Girls on the Mic Global

Women’s Audio Mission addresses the chronic, persistent and widespread gender gap in the audio and creative technology fields:

●      Fewer than 5% of the people creating the sounds, music, and media in the daily soundtrack of our lives are women and fewer than 1% are BIPOC (USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, 2023)

●      Women make up only 24% of STEM workers in the U.S., and only 28% of the global STEM workforce (MIT Professional Education, 2023).

The voices of women and girls are nearly silent in the soundtrack of our lives, causing a severe lack of representation and visible role models, which signals to girls and gender-expansive youth that they don’t belong and that their voices don’t matter. Women and girls, especially from under-resourced and under-represented communities, are disproportionately impacted by the digital divide, leaving them even further behind. They are discouraged from engaging in technology fields, which impacts their access to educational and career opportunities that can drastically improve their economic security.

The technology side of the entertainment industries is a rapidly growing and lucrative career path which spans a diverse range of STEM roles, including acoustic engineers, recording engineers, audio/visual system engineers, audio programmers, music and podcast producers, film/TV/game audio supervisors, sound designers, live concert sound engineers and many more. These creative technology careers work on everything from designing microphones and speakers for earbuds and iphones at Apple to audio programming for voice recognition at Amazon, to designing Audio/Visual systems for concert halls and large venues, and recording, editing and mixing all of the sounds you hear every day. The average audio engineer in the U.S. makes $91,000, and more than 98% of these roles are held by men. 

WAM believes that if all girls and gender-expansive youth can easily access audio and creative technology training to amplify their own voices and ideas, this will radically change the messages about women and gender-expansive people, inspiring the next generation to become the technology innovators and leaders, and decrease the chronic gender inequity in these STEM sectors. 

What we learned during the pandemic, after bringing all of our educational programs online and reaching 4,000+ students form 40 countries each year is that many students from around the world did not have access to education or a school and many were joining us on a mobile device. When we returned to in-person learning, we have not been able to continue to support our global learners.

With 20+ years of delivering award-winning girl-specific curriculum along with online content already in place reaching 6,700 students in 40+ countries every year, WAM is uniquely positioned to expand this solution to an create an easily accessible and free online learning environment specifically created to engage girls and gender-expansive youth all over the world in creative technology.

Girls on the Mic Global creates an innovative, girl-centered, online learning environment that makes WAM’s award-winning and time-tested creative technology and STEM curriculum accessible to girls everywhere. GOTM Global creates an effective, inclusive, mobile-responsive, online classroom that works without the need of any special devices or software and also can be used for a better, blended in-classroom experience.

The GOTM Online Learning Environment:

●      An online learning platform/ Learning Management System (LMS) to effectively deliver on-demand learning modules and live-streamed classes

●      Features both synchronous (live streaming video) and asynchronous (self-paced learning modules) options as well as a wide variety of micro-learning modules to increase accessibility

●      A free, mobile-responsive format that requires no special browser or software and works well on mobile devices, chromebooks, laptops and computers

●      Integrates social learning tools to help students from all over the world build community

●      Online access to young women near-peer mentors

●      Learning opportunities with women and gender-expansive industry professional role models

●      Adaptive learning paths to support all levels of learners

●      Opportunities for students to have their media/music/tech projects showcased on WAM’s website and social media reaching 60,000 subscribers

●      Fun learning incentives - badges, rewards and leaderboardsLink

 Link to a prototype of a learning module:

https://rise.articulate.com/share/XYHr9O9ZCWp87SZBnwINWd1bNYCQ4YzC

GOTM Global also establishes a learning environment that fosters a deep sense of belonging and community through:

●      Offering access entirely free of charge

●      Instruction and instructional materials that center diverse, women and gender-expansive teachers and role models

●      Prioritizing youth-driven curriculum design for class themes and project topics

●      Leverages our instructional staff’s online teaching experience

●      Instructors and mentors are bilingual in other languages

●      Students are encouraged to use their primary language for their projects

●      Interactive teaching materials and charts that make key teachings visible and easily referenced and are co-created with students

●      Adaptive lesson-plan structure leaves room for people with learning differences 

Women’s Audio Mission’s (WAM’s) award-winning Girls on the Mic (GOTM) curriculum has been using hands-on, project-based music and media technology training and mentorship to teach under-resourced girls and gender-expansive youth how to master technology to amplify their voices and creativity.  By learning to use technology to create podcasts, music, soundtracks, use code to create sounds and build drum machines and synthesizers in a safe and inclusive learning environment, girls are finding and amplifying their voices, telling their stories, and building both confidence and community.  GOTM is designed to be culturally aligned to keep girls and gender-expansive youth engaged and interested in pursuing further STEM studies.

Empowered with audio and creative technology skills and confidence, girls and gender-expansive youth are able to demand space in these fields, create meaningful change in messages about women and gender-expansive people, become the next generation of creative technology innovators and leaders, and decrease the chronic gender inequity in these STEM sectors.

GOTM Global will diversify the STEM workforce by making our technology-centered programs accessible and welcoming for girls and gender-expansive youth anywhere, especially those from the most under-resourced communities who do not have access to education or technology. GOTM Global brings an immersive, technology-fueled learning environment directly to girls through a mobile device.

WAM has over 20 years of experience engaging under-resourced young women and girls in creative technology and STEM training reaching over 25,000 young women and girls across the U.S. from the following target populations:

• 96% low-income
• 98% female, 2% non-binary
• 93% BIPOC
  • 37% Latine/x
  • 35% Black
  • 16% Asian-American, Pacific Islander
  • 6% Multiracial
  • 5% White
  • 1% Native American/Alaskan Native
• 43% primarily speak Spanish
• 17% LGBTQIA+
• 73% had no access to a computer

When WAM had to rapidly bring all of our training programs online in 2020 In response to COVID-19, we reached 4,000+ women/girls in 30+ countries. We had youth joining our free online classes from Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, etc. The youth joining us often did not have any access to education let alone access to recording studios or technology training. WAM became a window into this technology world and helped them envision a future and connect with other youth to build community and support. WAM became an online sanctuary which opened up the opportunity to address longstanding global demand for our programs. Our success attracted media attention from Forbes, Billboard, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

When we returned to mostly in-person training it has been difficult to continue to engage our global youth. We are seeking funding to support the development of GOTM Global so we can provide a safe online environment with self-paced and gamified online training modules that would also integrate into our in-person programming and provide social interaction between youth from all over the U.S. and the world. GOTM Global will bring WAM’s award-winning training and mentoring online and directly to 10,000+ girls from prohibited populations globally, increasing accessibility to STEM training and mentoring.

The success of our program’s engagement is very much rooted in the quality of our instructional staff but also because they not only represent but come from the communities we serve. WAM’s instructional staff is 100% BIPOC/50% LGBTQ+ and all are from the communities we serve.  They have extensive training in culturally responsive instructional methods and are assessed using the Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA) model.

WAM has over 20 years of experience developing, testing and refining our award-winning Girls on the Mic curriculum, which has been studied by White House Office of Social Innovation for WAM's revolutionary methods of using music and media to attract at-risk girls to STEM training as part of President Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” program, and has won the Silicon Valley STEM Innovation Award, two Google RISE awards, NBC’s Project Innovation and most recently the MIT Solve/Tiger Global Impact Ventures Gender Equity in STEM challenge. 

WAM is led by, Terri Winston, a former tenured professor and Director of the Sound Recording Arts Degree Program at City College of San Francisco, which she created. WAM started as a club there and officially became a nonprofit when Winston managed to get the enrollments of women in the program to 53% in two years. She has the lived experience of one of five women graduating in electrical engineering in her college program and became even more of an anomaly as a female recording engineer where only 2.8% are women.

WAM prioritizes the cultivation of a safe and inclusive creative environment where girls and gender-expansive youth from traditionally marginalized communities receive the message that they belong in these STEM-centered spaces. WAM provides direct services to 2,000+ under-represented women, girls, and gender-expansive people (96% low-income; 93% BIPOC) every year across California in our world-class recording studios: the only professional  studios in the world specifically built and run entirely by women and gender-expansive staff.

The GOTM curriculum uses the Creative Youth Development (CYD) Framework and is rooted in the National Core Media Arts and California Performing Arts Standards. The Creative Youth Development methods used in GOTM that make our program so effective:

●      Amplifies girls’ voices and dreams through creative expression

●      Provides a safe and inclusive space that fosters connections and building community

●      Develops positive relationships and social skills

●      Youth-driven – they set and monitor their own goals

The success of our program’s engagement is very much rooted in the quality of our instructional staff but also because they not only represent but come from the communities we serve. WAM’s instructional staff is 100% BIPOC/50% LGBTQ+ and all are from the communities we serve.  They have extensive training in culturally responsive instructional methods and are assessed using the Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA) model.

 In addition, WAM’s leadership team is:

● 100% women

● 66% LGBTQ+ (including the executive director)

● 33% BIPOC

● 33% living with a disability

WAM’s Board of Directors is:

● 86% women

● 50% BIPOC

● 18% LGBTQ+ (including the Board Chair)

WAM’s staff is:

● 100% women/gender-expansive

● 83% BIPOC

● 83% LGBTQ+

Last year’s feedback and surveys revealed that of our 2,080 students:

• 88% reported improvement working in groups

• 84% reported increased sense of belonging and community

• 78% reported wanting to do better in school because of GOTM

• 63% reported gaining confidence

• School partner feedback revealed -GOTM students are more confident, and more willing to engage in classes

Over its 20-year history, WAM has provided training and mentoring to 25,000+ women, girls, and gender-expansive individuals and is opening locations in Los Angeles and Nashville to meet the growing national demand.

WAM’s Girls on the Mic program is an established solution that:

• Has successfully scaled across three cities – San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose with Los Angeles in planning and partnered with 50+ public schools
• Has 20 years of experience developing, testing and refining curriculum to maximize engagement of girls
• Is award-winning - White House Office of Social Innovation, the Silicon Valley STEM Innovation Award, two Google RISE awards, NBC’s Project Innovation and most recently the MIT Solve/Tiger Global Impact Ventures Gender Equity in STEM challenge.

Girls on the Mic Global is perfectly poised for online development that would meet global demand from over 40 countries.

WAM would benefit from MIT Solve funding and support as we seek to expand Girls on the Mic programming globally with the development of the GOTM Global Online Learning Environment. It's difficult to find funding sources technical infrastructure projects and for this expansion, WAM specifically seeks support with:

●      An assessment of organization plans for scaling virtually and globally

●      Support refining a education technology plan for this project, connecting to other educators to determine best tools for distribution

●      A business plan to ensure financial strength during and after expansion

●      Access to a network of resource partners across education, technology and finance sectors

Partnerships are essential to WAM’s work. To date, WAM has built strong relationships with companies like Dolby Labs, Apple, the GRAMMY’s as well as government agencies at the local, state and national levels. The MIT Solve community would support WAM in diversifying its sector relationships and provide invaluable expertise.

Girls on the Mic Global is one of a kind:

• Girl-centered online learning environment that uses music and media to attract girls to STEM and master technology to amplify their voices and express themselves.
• Broadcast from and based on the technology-fueled environments of WAM’s professional recording studios - the only ones in the world built/run entirely by women.
• Award-winning and time tested curriculum: White House Office of Social Innovation, the Silicon Valley STEM Innovation Award, two Google RISE awards, NBC’s Project Innovation and most recently the MIT Solve/Tiger Global Impact Ventures Gender Equity in STEM challenge.
• Provides access to dedicated mentors and industry role models
• Youth-led, meaningful projects, in a facilitated group setting that fosters community building.
• A continuum of training, mentorship and support from middle to high school, into internships and adult classes.

WAM is often called a “sanctuary” by parents, school coordinators and the girls themselves. GOTM Global will create this online making our training, mentoring and community easily accessible to girls everywhere.

GOTM Global will scale an already successful GOTM program across the world, preparing 10,000+ girls by 2026 to enter STEM studies and careers, decreasing the gender gap in the music/media and tech sectors.

GOTM Global’s Impact and outputs increase gender equity in STEM and improve access to education by:

• Revolutionizing access to education by creating a free, mobile-responsive, girl-centered online learning platform that engages girls in STEM studies
• Radically changing societal messaging to include the perspectives of women/girls by empowering girls to use technology to amplify their voices/stories.
• Disrupting music/media/tech cultures that are unsafe for women/girls. GOTM Global creates a safe space for girls to learn and express themselves, ultimately changing cultures that are steeped in misogyny, abuse, and harassment.
• Building social capital for girls by building community, connecting them to mentors and role models, and providing clear career pathways to music, media and tech companies.

Girls on the Mic Global achieves the above outcomes by creating an online learning environment that specifically attracts girls to STEM and is freely and easily accessible from anywhere and provides:

• Both synchronous (live streaming video) and asynchronous (self-paced learning modules) options as well as a wide variety of micro-learning modules to increase accessibility
• Access to young women near-peer mentors
• Learning opportunities with women and gender-expansive industry professional role models
• Adaptive learning paths to support all levels of learners
• Integrates social learning tools to help build community
• Opportunities for students to have their media/music/tech projects showcased on WAM’s website and social media reaching 60,000 subscribers
• Fun learning incentives - badges, rewards and leaderboards

Girls on the Mic Online Learning Environment Indicators of Success include:

• Increasing the number of girls engaged in STEM studies. By offering a free, girl-specific online platform easily accessible anywhere WAM’s goal is to reach 10,000 girls by the end of 2026
• Ensuring that all girls have access to STEM studies – measured by collecting diversity of geographic reach and other demographic data on the platform. We anticipate reaching girls from the 40+ countries we were reaching during the pandemic.
• Creating a safe and inclusive learning environment – measured by embedded survey feedback about student learning experience and satisfaction. We will be comparing this to our 20 years of in-person data from surveys where:
  • 88% reported improvement working in groups
  • 84% reported increased sense of belonging and community
  • 78% reported wanting to do better in school because of GOTM
  • 63% reported gaining confidence in themselves
  • School partner feedback revealed that GOTM students are more confident, more “themselves” and more willing to engage in their classes

Girls on the Mic Global uses the following e-learning technologies:

• Learning Management System (LMS) to deliver online training modules, track student completion/engagement, provide gamification and leaderboards, provide social engagement and discussion areas. We have worked with Canva, Google Classroom and Articulate Reach 360.
• E-learning authoring software to create the interactive training modules, quizzes, games, etc. We have a lot of experience using Articulate 360 Studio to create training modules, quizzes, etc.
• AI to create customized learning paths and for instant feedback and assessment

Full-time staff: 12

Part-time staff: 5 

Contractors: 10 

 20 Years of curriculum innovation - selected accomplishments:

• Provided training/mentoring to 25,000+ women/girls
• White House Office of Social Innovation studied WAM's methods of using music/media to attract at-risk girls to STEM
• Advisor to the GRAMMYs and Academy of Country Music's National Diversity and Inclusion Task Forces
• Named "Best Hope for the Future of Music" by SF Weekly
• Featured in Forbes, Billboard, Rolling Stone, Good Morning America.
• 2,000+ women people placed in STEM jobs (Sony, Dolby, Disney, Google, Meta)
• Winner of Silicon Valley Innovation Award, NBCUniversal Innovation Prize, two Google RISE Awards and the MIT Solve Gender Equity in STEM Challenge

Each year, WAM trains 2,000+ women, girls, and gender-expansive individuals from under- resourced populations (96% Low-Income, 93% BIPOC) and we therefore aim to ensure that our staff represents and comes from the communities we serve. We also make sure our internal operations are working towards sharing power and decision-making.

WAM’s staff is:

● 100% women/gender-expansive

● 83% BIPOC

● 83% LGBTQ+

WAM’s leadership team is:

● 100% women

● 66% LGBTQ+ (including the executive director)

● 33% BIPOC

● 33% living with a disability

WAM’s Board of Directors is:

● 86% women

● 50% BIPOC

● 18% LGBTQ+ (including the Board Chair)

WAM received funding last year from the Hewlett Foundation to support continued DEI work and WAM was able to:

●      Put out an RFP for our DEI work and have staff interview and choose consultants – we ended up working with rEVOLution, Novalia Collective and The Management Center over the course of 12 months

●      Work with Novalia Collective on a full DEI assessment/audit of all of WAM’s systems with 100% participation of the staff.

●      Completed a process to restructure, clarify and make more transparent the organization roles, responsibilities and decision-making systems using the organization management framework of MOCHA – influenced by additional training at The Management Center. This resulted in a more clear, inclusive decision-making process and delineated everyone’s role in the process. This significantly increased power-sharing, participation and accountability across the organization.

●      Spend 100+ hours of time as an organization in open, facilitated dialog to discuss bias and barriers in the organization and another 20+ hours in anti-oppression workshops. We made the commitment to this being an ongoing process with a portion of the budget committed to DEI work every year.

●      Provide a facilitated series of anti-oppression/anti-racism/anti-bias workshops with rEVOLution and Novalia Collective for staff to develop the organization’s shared framework for restructuring and implementing equitable and actionable practices across the organization and its programs

●      Dedicated time to learn and practice – through training modules with Novalia and The Management Center - developing emotional intelligence, nonviolent communication and active listening skills. These interpersonal and skills-building trainings will be ongoing as they have been really important especially to folks new to the workplace. These trainings helped us be more aware and able to talk about unconscious bias and power dynamics and most importantly helped us build trust, strengthen relationships, encourage connectedness and increase belonging.

●      Analysis and support from HR consultants Cause Capacity on implementing a more inclusive and transparent hiring process and performance evaluation process. Included a compensation plan/pay ranges analysis and discussion with staff.

Women’s Audio Mission (WAM) is dedicated to the advancement of women and gender-expansive people in music and media technology, fields in which they are chronically underrepresented (<5%). Each year WAM provides 2,000+ women and girls from under-resourced communities with free hands-on creative technology and STEM training and mentoring so that they can safely amplify their voices, fully express themselves and create meaningful connections. WAM’s professional recording studios are the only ones in the world built/run entirely by women, providing safe and inclusive spaces that center and inspire women, girls and gender-expansive youth.

WAM’s Creative Technology and STEM Workforce Development Pipeline has successfully expanded the occupational horizons for over 25,000 girls, women, and gender-expansive people by exposing them to creative technology careers and providing them with access to hands-on job-specific training not offered at secondary and post-secondary academic programs as well as direct connections to our 100+ industry partners. WAM is actively replicating this pipeline and program in Los Angeles, the largest music and media hub in the U.S. thanks to a $1M seed investment from Mackenzie Scott. 

The core programs and components of the pipeline are:

·       Girls on the Mic, a groundbreaking after-school program that provides 2,000+ girls from under-resourced communities (96% low-income, 93% BIPOC) annually with free music/media technology and STEM training/mentoring across 50 school partners and three cities (San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose) and 5 school districts

·       WAM Academy, provides comprehensive job-specific music/media technology industry certification training and hands-on experience in WAM’s professional recording studios to over 500 women and gender-expansive aspiring music/media technologists and audio engineers every year. Taught by women and gender-expansive industry experts the curriculum includes professional certifications  in Avid Pro Tools (Industry standard digital audio workstation), Dolby Atmos (Object -oriented spatial audio) and Dante Networking (IT Networking).

·       WAM Internship Program, provides paid positions, professional development, mentorship, direct connections to industry recruiters and job placement to 30+ women every year. WAM has placed over 2,000 women in careers at Dolby, Pixar, Google, ESPN, NPR, Meta, Pandora, Spotify, etc.

·       WAMCon conferences reach 350+ aspiring young creative technologists and engineers every year and features engineers at Dolby, Apple, Disney and recording engineers that that have worked with everyone from Beyonce to Alicia Keys to Selena Gomez

WAM’s pipeline programs help girls explore STEM careers, build social capital by connecting them directly with industry mentors/recruiters, prepare for entry-level jobs and receive career counseling and post-program placement services.

The experience of Sofia, a first-generation US citizen, demonstrates how WAM’s workforce development pipeline works. She completed the GOTM program when she was in middle school, attended WAM Academy and was accepted into WAM’s internship program where she gained her first paid employment experience. She is currently pursuing advanced studies in music production and working in a recording studio internship in Los Angeles.

WAM has been operating since 2003 and has a proven financial track record, evidenced by strong multi-year support across different sectors. WAM has never carried a deficit and has shown consistent financial growth while maintaining healthy reserves. As a nonprofit, WAM’s diverse funding sources are spread across six funding streams:

·       Foundation grants - long-term multi-year grants with The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Dolby Family Fund, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies

·       Corporations - Dolby, Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel

·       Government grants – multi-year funding from city, state, and federal agencies from the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Families ($1.5M over 5 years) to the California Public Utilities Commission and National Endowment for the Arts

·       Individual donors  – support over 25% of our budget

·       WAM’s Board of Directors – provide $100,000+ of annual support.

·       Earned service revenue: from WAM’s commercial recording studio sessions, conferences and industry certification programs.

In 2022, WAM received a $1M donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott to seed our $9M national expansion to open locations in Los Angeles and Nashville in the next three years. WAM is still in the quiet phase of the campaign and has currently raised over $4.2M of its goal.

In 2016 WAM successfully completed a $2.1M Capital Campaign to purchase our San Francisco Recording Studio Complex. Owning our headquarters, debt-free, has provided enormous stability as well as financial sophistication.

Other Recent Funding Successes:

• Just secured a $1.5M contract over 5 years with the San Francisco Department of Children Youth and Families
• Dolby Labs - $400,000 over two years
• Lemala Fund - $300,000 over three years for leadership capacity-building support
• MIT Solve Gender Equity in Stem Award - $250,000
• Kaleta Doolin Foundation - $225,000 over 2 years
• The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation - $180,000 over three years for general operating support and $70,000 for DEI work
• California Public Utilities Commission - $99,803