To celebrate Women’s History Month, Remixd Mag would like to take a look at some women in music making an impact in their respective fields.
The music industry is traditionally male-dominated but women have been taking over the industry by storm with supreme work ethic.
We had the pleasure of speaking to some of the women leaving their impact across the music industry to find out their passions, current projects, and future plans.
Meet four women that are leaving their impact across the music industry.
Amanda Leopizzi
Currently working in marketing at Atlantic Records and works with a roster of artists helping get their music and vision heard. She also is a music creator on Tiktok and a verified Spotify playlist curator.
Leopizzi has been recently working on Portugal. The Man’s Chris Black Changed My Life and Sir Chloe’s I Am The Dog album campaigns. She works with a large roster of artists including Fred again.., Joe P, Arlie, and more.
She has a burning passion for working hands-on with artists and their teams and having the opportunity to collaborate with different people within the label to help share music with the world. On the content/playlist curation side, she enjoys talking about music, getting people on new music, and being creative. She shared “I also just love that music is my every day.”
When asked about her plans to make an impact she said “I am making sure my ideas and voice are not only heard but valued. I am grateful to work in a very collaborative and supportive environment. Also by sharing and creating online I am able to use that as an outlet to get my voice heard as a tastemaker in the industry.”
As far as future plans Leopizzi stated “I have a lot of exciting things coming with Portugal. The Man and Sir Chloe! Also making a few creative changes on the content creation side of things.”
Taylor Marie Contarino
Contarino is very active in the music industry and has many roles. She works at Universal Music Group in the 1824 department as a Strategic Partnerships Representative and has started to do some A&R work as well. In that role, she works directly with artists in ideating and facilitating unique events, partnerships, and opportunities, oftentimes directly connecting the fan with the artist in a fun and unique way. She also works at Live Nation’s Music Forward Foundation as a Program Facilitator where she coordinates and facilitates programming for people who are looking to enter the music business. Additionally, she works as a Tik Tok Creator at The Digilogue, and started her own non-profit called Women In The Music Industry (WITMI), is a music journalist that reports at events including concerts and music festivals, is a songwriter, artist manager, and an artist.
With many hats, her passion lies within being close to the music.
“I love helping empower, inspire, and engage youth and anyone looking to enter the music business, and I believe very strongly in community, support, and engagement.”
Recently, Contarino has been working with R&B artist Rosemarie who is signed under Interscope on a music video for her upcoming EP.
We asked Contarino how she plans to make her impact felt and she shared “I plan to make myself seen, heard, and known through my work ethic, my drive, my determination, and my impact. I believe that community is everything, which is why I pride myself on creating opportunities, spaces, and events in which women in the music industry can inspire and empower one another. I hope to create a life for myself in which I do what I love, and show others that they, too, can create a life and career for themselves by doing what sets their souls on fire and brings them joy each and every day.”
Taylor is currently working on putting on an event for those who identify as women in music, that will be happening in South LA this April. She will be hosting the first-ever Women In The Music Industry (WITMI) Fest on April 15, 2023.
Kim Chanel
Chanel is very involved within the music industry working as an artist manager, marketing/sales for MNRK Music, and is an event organizer.
She currently manages Philly artist oT7 Quanny, and in the past has worked with Kamaiyah, Neek Bucks, Guapdad 4000, and more. She has worked on a full rollout for a single featuring EST Gee where she organized the logistics and the music video, got the song playlisted, and set up interviews.
Digitally, she works on Benny The Butcher‘s group BSP, digital campaigns, and DJ Drama for playlisting.
When asked about how she plans to make her impact she said “For the most part working with integrity and efficiency. Really striving to learn and get better, as well as help people along the way. I learned that people will always remember how you made them feel. So I want to be that person that is the change that they would like to see.”
For future plans, Chanel shared that she will be having more events on the way between New York and Atlanta. Along with being consistent with her artist management and trying to secure ideal label situations for them.
Jess Huddleston
After earning her Bachelor of Journalism, Jess began her career in music media by starting her own music blog and contributing regular music features to VICE, Complex, CLASH, Sharp Magazine, Fashion Magazine, and more. Jess went on to work as a digital producer for MuchMusic and the Much Music Video Awards, before becoming the managing editor of cbcmusic.ca where she oversaw CBC Music’s cross-country editorial team and was the host of CBC Music’s The Intro — a music talk show dedicated to showcasing the brightest new stars in Canadian music.
Currently, Huddleston is the Canadian editorial lead for Spotify, which oversees music programming for the country. Jess and her team of talented music editors work together to curate all of the content and music offerings Canadian users experience on Spotify.
When asked about what she loves about her job she shared “I love that I’m tapped into music conversations every minute of every day — whether discussing what we’re excited about, how to bring visibility to an emerging artist, or how to support a new release from a global superstar. At Spotify, we’re listening to music constantly and finding new and exciting ways to put that in front of people. A deep love of sharing music with people is probably one of the main reasons most of us got into the business, so the day-to-day feels pretty special.”
We also asked Jess how she makes her impact felt as a woman in the industry and she stated “As a woman in this industry, I think the key is ensuring your voice is heard and that you have a seat at the table. I believe in sharing your two cents, asking for what you deserve, and actively facilitating opportunities that will bring forward movement — whether in your career, the business, or your organization at large. It’s also so important for women to champion other women in the workplace: hire them, mentor them, and give them their flowers. If you love something enough, your passion and tenacity will shine through. So, try not to lose sight of why you started doing what you’re doing in the first place. I still love music more than literally anything, therefore that drives everything I work towards.”
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