This black woman is single-handedly shaping the future of women in the music industry

Heather Lowery doesn’t consider in adding energy to stacked opportunities.

This is sensible because she’s an expert anomaly: a black, female, successful music industry insider turned entrepreneur. Translating this into numbers, the 12 months 2021 data shows that just 13.9% of senior executives across various sectors of the music industry are from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, 4.2% are Black, and 13.9% are women. This number is even lower when counting black women in leadership positions.

Lowery at all times knew this, which is why she founded her company Woman, forwarda three way partnership with Live Nation that prioritizes the attention, development and advancement of women in leadership positions in the music industry.

“Despite these {grim} numbers, I’m not really concerned about the walls we always face, because we’re always breaking down walls – we’re always pushing boundaries,” Lowery tells ESSENCE. “We always dominate. I like to focus on the positives. So my mission is to give women the tools they need to sit at every table and be in every room, even if that means building their own. I’m focusing on that.”

The latest initiative of Femme It Forward, the so-called MUSE (Musicians Uplifting Stars Everyday) Mentorship Program, a seven-month educational program specifically geared toward uplifting and empowering emerging creative women. It will provide female-identifying musicians at the starting of their careers with access and mentorship from celebrities and advisors including Teyana Taylor, Erykah Badu and Alicia Keys. Rapsody, Trina and Amber Riley are amongst a bunch of recognized industry veterans who will function mentors.

“If you look at the definition, it means a woman or a force personified as a woman who is a source of inspiration for creative artists,” Lowery tells ESSENCE. This is the perfect embodiment of that.”

The mentorship program is specifically geared toward songwriters, producers, composers, engineers and DJs who wish to take their careers to the next level with the help of stars who’ve seen and overcome all of it.

“Of course, our goal is to encourage our mentees, but we also need them to maneuver beyond the tangible — one-on-one mentoring, hands-on experience and profession guidance. These young women deserve all of it and I’ll help them achieve it.