ARIEL KING 6:30 AM, TUESDAY, 03/21/2023 NEWS
While Pollstar may have had a difficult time narrowing down our Women of Live list due to the sheer number of fantastic women in the industry, there is still a long way to go. White women make up 26.9% of the entire music business, underrepresented women 8.4% and Black women just 3%, according to USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s 2021 study. In live music, white women are 30.8% of the workforce, underrepresented women 9% and Black women only 1.7%.
Noelle Scaggs’ Diversify The Stage works to level the playing field and help provide opportunities for people who may not have the same advantages as others. Her organization allows numerous young music industry professionals to get their start, teaming them up with mentors and helping them land some of their first jobs in the music business.
After taking part in Diversify The Stage’s apprenticeship program and establishing careers of their own, alumni including Maythe Santos, Carmen Walker and Em Garcia hope to one day pay it forward.
“I am now in a position of management power in one of my working spaces, and I hired two Latinas as my assistants,” Santos, who identifies as a queer, undocumented Latina, tells Pollstar. She wears numerous hats, including artist hospitality, working as the hospitality manager at the Salt Shed in Chicago, merch coordinator at Ten Atoms and freelancing on tours.
“Not everyone’s going to look like you,” she says. “But to know that there are others like you, it truly makes a difference. I remember when we first started Diversify The Stage, I was in that first cohort, and I could almost cry at how beautiful it was to see so many women of color and folks who I won’t see in a workplace. I can go to a show and see who’s in charge here. And unfortunately, most of the time it’s not going to be women of color or non-binary folks or just representing folks out there.”
Santos is hopeful that, with Diversify The Stages and other organizations aiming to promote intersectionality and equality in the music industry, the new changes she’s been a part of are only the beginning. She remembers spotting a Diversify The Stages sticker on the TVs at a Live Nation venue in Chicago. Seeing that small representation immediately made Santos feel more at home.
“It’s simple,” she says of how venues, companies, artist teams and the rest of the industry can make themselves more welcoming to people of color, gender non-conforming folk and everyone else.
Walker, an A&R manager, has been in the business for around five years. She got her start with internships while still an undergrad. As a young Black woman in the industry, she’s finding confidence within herself and recognizing her perspective matters.
“Being youthful in an industry that’s ever-changing, they want our input,” Walker says. “They want us to contribute. But I don’t think we’ve really gotten the training or preparedness to show up in rooms as confident professionals.”
Her personal aim has been to share with other young professionals that confidence matters and the best way to move forward is to stop stepping in your own way. “Being in certain spaces, you can really psych yourself out,” she shares. “I found that looking between me and my other counterparts, I put a lot of weight on myself and my own journey. A lot of expectations that were not put onto me, just by how I feel I show up in the space. I think battling with the stereotypical experience of what people are expecting of me versus showing up as who I am has been the biggest challenge throughout the years.”