Berklee College of Music

Women in Music Berklee: Reflection Paper

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of
Master of Arts in Global Entertainment and Music Business

Supervisor: Clara Barberá

By: Tayler Mooney

Valencia Campus, Spain
July 2019

Table of Contents
I.

Introduction

3

II.

Process

3

III.

Results

5

IV.

Next Steps

12

Contribution to my profession

13

Conclusion

13

V.
VI.

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I.

Introduction
The gender divide all across the nation is staggering when it comes to any industry with a

masculine history in leadership roles. Particularly the gender gap in the music industry is
evident. All around the world we’re seeing women take a stand and creating an alliance with one
another to fight for equality. There are now numerous collations like She said so, Decades, She is
the Music, and Women in Music working to make a change. I was immensely excited to be a
part of Women in Music Berklee as this year’s Production Manager. Over the course of six
months, my teammates and I consisting of Constanza Rivera, Maria Guzman, Clara Barberá and
organized and executed a total of thirteen events, album launch, and three curated live
performances.

II.

Process
From very early on I could tell this group’s dynamic was different from any other teams I

have been on in the past. Due to the fact that I had done school projects with MJ (Maria) and
Connie (Constanza) before, I was rightfully skeptical about how our working relationship would
pan out over the course of six months. As the role of Production Manager, I was in charge of
planning and executing every event. However, as the course of the semester furthered I took on a
greater role as overall Operations Manager because I felt my teammates weren’t taking enough
initiative in their roles to grow Women in Music Berklee from the previous year. Although the
events were successful I honestly struggled physically, emotionally, and mentally with the
amount of coursework from my program, practicum, and this project. I had to rely on the help
from my colleagues outside of the project to get the job done. At times I was doing the marketing
role, finalizing album details, and the overall narrator for things that should have been my

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teammates’ responsibility. It got to the point where they weren’t even showing up nor
communicating their absences in weekly meetings spearheaded by Clara Baberá as well as other
events planned by Women in Music. Often it became very difficult in handling business without
a clear channel of communication. My hope was that this year we would come together instead
of working on two different teams to get the job done. However, this was not the case. As
mentioned above, I had to pull in people from outside of the team to facilitate the running of
Women in Music. One of these people was the Student Affairs Graduate Fellow, Jasmine Pkok.
Throughout this year, she was my greatest ally. She was most helpful when I needed
communications to be sent out to the student body, help reserving rooms on campus and overall
advice about leading an organization alone. Our mentor, Clara Barberá, especially was an
amazing supporter as well. She really helped to guide me in the right direction to make sure I
was on track for success and that I wasn’t going overboard with my ideas. It was evident that she
had the same passion I had for the cause. However, because Clara is the Director of Student
Affairs, it was difficult at times to fit into her busy schedule which ultimately left more pressure
on my hands because she trusted I would get the job done. I did understand that last year’s team
was organically amazing. However, I think that a little more time spent molding the team
dynamic would have led to a greater outcome with even more accomplishments this year. For
instance, having interviews with the candidates that applied for these positions to truly
understand where their passion lies for this organization. All in all, this year was a learning
experience for all of us.

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III.

Results

Below are some following events that were accomplished by the Women in Music
Berklee team in the amount of six months. These were the most time consuming and strenuous to
complete and most rewarding at the same time.

G-ALL Talk
We held an Informational Session for WIM as a great
way for students to understand our cause, how to get
involved, and for us to learn more about them. For the
session, I purchased a platter of sandwiches, I created a signup sheet for students to sign upon arrival, presentation, and a
type-form to send to those who attended the event afterward.
Although I was completely prepared no one came, my team
members were even late to the meeting. Although I was very
frustrated, I learned early on that I had to be more hands-on when it
came to marketing for WIM as well as executing my role. As this
was our first official event marketing should have placed posters all
around campus, multiple Instagram post, and emailed through
student affairs for students to know about it. It was a learning
experience for our team because undergrads didn’t have class on
Fridays and most would be traveling throughout the week. We did
take this into account when planning the other events.

5

Femaletronica
On March 8th, 2019, She knows Tech and Women
in Music Berklee came together to orchestrate Berklee’s
first-ever Femaletronica. This event took place at
Contrapunto’s outside venue. Femaletronica is an allfemale electronic concert celebrating International
Women's Day. Working with Jasmine Pkok, SKT’s founder was stress-free and fun. She truly
had every piece of the organization of the event under control. For this event, I was merely
administrative help with organizing the communication for performers and the production team.
I also ran errands for the event and prepared a small introduction before the beginning of the
concert to explain what WIM was all about. The event ran smoothly and exceeded the target of
100 plus attendees, all ranging from Berklee Valencia students, faculty, and members of the
Valencian community

6

Girl Talk with Yvette
On March 13th, 2019 eleven students
were selected to join us in an intimate dinner
at Sorsi e Morsi Restaurant with Yvette
Noel-Schure. A week prior I created a typeform with two questions to survey the
students to see who would benefit most if
they attended this event. Because our funds
were limited WIM could only afford to pay
for no more than fifteen meals including the team, and Yvette’s dinner. Planning this event was
extremely difficult because the week prior Femaletronica was happening and I was also planning
Yvette’s award ceremony that took place two days later. It was hard to confirm a restaurant that
was in close proximity to the school, friendly to the vegan diet, and away from busy streets
because Las Fallas had just started. Even with all of those difficulties I was able to pull it off.
The conversations at the table were heartwarming and encouraging. The students left with their
bellies and hearts full. I will never forget this day.

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Berklee College of Music honors Yvette Noel-Schure with ‘Master of Global
Entertainment’ Award Ceremony
On March 14th, 2019, Yvette Noel-Schure received Berklee’s first Global Entertainment
Award in the Berklee Library. When starting to plan this event with the WIM team and Emilien
Moyon, Global Entertainment and Music Business Program Director, I knew that this event had
to be top-notch. The memorable poster and slideshow were created by the GEMB student Casey
Miller. Because there was a capacity for the library, I had to create an RSVP typeform in order to
ensure that every attendee would have a seat. I then selected two separate bands to perform at the
beginning and end of the ceremony. One band included three percussionist and live DJ to play
songs from past and present artist Yvette had worked with during her career all over a live island
beat. The other band arrangement was one singer, electric guitarist, and percussionist who

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performed three songs as well. My next task was to have another form of art represented in the
ceremony. The talented GEMB student, Zoe Schneider, performed a heartfelt spoken word
bibliography about Mrs. Noel-Schure. Followed by this performance, I was blessed with the
opportunity to interview Mrs. Yvette during the ceremony. Although I was currently sick and
very nervous, I can now look back and say I am very grateful for the opportunity to step outside
of my comfort zone. Mrs. Yvette was overwhelmed with the amount of love, support, and detail
put into this event. It was pretty cool to see that the ceremony had made it to top media news on
Billboard and Variety’s publications. Sadly, my team was not helpful in organizing anything
during this event besides ordering Grenadian flags for the ceremony from Amazon.

Acceptance of Self Workshop
On April 24th, 2019 in Sala Blanca
nineteen students celebrated Mental Health
Awareness Week. I partnered with Maria Zara,
Berklee’s counselor, to the kick off the Mental
Health Awareness Week. It was Maria’s great
idea into bringing Sierra Cornell, Berklee’s
yoga ambassador, to help facilitate this
workshop. Maria’s lecture and mindfulness activity focused on supporting one another,
acknowledging struggles, celebrating the resiliency, and continuing to work toward
positive body imagery and mental health. Even though I created an RSVP type-form for this
event I was particularly shocked at the number of students that participated. However, sadly no
one from the WIM team joined in attending this event.

9

Hike for the Mind
On April 28th, 2019 forty students
and two representatives from the WIM team
traveled to Chulilla Hiking Trails to hike
15km in honor of Mental Health Awareness
Week. I organized this excursion with
International VIP Valencia tours, a local tour
company that specializes in student-based activities. It was especially difficult for me to find a
company within our budget that included transportation, English speaking guide, and necessary
insurance coverage. I also created a document that had every participants passport, personal
contact and emergency contact, and allergy information in case of an emergency. Although one
student sprained his ankle, I received over fifteen personal emails over the following week
inquiring about the next hiking trip. I believe that this event should be available to students every
year going forward.

10

Musaico Music Festival
On May 4th, 2019 the Women in
Music Berklee band graced the stage to
perform the top four songs from our newly
released album SOMEONE. Because I was
already involved with Musaico as the
Partnerships & Sponsorships Manager it
was easy to secure a spot on the B stage.
The songs were selected by the Artistic Director, Casey Driessen. I schedule three rehearsal with
and curated an all-female universal band to make sure that our set wouldn’t go over the allowed
20-minute set. It was very difficult working with the artist due to time conflicts because most of
them were also part of other festival performances. The week before the festival I was at school
until 2 a.m. each day working on the performances and Musaico. At the last minute, our pianist
had to drop out because of a back injury, she was replaced with a male counterpart who
supported WIM’s cause. I had the opportunity to go on stage to introduce and explain what WIM
is all about. All the while the performance went well and our streams from the album increased. I
was also able to secure WIM a promotional table in Musaico’s “Social Village.” Along with our
upbeat performance, WIM’s informational merchandise (banner and stickers) expounded our
mission and efforts to the Valencian community that attended the music festival.

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IV.

Next steps
As this year comes to an end, I can’t help but smile in amazement at all that was

accomplished in this small amount of time. Women in Music Berklee is just getting started, and I
can’t wait to see the next group of women and men to take what we have built and create
greatness.
Before the next team is selected I think there should be a reevaluation of the team roles.
Firstly, I think this organization would benefit from having four members instead of three. It
could be the current student affairs graduate fellow assisting or another GEMB student given a
role, this addition could help the overall success of the organization. I think the role of Artistic
Curator was quite useless and at times left Connie with nothing to do. I think the following roles
and job descriptions would be more beneficial for the organization.
•

Operational Manager

•

Production Coordinator

•

Communications & Marketing Coordinator

•

Partnership Coordinator
Secondly, I think implementing check-in meetings with the supervisor three times during

the semester would also be helpful to ensure that the student is doing well and on track with their
CE.
This year we have pushed the door open on creating a lasting relationship with HQ in
New York. I would like for the next chapter to have an informational page on the WIM website
and for them to promote our content more frequently on their main social media channels.
Personally, I would love the opportunity to take what I have started back to my hometown,
Houston, Texas. I had the opportunity to sit down with Neeta Ragoowansi, Women in Music’s

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Global Co-Chair of Chapter Expansion, on starting my own chapter post-graduation. My goal is
to have Women in Music Houston by 2020.
V.

Contribution to my profession
Ultimately, Event Production is the career path I want to follow within the live

entertainment industry, my position at Women in Music Berklee will allow me to continue to
further develop my skills and support, tangibly, that I am capable of thriving under pressure.
Working in the live industry I will always be on some type of team and this CE has taught me
about cultural differences in expectations and how to always remain respectful at the end of the
day. I would say this project has been an eye-opener for me. This position has taught me the art of
delegating task and being an assertive leader. These are the following things I also learned:
•

Learning patience- being very well-organized and be able to remain calm and clearheaded at all times.

•

Team management- establishing a project plan for each portion of implementation and
holding internal and external partners accountable.

•

Making sure that I give recognition towards my teammates or employees for successful
completion of the task I delegated.

•

Great communication, both verbally and in writing.

•

Stamina is essential. Being kind to my body during stressful situations so I don’t get sit.

•

Even when I am stressed to still enjoying the process!

VI.

Conclusion
With everything that I have learned from Women in Music Berklee, I want to continue

the legacy to inspire all people and especially women of color to make their mark and use all of

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their gifts to make a profound existence. I truly believe that together we can break barriers,
shatter glass ceilings, and create opportunities with and for all women. Everyday creates a new
opportunity for women in music to take it one step further towards our goal in advocating for
diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry. I believe we are the catalyst to bring
women of all ethnicities together to ignite passion and promote empowerment, sustainability, and
advancement.

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