Stoked to reveal that I’m in Music Victoria‘s 2020 Cultivate program!

The program is a women-only leadership program for the music industry, and is running in partnership with the Victorian Government. The personal development initiative is designed for mid-career established women in the local music industry.

The first iteration of the program ran last year, with Kate Duncan (CEO, The Push), Dallas Frasca (Director, A Hitch To the Sticks), Katie Besgrove (Co-Owner, Look Out Kid; GM, Barely Dressed Records), Coco Eke (Label Manager, Bad Apples Music) and Sally Mather (Music & Marketing Manager, Corner Group).

I applied last year and missed out to the above incredible women, but actually think it was a blessing in disguise. Over the past 12 months at Bolster, my role has changed slightly to include more management, and I’ve had more leadership training and mentoring internally so that I can jump straight into it at Cultivate this time round.

This year, I will be joined by five other incredible women: UNIFIED Music Group’s Ashleigh Hills; broadcaster, DJ and event curator Danielle Rizk; Sanicki Lawyers’ Moira Mckenzie, Girls Rock! Melbourne’s Shannon Driscoll and Remote Control Record’s Victoria Sweetie Zamora. 

My mentor will be Shamini Rajarethnam, who is currently CEO of Rationale and has a very impressive backstory. Leadership Victoria has also given me access to Dana Eisenstein, an incredible executive coach.

The three-month program kicked off last Thursday at The Corner Hotel. We met our mentors and coaches, had a few mind-blowing workshops and were treated to keynote speeches from Aminata Conteh-Biger, and the Lord Mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp.

We also collectively brainstormed what seven traits we think effective leaders have to shape the discussions for the next three months. (We decided on empathy, integrity, vulnerability, confidence, kindness, self-awareness and courage.)

The main catalyst for me applying to Cultivate is that I have zero formal training in management or leadership (like, oh say 99.99% of people working in the music industry). As my role develops with Bolster’s growth, I’ve had to manage more people, and it’s in my duty of care to nurture their careers and personal development.

And finally, I also take it on myself personally to be a visible example to younger women of colour in the music industry. When I first started out over a decade ago, I don’t think I knew any women of colour working in any capacity in the industry (no doubt they existed, I just hadn’t met them), let alone in leadership roles. Let’s change this. 👊