol is betting on public support for her green initiative.

Photo by ASHLEY HENNEFER

Check out the Clever Chicks and Dirty Girls Kickstarter page at www.kickstarter.com/projects/cleverchicks/clever-chicks-and-dirty-girls.

Kimberly Phipps-Nichol is an entrepreneur. She’s the owner of Blue Water Studio, a sustainable planning and design firm, and Blue Water Style, an eco-friendly clothing and accessories line. She’s a LEED-accredited professional and an advocate for sustainable living. And soon she will add “television host” to her repertoire.

Her latest endeavor, Clever Chicks and Dirty Girls, is a television show in the making. The show will feature women in the Northern Nevada community who are leading or involved in sustainable projects.

Phipps-Nichol hopes to raise $67,500 by April 4 through a Kickstarter.com campaign. At press time, the project had raised $3,895. The money will go toward costs to produce the show through Reno’s local PBS station. If the fundraising goal is met, filming will begin in the fall. But if it doesn’t, donations will be returned to the donors and the cause will receive none of the collected money—Kickstarter requires a goal to be met in its entirety before it will disburse the funds. She plans to find other ways to fund the show if that happens.

According to the Kickstarter page, the show is intended “to fill the gap in professionally produced presentations celebrating women … in sustainability [and] show that sustainability can be beautiful and innovative, and has no stylistic limits.”

“It’s part of a mission to think globally, act locally,” she says. “I want our community to be thinking about what we, as women, can do to make a difference. I wanted to make a show that was like that funny word ‘edutainment’—a mix of education and entertainment—that showcases women.”

Phipps-Nichol says she has never hosted a show before, but that her experience as a businesswoman and public speaker will come in handy. The first season of the show will have eight episodes, each with a different focus.

“We want to feature women in different sectors—like in geothermal, wind, farming—rather than just one woman for each episode,” she says.

If the show is successful, she will plan for future seasons. Phipps-Nichol hopes that it will “enlighten, inspire, educate and motivate women and girls to step into the power of sustainable careers and the prosperity of a conscious life. We want them to own and exercise the difference they can make in the world.”

She cites the success of women involved in local organizations like the Great Basin Community Food Co-op and Girlfarm/Grow for Me Sustainable Farm.

“There are so many women involved in sustainable projects here in Reno,” she says. “The local food movement is a great example of that. It’s so much more than just the food—it’s the soil and water health, and the health of our children. And women are on the frontlines of all of that.”

This summer, she will enact the “think globally” aspect of her mission by traveling to Brazil for five weeks and working with residents to adopt sustainable living practices.

“It’s good for girls to get a bit of dirt under their finger nails,” she says. “Getting dirty is a wonderful thing for girls.”