About

Women’s Audio Mission addresses two critical issues:

  1. Fewer than 5% of the people creating the sounds, music, and media in the daily soundtrack of our lives are women or gender-expansive individuals 
  2. There has been an alarming 70% decline in women/gender-expansive students enrolling in college STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) programs since the year 2000.
“Women’s Audio Mission allowed me to grow my technical and studio management skills. I received hands-on experience with studio consoles, learned about signal flow and studio equipment, and worked with clients. Being at WAM’s studio was an amazing opportunity to gain the confidence that will allow me to be prepared to run a recording session on my own.” – Past Professional Development Student

Women’s Audio Mission is a San Francisco-based recording studio and nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of women and gender-expansive people in music/audio production and creative technology, fields in which they are critically underrepresented. WAM uses music and media arts training, mentorship, and conferences to serve over 2,000 women, girls, and gender-expansive people annually in order to inspire them to amplify their voices and become the innovators of tomorrow.

WAM’s award-winning curriculum weaves art and music with science, technology, and computer programming and works to close the critical gender gap in creative technology careers. Additionally, our studios are the only professional recording studios in the world specifically built and run entirely by women and gender-expansive staff.

Over 20 years of accomplishments:

  • Over the past 20 years, WAM has provide training and mentoring to 25,000+ women, girls, and gender-expansive individuals
  • Historically provided programs across three cities (San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose), five school districts, 50+ school partners
  • Named “Best Hope for the Future of Music” by San Francisco Weekly
  • 1,200+ women/gender-expansive students placed in creative tech/STEM jobs (Dolby Labs, Sony, Pixar, Disney, Pandora, Google, Facebook, ESPN, etc.)
  • Produced/recorded award-winning projects/performances for 400+ artists including Sheila E., Beyonce’s Band, Kronos Quartet, Neko Case, Angélique Kidjo (2014 GRAMMY), tUnE-yArDs, Toro Y Moi, etc., providing paid freelance work and critical professional credits for 450+ women/gender-expansive engineers.
  • Advisor to both the Recording Academy (GRAMMYs) & Academy of Country Music’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Forces
  • White House Office of Social Innovation studied WAM’s revolutionary methods of using music/media to attract at-risk girls and gender-diverse youth to STEM studies as part of President Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” program.
  • Winners of 2 Google Rise awards and a Silicon Valley STEM Innovation Award 
  • Been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes, Rolling Stone, and Billboard