we.grow at ADE 2023 Mentorship Program presented by shesaid.so and ADE Lab

September 05, 2023 in Mentoring

We are excited to renew our partnership with ADE this year with activities that include a mentoring program for 40 mentors and mentees of all genders and an official shesaid.so space as part of the ADE Lab program on Thursday, October 19th.

we.grow at ADE 2023 is a mentorship program presented by shesaid.so and ADE Lab that connects mentors from the shesaid.so community with mentees selected by the Amsterdam Dance Event team.

This year, the program will focus on 4 areas of the music business, reflecting the tracks that attendees will be able to engage in as part of ADE Lab 2023:

- Artists

- Producers

- Mixed Media

- Music Professionals

The program will feature a total of 20 mentors and 20 mentees, with 5 mentor-mentee pairs per each of the four Lab areas.

Previous shesaid.so mentors come from companies such as Coachella Music Festival, Warner Music, Armada Music, Universal Music Group, YouTube Music, Meta, WME, CAA and more.

Mentors confirmed so far include Ballantine's Global Senior Brand Manager Lucy Andrews, Ghostly International / Spectral Sound's Label Manager of UK & Europe Yasmin Leung, DJ/Producer Cristina Lazic and Meta's Music Artist Partnerships executive Liz Miller, with many more names to be confirmed.

We are excited to return to ADE and create an environment where the global ADE and shesaid.so communities can connect, learn from each other and experience the latest trends in music. shesaid.so Founder, Andreea Magdalina, states:

“The shesaid.so space and mentoring program we.grow at ADE 2023 will give ADE attendees the opportunity to engage with ideas and people that are guided by values rooted in innovation, equity & intersectionality.

Mentor/Mentee Commitment

Read through & apply the information from the mentoring guidelines we share with you prior to their engagement.
Attend shesaid.so events at ADE if logistically possible.
3h of mentorship: spend at least 1h together throughout your ADE attendance and 2h after ADE (3h in total between October 18th and December 31st, 2023).

Applications are now extended for mentees until September 29th, 2023.
Click here to apply.

Open to all genders, with priority given to people from underrepresented communities and disadvantaged backgrounds

MPA x shesaid.so: Coaching for Progress

July 07, 2023 in Mentoring

The MPA (Music Publishers Association) and shesaid.so announced in February 2023 their collaborative coaching/mentorship scheme “Coaching for Progress.” The program is targeted towards mid/senior level established music publishing executives on the verge of moving into senior leadership roles.

Coaching for Progress aims to elevate our mentees through coaching and, as a result, diversify boardrooms.

The programme is designed to promote women into senior management positions because of historical discrimination that has led to male-dominated C-suites.

5 successful applicants commenced with the 4-month programme from March 2023 until July 2023. The 5 successful applicants were paired with carefully chosen and well-suited mentors to coach them through the 4-month programme. Both mentee and coach were provided with training and given handbooks to guide the relationship in order to get the most out of it.

shesaid.so & PRS: Power Up 2023

February 28, 2023 in Mentoring

We joined forces with POWER UP - an ambitious, long-term initiative which supports Black music creators and industry professionals and executives, as well as addressing anti-Black racism and racial disparities in the music sector.

POWER UP called out for an experienced and diverse cohort of mentors to volunteer and get involved in this mentorship scheme, focusing on mentoring outstanding Black music creators and professionals who are at a crucial career tipping point. The mentorship scheme ran in tandem with the POWER UP Participant Programme at the beginning of January 2023, and shesaid.so are the mentoring partner and mentorship managers.

To achieve our aim, POWER UP X shesaid.so looked for acclaimed music professionals, both creators and executives, to mentor and coach future industry leaders.

The mentors had a deep understanding of the barriers faced by Black music professionals; extensive experience within your area or a specialist skill set. It was recommended by POWER UP X shesaid.so that mentor pairs dedicate 2 hours per month to the 4-month scheme.

Mentors were matched with mentees based on experience, aims, needs, background and requirements by a panel of mentoring experts from shesaid.so. Training and support was provided alongside regular check-ins with the shesaid.so mentorship manager.

To check out the success of year 1 and 2, you can click here.

shesaid.so and Keychange launch 2023 edition of we.grow mentoring programme

February 01, 2023 in Mentoring

Following a successful online peer-to-peer we.grow mentoring programme in 2020 and 2021, 2022 saw shesaid.so and Keychange relaunch we.grow to offer industry-led mentorship to Keychange’s cohort of participants who were navigating their way through the global pandemic. We’re proud to announce that 2023 will see the we.grow collaboration continue to work alongside music industry professionals to offer one-to-one mentorship to Keychange’s latest cohort of artists and innovators from 12 countries.

The 2023 we.grow programme will run from March - September 2023, and, today shesaid.so and Keychange launch a call-out for senior music industry professionals and artists to volunteer as mentors for the Keychange participants. The mentors must have a minimum of 7 years experience in the music industry, and will be paired with one of the exceptional, hand-picked Keychange participants all chosen as the leaders of tomorrow by a panel of international industry experts.

If you would like to volunteer to be a we.grow mentor, apply here. We welcome applications from all genders, all backgrounds, and all countries.

The we.grow mentorship collaboration was launched in April 2020, when Keychange and shesaid.so united to develop a bespoke peer-to-peer mentoring programme for women and gender expansive artists and innovators. This collaboration endured throughout the pandemic, providing invaluable connections and professional support through difficult times, by bringing more than 100 mentoring pairs together for both peer-to-peer sessions, as well as providing participants with mentorship from music industry professionals from multiple sectors.

we.grow aims to address trends of growing concern in the music industry - women and gender expansive artists and innovators not showing the confidence they need in order to fulfill their career goals, and a lack of senior role models. This project seeks to explore some of the drivers of these trends and to equip participants to address any challenges they may face. A key part of this is ensuring that women and gender expansive professionals from all backgrounds have the opportunity to meet, learn and be motivated by positive role models.

Meet the Keychange Participants for 2023 here.

About shesaid.so

shesaid.so is a global independent community of women and gender nonconforming people in the music industry. The shesaid.so community consists of women and gender nonconforming people from all sectors of the music industry: from record labels, artist management companies, and booking agencies, through to technology platforms, creative agencies, composers, artists and more. With headquarters in London and LA, shesaid.so has 18 global chapters around the world including France, Spain, and Sweden, to name a few. A majority of their members are decision-makers in their fields, and they are increasingly welcoming more and more young people to the network as well. Their mission is to connect and empower underrepresented communities towards a more equitable music industry for all, one woman or gender-nonconforming person at a time. shesaid.so organise interactive events for their members and extended network, as well as showcases that shed a light on talented artists and their representatives and work towards increasing the number of women/gender nonconforming people who progress in their careers with our mentoring program we.grow.

About Keychange

Keychange is a pioneering international initiative which transforms the future of music by encouraging festivals and music organisations to achieve at least 50% women and gender expansive artists and professionals in their programming, staffing and beyond. 74 emerging artists and innovators each year from across Europe and Canada will take part in international festivals, showcase events, collaborations and a programme of creative labs. Keychange aims to accelerate change and create a better, more inclusive music industry for present and future generations.

Keychange encourages all music organisations, festivals, venues, broadcasters, agencies and beyond to take the Keychange Pledge and to work towards a representative music industry. Join the Keychange Pledge at keychange.eu.

Keychange is led by Reeperbahn Festival, PRS Foundation and Musikcentrum Öst, supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, in partnership with Tallinn Music Week, Iceland Airwaves, BIME, Oslo World, Linecheck/Music Innovation Hub, Ireland Music Week, SACEM, Sound City, Way Out West, Different Sounds, MaMA Festival, MUTEK and Breakout West.

Keychange Ambassadors are Shirley Manson, Imogen Heap, Tony Visconti, Alexa Feser, Dermot O’Leary, Hinds, Emily Eavis, Nadine Shah, Paulette Long OBE, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, iskwē, Corinne Bailey Rae, Joy Denalane, Kate Nash, Sara Potente, Ave Tölpt, planningtorock, Jess Partridge, Carla Marie Williams, Claire Edwardes, Avtomat, Karolina Czarnecka, Darcy Proper, Tones and I, Tegan and Sara, Margherita Vicario, Claudia Pereira, Brisa Fenoy, Linnea Henriksson, Mari Boine, Samsaya, AURORA, First Lady of Iceland Eliza Reid, Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, Peaches, James Foley, LYDMOR, Flore Benguigui, Andreea Gleeson, Ätna, Suzie Kerstgens and Alice Phoebe Lou.