Ellen Degeneres
Vahchai Thompson
Columbus Technical College
Principals of Management
Jacqueline Harris
July 9, 2016

Abstract

Ellen DeGeneres said it best, “The world is full of a lot of fear and a lot of negativity, and a lot of judgment. I just think people need to start shifting into joy and happiness. As corny as it sounds, we need to make a shift.” ("Ellen Quotes," n.d, para. 1). This means that if people spent more time doing things that pleased versus judging people out of fear and about things they do not understand nor agree with the world would be a better place. Ellen a native of Louisiana never would have thought that her standup comedy would lead to her being one of the top female talk show hosts in the world. She has overcome many adversities in her career from coming out publicly as a lesbian, gender stereotypes, and for being an activist in the LGBTQ community. Through it all she has always kept her quirky sense of humor and her tomboyish style.

Ellen Degeneres
During her interview with Oprah, Ellen described her coming out story she went on to say, “I think I've told you about a dream I had. I was struggling with the idea of coming out—what it would do to my career and to me—and in this dream, I was holding a tiny finch in the palm of my hand. I could feel how much I loved this bird and that it was safe in my hand, and I was reaching in to put it back in its cage—one of these thin, bamboo, beautiful, multitiered cages—and as I was putting the bird back in, I realized that the cage was against a window and the bird could fly out. The bird realized it at the same time I did, and I became the bird. And the bird looked at me and wanted to fly out, but I looked at the bird and said, "But you're safe in here in a beautiful cage. Don't leave. And the bird just looked at me and flew out the window” ("Ellen Interview," 2009, para. 2). She faced a lot of hardship in 1997 when she first announced that she was gay. Her television sitcom, Ellen, was cancelled and she lost a lot of fans and fellowship because she decided to be herself. People were not so open to homosexuality nor the LGBTQ community back then. Mostly due to fear and uncertainties with Aids and HIV, which was at an all-time high in the late 80s and early 90s. Ellen faced ambivalence for coming out as a lesbian woman in a time when sexuality especially homosexuality was frowned upon and not spoken of. Her role as a comedic talk show host took a downward spiral due to the fact that all people could see and focus on was her sexuality. Ellen made a massive comeback in 2003 with her own talk show called The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which is given credit for helping reshape televisions take on sexual identity. Gender roles for women have changed over the past half century because women were taught to be inferior to men and that their job was to be a mother to the children and a housewife. As times changed many women wanted to become more than the social stigma of wife, mother, and homemaker. This change has made it possible for women like Ellen DeGeneres. By allowing her the chance to become one of the most successful activist, talk show host, and actresses in the world. This misfortune has affected her in many ways from losing followers and a sitcom. It has opened more doors than ever such as becoming a LGTBQ activist fighting for gay rights. She became one of the many faces of cover girl and on top of all of that it has given her the strength and courage to marry for love. In 2008 Ellen married long term girlfriend Portia de Rossi in a small ceremony in their home in California. A more recent setback was the resentment for depicting a lesbian couple in the upcoming Disney movie Finding Dory, whom is voiced by DeGeneres.
Public backlash and disappointment from publicly coming out and encouraging other people to live openly and honest with themselves are just some of the barriers that she has had to face. Teaming up with Gap clothing brand, to make girl pride clothing called Gap Kids X ED, is just another stance that has helped with gender stereotypes for girls. According to Gap website, “Introducing Gap Kids x ED, a collaboration dedicated to supporting girls just as they are, whether they skateboard or dance, wear dresses or jeans, build forts or paint rainbows, or everything in between,” “We encourage girls everywhere to take pride in what makes them unique." (Miller, 2015, para. 3) The glass ceiling effect is the invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from advancing to the top jobs in an organization. (Williams, 2016, para. 3) One way the glass ceiling may affect Ellen is by not allowing her the ability to advance in the corporate aspect of the company such as, has a CEO or board member of a prestigious television corporation like NBC. Ellen DeGeneres faced discrimination when she decided to tell the world that she was gay, when she tried to knock down gender biases, and still today because she is an activist for the LGBTQ community. The best leadership style that best fits Ellen DeGeneres are a combination of supportive and participative leader. Supportive because she is approachable and friendly to employees and she shows concern. Participative because she ask her employees for their suggestions and input before making decisions.
Through all of these adversities Ellen has remained strong. She displayed courage when she came out as a lesbian. She shows bravery as she bends the gender roles. Ellen continues to be an advocate for the LGBTQ community; fighting for equal rights for everyone. We all could learn from her character in the film Finding Dory and “Just keep swimming in the g”, meaning that through all of our test and trials we must push through; because in the end we will be stronger.

References
Ellen Degeneres Quotes. (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/ellen_degeneres.html
Ellen’s O Magazine Cover. [Special issue]. (2009). The Oprah Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Oprah-Interviews-Ellen-DeGeneres-Ellens-O-Magazine-Cover
How the Role of Women has Changed. (2014). Retrieved from http://hubpages.com/education/change-in-roles-of-women
Miller, H. (2015). Human Rights Campaign. Retrieved from http://www.hrc.org/blog/ellen-degeneres-teams-up-with-gap-to-defeat-gender-stereotypes
Williams, C. (2016). MGMT8 (8th ed.). Cengage Learning: Cengage Learning.