Today is International Women’s Day, and let me start out by celebrating two talented women who play a key role here at A Sound Effect: Jennifer Walden and Adriane Kuzminski.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with these creative women for years, and their fantastic writing talents, their positive attitudes, and their dedication to telling sound stories, highlighting independent sound creators and strengthening the sound community is a constant inspiration.
And from the whole team, thanks to all the artists, interviewers, organizers, contributors and advocates who ensure their audio communities are welcoming and supportive to everyone in all stages of their lives and careers. The number of women in sound is unfortunately frustratingly low – please, let’s all work together to change that!
We’ve gathered some highlights of women in sound, as well as community resources and more – if we’ve missed any events or articles, please let us know in the comments below. We’ll be updating the post throughout the day.
Stories from A Sound Effect:
- Finding the Sound of Soul – with Coya Elliott
- Creating the exciting sound design for the ‘Pirates in Batavia’ amusement park ride – with Ana Monte
- The Mission of ‘Women Who Are Sound’ – with Anna Bertmark and Anna Sulley
- Telling ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ Through Sound – with Renee Tondelli
- How To Actually Live as an Audio Freelancer – by Melissa Pons
- The Psychology of Sound Design – with Ai-Ling Lee
- How to succeed in UI/UX Sound Design, ADR Recording, & Audio Programming – with Emma Butt
- How to succeed in Sound Editing, Sound for Advertising, and Production Sound – with Lucy J Mitchell
- How to succeed in sound design for Film, Documentaries, and Trailers – with Nia Hansen
- Experienced Foley Artist Alyson Dee Moore talks to George Haddad about a life in Foley
- Video: Foley Artist Tara Blume recreates the iconic sounds of ‘Evil Dead II’ from home
- What it takes to do sound at NASA – with Alexandria Perryman, NASA Audio Engineer
- Designing the Futuristic Sound and Music of Westworld Season 3 – with Susan Cahill
- Behind the great sound of The Mandalorian – with Bonnie Wild
- Creating the sound for Velvet Buzzsaw’s mix of horror, humor, and high art – with Margit Pfeiffer
- How ‘First Man’ takes your ears on a supersonic adventure – with Ai-Ling Lee and Milly Iatrou
- Indie Audio Adventures: Telling BestLuck’s beautiful story through sound – with Gina Zdanowicz
- Ant-Man and the Wasp – Creating Big Sound for Tiny Superheroes – with Katy Wood
- Ototoxicity: Is your medication damaging your hearing? – with Karen Collins
Podcasts:
- Ada Lovelace Day – hosted by Suw Charman-Anderson
- Level with Emily Reese – hosted by, of course, Emily Reese
- The Sound Women Podcast – hosted by Liz Kershaw
- Tonebenders – hosted by Teresa Morrow
Groups:
- Audio Treehouse Community Slack – The Audio Treehouse provides a safe space for aspiring and current audio professionals of all underrepresented genders/sexes in the industry.
- Black Girls Code – A non-profit organization that introduces programming and technology to a new generation of coders, coders who will become builders of technological innovation and of their own futures.
- IGDA Women in Games SIG – The IGDA Women in Games (WIG) Special Interest Group (SIG) was formed to create a positive impact on the game industry with respect to gender balance in the workplace and the marketplace.
- Soundgirls – SoundGirls supports women working in professional audio and music production by highlighting their success and providing a place for them to connect, network, and share advice and experiences.
- Sound Women Network – This Facebook group is for all women who work in audio (radio, podcasting, music, streaming, management, engineering and beyond).
- Women in Film & Television UK – Women in Film & TV (UK) is the leading membership organisation for women working in creative media in the UK and part of an international network of over 13,000 women.
- Women in Games Boston – Women in Games Boston is a networking event for women who make games and their allies.
- Women in Games International – Women in Games International (WIGI), made up of both female and male professionals, works to promote the inclusion and advancement of women in the global games industry.
- Women in Games – Women in Games (WIGJ) is a not for profit organisation that works to recruit more women into the games industry and to support those already in the industry.
- Women’s Audio Mission – Women’s Audio Mission is a San Francisco/Oakland-based nonprofit organization, and the only professional recording studio in the world built and run by women, which attracts over 2,000 underserved women and girls every year to STEM and creative technology studies that inspire them to amplify their voices and become the innovators of tomorrow.
- Wonder Women Tech – Wonder Women Tech (WWT) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and ecosystem that produces year-round programming and national and international conferences that highlight, educate, and celebrate women and the underrepresented in STEAM industries (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math), innovation and entrepreneurialism.