Today we’d like to introduce you to Karrie Keyes.
Mission Statement: “To inspire and empower the next generation of women in audio. Our mission is to create a supportive community for women in audio and music production, providing the tools, knowledge, and support to further their careers.”
Vision: SoundGirls supports women working in professional audio and music production by highlighting their success and providing a place for them to connect, network, and share advice and experiences.
SoundGirls provides support, career development, and tools to help those working in the field advance in their career. SoundGirls works to inspire and empower young women and girls to enter the world of professional audio and music production.
SoundGirls seeks to expand opportunities for girls and women in these fields and to share resources and knowledge through cooperation, collaboration, and diversity.
SoundGirls.Org was formed in 2013 by veteran live sound engineers Karrie Keyes and Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato and operates under the Fiscal Sponsorship of The California Women’s Music Festival, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
In 2012, Karrie Keyes and Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato participated in the “Women of Professional Concert Sound” panel at the AES Conference in San Francisco. This experience was how incredibly powerful the panelists. They had all been in the business for 20 years or more, yet most of them had never met before that day and within minutes they bonded like long-lost sisters. They were struck by how similar their experiences, work ethics and passions were and wondered why their paths had never crossed and how their careers would have been different had they been there to support each other through the years.
They were empowered. Each of them had been asked hundreds of times in their careers: Are there other women doing sound? How did you get into sound? How would a young woman go about getting into sound? SoundGirls was established to provide women working in professional audio for a community to come to for support and advice, and for empowerment and inspiration.
Since that time SoundGirls has grown into an international organization with over 4,000 members worldwide. With chapters worldwide, they offer scholarships, mentorships, job placement, business development and workshops. They strongly believe in “You Can’t Be What You Can’t See” and feature a monthly profile on Women in Audio as well as monthly bloggers that share their experiences and expertise.
Each year SoundGirls launches an initiative that addresses lack of diversity in the audio industry, starting The Directory of Women in Professional Audio and Production, which is a useful tool when people say “they want to hire women but can’t find any.” They encourage their members to enter their information and share the directory with their peers and colleagues. Last year they launched SoundGirls Productions which provides employment and mentorships for women. They encourage members to share this resource within their networks and call them for your rental and crew needs in Los Angeles. For 2018, they want to move the conversation about lack of diversity in audio to proactive steps they can take to change this.
Karrie Keyes – Executive Director and Co-Founder:
Hailing from Los Angeles, Karrie has spent the last 25 plus years as the monitor engineer for Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder. Karrie started out doing sound for punk bands in Los Angeles in 1986 under the tutelage of Dave Rat of Rat Sound, where she spent twenty years helping to establish the company. She was able to gain an immense amount of hands-on experience and technical knowledge at Rat, which eventually led to her becoming the monitor engineer for The Red Hot Chili Peppers from 1990-2000. She first met and started working with Pearl Jam who opened for RHCP on their 1991-1992 Blood Sugar Sex Magic Tour. She has worked with Sonic Youth, Fugazi, and Neil Young.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
We have not faced struggles per say, just took time to build our community and what issues are most important to work on.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with SoundGirls and SoundGirls Productions – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We are focused on supporting women that work in professional audio, which is a male-dominated field. We provide feature profiles each month on a woman working in audio. We have over ten female monthly bloggers that share their experience and expertise. We have over 15 chapters worldwide that develop workshops, seminars and socials for their members.
We have established a directory of women in music production, to help connect people looking to hire women on their crews or to work with female producers and engineers. We run Sound Camps for Girls (ages 12 – 18) to introduce them to this career field. We offer job training, mentorships and internships. This year we launched SoundGirls Productions to provide jobs and training for our members.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
To keep going. This year we are working on pro-active steps we as an industry can take to become more inclusive. We are also working to address sexual harassment and assault in the industry.
Contact Info:
- Address: 145 Chrisman Ave Ventura CA 93001
- Website: www.soundgirls.org
- Email: soundgirls@soundgirls.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soundgirls/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/SoundGirlsOrg/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoundGirlsOrg
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
