Introducing She Knows Tech

Each year after the GRAMMY Awards, the USC Annenberg Institute releases a study on the representation of gender and race across the music industry. This year’s study, released back in January, looks at 800 popular songs from 2012 - 2019. We know women are under-represented across all facets of the music industry, but even so, seeing the hard data is nothing short of shocking.

For every female artist, there are 3.6 male artists. And that is just the beginning. As we look into the creative and technical roles (i.e. songwriters and producers) the ratio drops significantly. For every female producer, there are 37 male producers. While 56% of 800 popular songs had an all-male songwriting team, less than 1% had an all-female songwriting team. The list goes on. We implore you to read this study in its entirety.

So, where are the women in our industry? We are simply not included, celebrated, or represented enough, and She Knows Tech is here to change that.

Our start

We began as an all-women student collective at Berklee College of Music’s Valencia campus in 2017, motivated by the lack of women faculty members in our Music Production department. Having founded the group, Jasmine Kok continued growing the She Knows Tech initiative on campus and beyond, and Meghan Smyth joined as co-founder in Fall 2019.

She Knows Tech (SKT) is a community that not only showcases and celebrates women in music tech, but also provides education and mentorship to advance the careers of our members. Ultimately, we aim to close the industry’s gender gap by focusing on strengthening our presence in more technical roles.

We have built a platform around organizing and hosting Workshops, Masterclasses, Tech Training Programs and Panel discussions. Since April 2020, we’ve made all of our events virtual, which has allowed us to grow beyond Berklee’s walls and into the broader online music community.

Our Purpose & Goal

She Knows Tech’s mission is to close the music industry’s gender gap and to dispel the notion that womxn are just not interested in music production and technology. We do this by:

• Providing a platform for womxn to give and receive training in music technology.
• Highlighting female-identifying professionals in the music technology industry as role models.
• Creating a safe space for open discussion about ways to close the industry's gender gap.

We are well on our way to building a strong community of producers, engineers, and artists throughout the global music industry. We are made up of students and professionals at all stages of their careers, and we are deeply rooted in education and lifelong learning. She Knows Tech will continue to support our growing community, which we see as a space for womxn to learn, sharpen their skills, find support, and create new opportunities for one another across the industry.

Closing the gender gap

The experts teaching our Courses and running our Masterclasses, Workshops, and Panels are all female-identifying. It is invaluable for students and younger members to learn from womxn in creative and technical roles in the music industry. This representation validates our students’ career goals and creates an environment where they feel accepted right from the start of a session.

Many SKT events are actually open for all to attend, regardless of gender. It’s crucial for our male allies to learn from successful womxn, too. We want to shift everyone’s mental stereotype of what it means to be a music producer, songwriter, engineer, or music executive. It’s no secret that today, the vast majority of these positions are held by men.

Music is an essential aspect of most cultures across the world. At its core, music is an innately inclusive form of self-expression, communication, storytelling, and art. Artists around the world are supported by the ecosystem of producers, engineers, and executives, and we believe the quality, relatability, and stylistic diversity of music would improve with a more diverse group of people behind the scenes. At She Knows Tech, we have made it our main focus to close the music industry’s gender gap, and we know our impact will only be stronger because we are building a racially and economically diverse community as well.

Events and programs

As well as the type of events previously outlined, She Knows Tech also holds community-based events that help us get to know one another and practice our skills - from performances and production competitions to networking events and mentorship sessions. In addition to all of these successful programs, we have many new and exciting events planned for 2021, including an amazing virtual conference - the She Knows Tech Summit - to celebrate International Women’s Day in March. This conference is open to all, and early bird tickets sales end on Jan 24th, 2021! Check out our summit website, and stay tuned to our social media channels as we announce more information on how to join our movement!

Guest bloggers

Jasmine Kok is the founder of She Knows Tech. She is a songwriter, topliner, artist, producer, and educator based in Valencia, Spain.

Meghan Smyth is co-founder of She Knows Tech and an artist-focused streaming platform called Sparrow Live. She is a Boston-based software engineer and audio engineer, and her passion lies at the intersection of music, visual art, and technology.