ReVoicing the Future Celebrates 5 Years of Amplifying Women in Music

On June 30, 2020, I had an idea to start a podcast focused on learning from and celebrating the women that make up the music products industry.

This month, ReVoicing the Future, a Women of NAMM Podcast produced by Natalie Morrison, Stephanie Lamond and Julia Olsen, celebrates the podcast’s five year anniversary. 

Since 2020, ReVoicing the Future has produced 65 episodes, interviewed 68+ women, hosted four live recordings at The NAMM Show and continues to serve as a resource to help build more equitable gender representation for the industry. 

To help celebrate this milestone, Katie Kailus, editor of Music Inc. Magazine joins the podcast as a guest host to interview the team. We flip the microphone to reflect on five years, key takeaways we’ve seen, and answer some highly requested questions from the listeners. 

One of our most frequently asked questions is “what’s your favorite episode?” I joke and say that every episode is my favorite because they are all my little passion projects. But then I started to think about the question a bit more. But for the new listeners looking to starting listening, there are always a bunch that come to mind. So I asked the girls, including myself, to list our top three must listen to episodes and why. So without further ado, let’s dive into it: 

Julia Olsen: 

1. Celebrating the Mighty Mary Luershen: This episode shared key lessons learned over a legacy of time. A lot of words of wisdom for others to carry with them through life. 
2. Investing in a Healthy Community with Julia Rubio, NAMM Foundation: Julia focused a lot on welcoming new women into her role while learning how she started in music.
3. All the Live at The NAMM Show episodes because it’s so special to be involved in the conversation with Nat and Steph to share how we create community, encourage one another and create environments that educate and inspire women!
   1. Rising Together Live Panel – NAMM 2022
   2. Your Career as a Ladder – NAMM 2023
   3. Creating Sustainable Careers Through Music – NAMM 2024
   4. Building Toolkits for Success in the Music Industry – NAMM 2025

Stephanie Lamond: 

1. Kit Culpepper, Martin Guitar: Our Feathers Will Float Where They’re Meant to Land: I think of Kit as our music product’s guardian angel auntie. Her spirit and hope and gratitude continue to teach me so much. A really special conversation and human we were lucky to cross paths with for even a bit of time.
2. Amelia Nagoski, Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle: The book Burnout absolutely changed my life and the way I conceptualize stress responses, likely a step along my journey to becoming a therapist too. It was such a treat to actually get to MEET her, and get to bring this life-changing info to our audience – surreal!!!
3. Kenya Moses: ConciousMark: The Joy and Gift of an Authentic Life: A dear, sweet human I feel so grateful to have met – her recounting her journey to finding her most authentic music and singing voice in Bossa Nova resonated DEEPLY with my own journey to find sean-nós (old style) Irish singing, and how it unlocked everything else with my music and identity within the music world. A model of entrepreneurial wisdom with a spark of true joy, creativity, and kindness.

Natalie Morrison:

1. Kit Culpepper, Martin Guitar: Our Feathers Will Float Where They’re Meant to Land: I know Steph already mentioned it, but this episode impacted us both in similar but different ways. I remember the night I recorded this one perfectly. I was still spending part of 2020 back in Jersey through the pandemic and was recording these episodes in my parent’s walk-in closet. I had just spent 2.5 hours on budget calls until 6:45pm with a 7pm recording. I was burnt out and Kit woke me up. I was empowered and inspired by every word she said. She describes her career journey as the feather from Forrest Gump and that the feather landed exactly where she needed to be and I believe wholeheartedly that her feather was meant to land in my lap that night. We love you Kit! ❤️
2. Dr. Kristal Walker, Sweetwater: Invest in Employee Wellbeing for a Thriving Business:  Kristal is the VP of Employee Wellbeing at Sweetwater. and this was our first time bringing someone on the podcast who works in the HR space and works to help guide employees together. What Kristal has done at Sweetwater is impressive. She focuses on employee well-being, the importance of growing the women leaders at Sweetwater and she left Steph and I speechless with self advocacy. For anyone looking for ways to invest in their female-identifying employees, I highly recommend this one. 
3. Ana Dobrian: The Power of Bringing Our Authentic Selves to Work: Ana’s episode is incredibly powerful because what Ana brings to the table, is her authenticity. She’s unapologetically herself, always. I get to and continue to learn from her all the time and she’s a force in the industry. 

To know that the podcast still holds true to its original mission and vision means more than Steph, Julia, and I can put into words. We set out to create a platform that celebrates women’s voices and career journeys—and we’ll continue to nurture the conversations and communities that form the root of the chord of the music industry.

Just like re-voicing a chord, this podcast offers a fresh perspective on the invaluable notes that make up the whole. We’re revoicing the future, one interval at a time.