Powerhouse Conversations: Black Women in Music Business Build Bridges
Image credit: Autumn Prather. Pictured from left: Averianna The Personality, Rev. Soundrea Tolbert, Gina Miller, Ashley Curry, Piper Jones and Kellee Halford.
Scarritt Bennett Center and MOJO Impact Collective hosted the third in a series of lunch and learn networking events entitled Powerhouse Conversations on June 17th in Bennett Hall on the Scarritt Bennett Campus.
In honor of Black Music Month, established by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, the session was focused on Black women in the music business. Ashley Curry, editor of Urbaanite Nashville, moderated the panel which included Piper Jones, Kellee Halford, Gina Miller and Averianna The Personality. Read their bios here.
After a luncheon of cheese manicotti with turkey Bolognese, brussels sprouts, wilted kale salad & garlic bread with lemon bars for dessert, Curry pulled the panelists together and began what would become a lively, truth telling session. Although each of the panelists occupy different spaces in the music business, each of them has had to make their own way out of no way, building bridges as they walked, creating opportunities for themselves and others in a business traditionally dominated by men.
In her opening query, Curry asked the panel what the one thing about the music business they wish someone had told them. Halford shared the importance of cultivating contacts and resources, noting the importance of growing community along the journey. Miller noted that growing up in ‘the hood’ honed her entrepreneurial instinct at an early age, an instinct which continued to be a trailblazing tool in her own professional journey.
Each of the panelists were ‘firsts’ at many points in their careers. Curry asked the women if they had experienced moments when their fear was louder than their confidence. Averianna The Personality said that fear has always been present for black women in the music business, who are often seen as the bottom of the bottom. Her devotion to research, training and staying in close discernment with God helped her find her own voice and in doing so she has become the voice of the city.
Curry led the group in a Nashville reality check, lifting up the lack of opportunities for Black women in the music business. Halford, who founded the Nashville Black Music Association, shared that when she didn’t see the thing she needed, she built it. A true study in way making, she encouraged those gathered to keep building bridges along their journey so that the next generation of Black women in music will benefit.
Jones said she liked to be in her own lane because there isn’t any competing traffic. She shared that forging her own way had not been easy and that she has had to diversify and make some tough decisions. Jones is now at a place in her career where she can make her own music – not just music for everyone else. Miller, pointing out her senior status among the group, shared that counterintuitively, she had to take passion out of her professional life because so many things excited her about the music business.
If you missed this Powerhouse Conversation, we encourage you to find these leaders on social media and follow the next steps in their exciting careers. And, if you are a woman of color in the music business, reach out in solidarity and let them know you are making your own way, every day.
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