Building a Global Nonprofit that Advances Gender Equity

When I started what is now We Make Noise, I didn’t plan to build a global organization — I was trying to survive in the music industry. The short version:

• I was unhappy as an artist and actively planning a transition.
• I was one of the only women working for an array of music-tech companies.
• My private students — almost all women — kept telling me the same thing: I explained things in a way they understood and made them feel powerful.

That chorus — and those people — pointed me toward the mission.

Back then, the “fix” was an IndieGoGo campaign to fund an online music-production curriculum — before the internet was overflowing with tutorials. I launched it with one of my artist releases to drive awareness. Within a few months, we were fully funded, and the Lower Eastside Girls Club invited us to incubate the program in their space and community.

It all happened very quickly. Before I fully understood what I was building, I found myself in a major sink-or-swim moment — in front of a classroom of 13-year-old girls, teaching them how to sequence MIDI in Ableton using a Push 1. If you’ve never taught a room full of pre-teen girls, let me tell you: It is exhilarating, hilarious and, still to this day, the most nervous I’ve ever felt while teaching. The questions come fast, the energy is real, and every minute demands clarity, patience and purpose. It was baptism by fire — and it was the moment I knew that I loved teaching and that this work mattered.

Growing Momentum and Opening Doors

After a few years, momentum kicked in — slowly at first, then all at once. So much of my artist career felt like an uphill climb, but when I focused on advocacy, the friction eased and doors started opening. We launched our first chapters in Minneapolis and Los Angeles, and the circle widened. I accepted a full-time role at Berklee College of Music and moved from New York City to Boston. More chapters followed, and with each one, new opportunities kept arriving.

It’s 12 years later, and that circle has a name and a global footprint: We Make Noise (WMN). We’ve grown up alongside our community — maturing our programming for early and emerging creatives, deepening our partnerships and network, and building pathways that go beyond first contact to focus on real professional opportunity. We remain grounded in our core principles — education, community, opportunity — and we’ve evolved to meet our creators’ needs as they grow with us.

My Story and Approach

My entry into music tech wasn’t smooth. I didn’t have anyone to show me the ropes, so in 2006 I taught myself — mostly by Googling terms, equipment and processes. That led to a lot of tutorial videos and plenty of trial and error. I took whatever I learned and applied it to what I was doing, stumbling forward until concepts clicked. It was the opposite of easy, but it unlocked something in me: I could finally name the ideas that had been floating in my head and shape them in sound. I became obsessed. With each new skill, I had another tool to express my musicianship — the process was difficult but empowering.

That DIY learning curve ended up shaping my entire career. I discovered how many people — especially women — quietly shared my experience: feeling powerless over their careers and even over how their own music sounded. With me, they felt safe and powerful. Because I had taught myself with a songwriter’s brain, I could translate concepts and tools into language that made sense. What I didn’t fully recognize at first was that I also had both high-level musicianship and technical chops — skills the industry historically split into separate roles. Being able to flex both sides at once made me distinctive and, ultimately, employable.

Once I figured it out for myself, it felt like a responsibility to teach the next person — and the next — and watch them carry it back to their own communities. A teach-forward chain. Looking back, that version of me was audacious and a little naïve — but relentless effort, an entrepreneurial mindset and good timing turned it into reality.

My teaching has always been intentionally hands-on — leading with the musical tool and not the technical function. I taught signal flow by co-writing songs and recording vocals, automation by shaping emotion, arrangement by moving blocks on a screen until the song felt like it was breathing. I mimicked my own experience and built confidence through completion: one beat, one loop, one verse, one song, one set — repeat. Believe it or not, I’ve taken plenty of flak from the old guard for leading with music first in music-tech education — songs before software manuals. But that approach is exactly what set me apart.

What We’ve Built (So Far): A Snapshot of Impact

As our community has advanced and spread across the world, we’ve evolved alongside it. Early on, our focus was foundational production and engineering literacy; now, our mandate is to get people into the rooms where the work — and the magic — happens. Here are a few of those highlights and programs.

The Hub (Digital Membership Platform): The We Make Noise Hub centralizes workshops, short courses, certifications, office hours and opportunities for our global community. We’ve welcomed 500+ members, delivered six branded online courses and certifications with leading music-tech partners, and we have seen direct industry hires as a result. Members get practical perks — discounts, job postings, feedback sessions with publishers and supervisors — and they join a living network of peers and mentors who they can actually reach.

WMN Sessions (Songwriting & Production Camps): We Make Noise Sessions are multi-day songwriting and production retreats for women and gender-expansive creators to craft material for today’s rising and established artists. They bypass gate-kept opportunities, putting our people directly in rooms they’re rarely invited into. In the past four years, 236 participants have attended; 71 earned writing/production/engineering credits across 22 releases. These camps are powered by long-standing partners including Sweetwater, The Music District, Amazon Music, She Sounds, She Is The Music and more.

Label and Releases: The We Make Noise Label exists to carry the baton across the finish line. A signature moment was “Let Me Be Water” with artist/activist Madame Gandhi — a 10-song album born in our 2023 camp that helped 40+ participants earn professional credits. The project is now under GRAMMY® consideration (New Age), and whether we win or not, it demonstrates how an equitable process can produce competitive outcomes.

Revenue-Sharing and Hiring: We always try to tie opportunity to income. Between being the only non-profit in-house label within Splice, as well as a partnership with BandLab, we have hired 38 creators and raised/made $85,000+ in revenue and shared it with contributors. That matters. It models how learning pipelines can become earning pipelines and shows students, parents and partners what equitable economics looks like at the ground level.

Global Presence and Spanish-Speaking Communities: So much of our progress comes from partnering with local leaders worldwide. Our multi-country chapter network runs programs tailored to each scene — then plugs into a global pipeline of education, community and opportunity. In Spanish-speaking regions, growth has accelerated through our BIME (Bilbao/Bogotá) partnership and includes co-programmed panels, WMN-led sessions and direct connections to decision-makers across Spain and Latin America. In 2025, we hosted our first fully Spanish WMN Sessions in Madrid, uniting artists, writers and producers from Europe and LATAM — and proving that the model travels and thrives.

Where We’re Going Next

It still feels like we’re building the plane while flying it. On paper it looks big. In practice it’s been 12 years of trial, error and writing our own playbook, which is hard, messy and worth it.

Next year, we’re doubling down on opportunity and professional development.

Our focus:

• Pipelines: more direct routes from learning to paid work.
• Creator program: connect our community’s content makers with industry partners.
• Credits: increase writing/production/engineering credits from WMN Sessions and label projects.
• Placements: more jobs, internships and commissioned work.
• Credentials: additional certifications and skill badges that translate to hireability.
• Show floor demos and visibility: more stage time, more hands-on, more proof of talent.

More credits. More checks. More careers in motion.

I didn’t set out to build a global non-profit. I wanted to open a door and then keep it open long enough for a bunch of people to walk through. My hope was for some to hold the door open for the next person. The one thing that I want fellow educators to take from our journey: Design the room you wish you had when you were learning, then fill it with people who will push, support and do the work together. The rest — partners, programs, press, even awards — follows the evidence of what your learners can do.