The Squirrelly Girls: Colleen Walz, Kari Jensen Thomas & Gina Sauer
 

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Embracing Our Chick-ness:
Three best friends launch a hot new product and lend legitimacy to a formerly un-p.c.term

Recent years have witnessed an interesting linguistic phenomenon whereby a few select terms have taken a circuitous route from acceptable, to politically incorrect, and back again. Queer, for example, has of late transcended its once derogatory status to be reclaimed by the gay community. And so it is with “chick.” Once a dismissive term used to belittle and objectify women, it’s been gaining increasing acceptance among a new generation of chicks who have infused it with a fresh, hip connotation. “Chick” is popping up all over—in the names of cosmetics lines, radio shows, and a trendy new form of female bonding called The Chick Game®. 

Created by three Twin Cities women who call themselves Squirrelly Girls, Inc., The Chick Game® is a conversation game for women played on girls’ nights out, at bridal showers, bachelorette parties and birthday parties, and as part of class reunions. Its appeal is that it poses questions about all the things women find themselves talking about anyway: old boyfriends, best friends, family relationships, high school and college memories, and their individual likes, dislikes and quirks. Think of it as a license to dish the dirt. And of course there’s the all-important packaging; with its funky purse-like carrying case and colorful, retro logo, The Chick Game® doesn’t look like a game at all. 

The Squirrelly Girls—Kari Jensen Thomas, Colleen Walz and Gina Sauer—defied the odds and took The Chick Game® from bright idea to retail shelf in just nine months. Not bad, considering that only an estimated 3% of all products ever make it to retail, and that none of the Squirrelly Girls had any prior experience in the game or gift industry. Nevertheless, they were determined to do it all themselves, from writing the game’s questions and instructions, to designing the graphics and logo, to creating the web site, to marketing, all while continuing to work their day jobs. Now, just a year and a half later, The Chick Game® is found in boutiques across the country and has been the subject of media attention in the Twin Cities and beyond.  

The Squirrelly Girls attribute their success to their strong commitment to each other and to their product—and to having an intimate knowledge of what their target audience wants. Says Sauer, who first came up with the idea while her mind wandered at particularly long stoplight, “Kari and Colleen are the perfect partners for this project, not just because they’re my friends and they’re so talented, but because they are both really good at being ‘chicks’.” So how do the Squirrelly Girls define “chick”?  

“A ‘chick’ is a woman who enjoys all the traditional girly stuff, like shopping and make-up and designer shoes, but who is anything but traditional in her approach to life,” says Sauer. Adds Walz, the talent behind the game’s logo and graphics, “A chick plays by her own rules, loves spending time with her friends, and is confident enough to laugh at herself.” And confident enough to embrace a label once considered paternalistic. 

“My husband is scared to talk about the game in front of women,” laughs Thomas. “He thinks it’s a great game, but he’s afraid that women will be offended if he says the word ‘chick’.” In true chick fashion she adds, “I told him to get over it.”  

In a similar display of chick phobia, a liquor company recently refused to include the Squirrelly Girls’ signature beverage, the Chicktini^TM, in its advertising, fearing it might offend female bar patrons. Recalls Walz, “A local night spot also took down our sign advertising a girls’ night out event because it included the word ‘chick’.” She adds, “Of course, the only ones who were worried about it were guys.”

But the Squirrelly Girls aren’t too concerned about things like that. They’re too focused on growing their business and getting chicks talking. And if they can help make “chick” not just acceptable but downright empowering in the process, so much the better.