Barbara’s Bio
Dubbed “Björk of Virtual Worlds” Dr Barbara Lippe is perfectly bridging interactive and dramatic principles bringing in deep knowledge of the XR entertainment industry. From designing characters for video-games in Tokyo and avatars for virtual worlds in Vienna to acting on stage & screen in London and writing for immersive theatre, she went on to found entreZ, an award-winning VR content studio having premiered one of the world's first 12k stereoscopic 360 dramas.
Barbara holds a PhD in game studies, was appointed Head of Curation at VR Days Europe and is Co-Founder of Holodeck VR, a deep tech company providing a patented XR tracking solution for location-based attractions.
Barbara is deeply interested in the philosophical implications of XR, is booked to consult and speak at conferences worldwide and has recently been selected one of the 101 most influential women in VR.
WITH GROUPS CREATING PROGRAMS TO ENCOURAGE FEMALES TO CONSIDER STEM, WHAT IS THE BIGGEST BARRIER TO ENTRY THAT IS STILL PREVALENT TODAY?
Imagine a job interview: most female applicants are honest - and perfectionist. A dangerous mix.
So for a woman to be confident in confirming "Yes, I can do this job. I can perfectly manage all the tasks described in your job description" she needs to be confident in herself first, that she really IS the best for all the tasks listed. But who is REALLY perfect in anything?
As a lot women feel this pressure of being perfect they would not accept a task unless they are 100% sure they can really do it. They would rather pass and give away this opportunity for personalities who are more easy-going, self-assured and less afraid of failing or being ridiculed.
Whereas many women tend to think "Can I really do this? To be honest I didn't have the chance to gain much experience in this very task yet", many male colleagues would approach the same situations with a confident: "Yes, I'm sure I can do this. I'll just try and learn on the go".
In areas traditionally connected to the male gendered sphere, such as most sports, video-gaming, tech, certain musical instruments, vehicles, construction as well as STEM, girls are still the minority and therefore in a weaker position, lack role models and unfortunately are intimidated by boys at school and laughed at if they fail. This kind of constant negative feedback is of course discouraging and nurturing the feeling in female students that these areas are not for them. As most girls tend to be more cooperative than competitive a hostile environment like this is likely to make them give up and not pursue any career in these fields. For a girl to walk this alternative path she needs to be a quite strong character and immune in her self-confidence, not easy especially for teenagers as the current school system expects students to lay professional foundations in a time of massive physical and psychological changes.
STEM has to become gender neutral in character, the system determining when professional choices are made has to be more age sensitive - especially to the different phases of development in male and female students - and education needs to offer a safe space to fail in order to annihilate all barriers.
WHAT OR WHO INSPIRES YOU?
I'm still feeding off these massive inspirations I enjoyed as a kid: video-games like The Legend of Zelda, certain comics, animations and TV series like Star Trek, movies like The Terminator, toys like The Masters of The Universe and books - above all "The Neverending Story" by Michael Ende, a fantastic philosophical journey to your inner self.
I used to escape in virtual worlds before VR headsets came onto the market - as all kids do. I just chose to still do this as a "grown-up", and to create new worlds to be enjoyed by others as a profession.
WHAT IS YOUR PROUDEST MOMENT/ACCOMPLISHMENT?
When me little country bumpkin got myself a one-way ticket to Tokyo at the age of nineteen (to stay and work as character designer without knowing any word in Japanese)
When I halted my career in digital & tech to go back to school - more specific: to an acting school in London (this turned out to be the most valuable education so far, as I was allowed to study how humans really work)
When I renounced any salary for two years in order to co-found the startup Holodeck VR, staying true to my vision of social VR and fighting off all voices trying to argue we need to build killing games and zombie shooters and thus helped to take the company to its first successful investment round