Today’s guest is a DJ turned music executive and founder of JV Agency, a music marketing firm celebrating its 10 year anniversary. She has handled thousands of album launches throughout her career, including for acts like Fall Out Boy, Shawn Mendes, and the Killers. She specializes in digital marketing with a side passion for empowering women in the music industry. She pays it forward by bringing in interns with the goal of mentoring and creating a career path for them. In fact, her own path sta...
May 02, 2025•35 min
Radhika Vekaria: GRAMMY Nominee With A Healing Touch Today’s guest is on her way to the 2025 GRAMMYS with a nomination in the Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album category for her release “Warriors of Light.” Her Indian, East African and British roots inspire her chant-centric music composed with the purpose of spiritual, physical, and emotional healing. As she likes to say: “I don’t make music for you to see me. I make music for you to see yourself.” As a singer and multi-instrumentalist, she’s...
Jan 31, 2025•35 min
I met today’s guest through Chris Dalla Riva of Can’t Get Much Higher on Substack. She was offering a $10,000 grant opportunity for women who want to learn music production. That definitely caught my attention and the more I learned about her work, the more intrigued I became. She was born in India but moved to Australia where she writes and records music and founded online school Music Production for Women in 2019. She also hosts the MPW podcast . Since then, she’s helped over 7,000 women from ...
Jan 16, 2025•28 min
Kaytee Long Becker Today’s guest is a seasoned public relations and communications expert based in Los Angeles. DIY Public Relations has secured over 3,000 press placements, four GRAMMY nominations, one GRAMMY win and generated more than one billion impressions for their creative clients. Her clients have been featured by Forbes, Billboard, GRAMMY.com, Variety, People, Harper’s Bazaar, USA Today, BBC News, EARMILK, GLAAD, Rolling Stone, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Newsweek and, of course, Herizon Music...
Jan 10, 2025•31 min
Queen Kwong I met today’s guest through Substack, where she is writing a collection of essays about personal life events and how they have shaped her philosophies on music, fame, and famous musicians. Her parents raised her in a Denver goth/punk nightclub and hotels. She met Trent Reznor and toured with him as a teenager, performing music that’s been compared to L7, Hole, Iggy Pop, and Patti Smith. She has since experienced homelessness, marriage, divorce, fairytale beginnings and rock bottom en...
Nov 13, 2024•45 min
Mandy Mayhem Mandy Mayhem is a writer, actress, and single mom who took her karaoke rap alter ego public. Over 318,000 people now follow her Rated R rap videos on TikTok and Instagram. She wrote and starred in the TruTV musical comedy sketch series Mutha that appeared on Rachel Dratch’s Late Night Snack . The sketch’s raps eventually became her new EP of the same title, “MUTHA.” Songs like “Take My Man, Please!” and “I’m Not Here For Your Entertainment” give you an idea of how disgruntled she mu...
Sep 13, 2024•48 min
Lissa Schneckenburger: Fostering Fiddle Music For The Soul Lissa Schneckenburger is a fiddler, singer, and activist all rolled into one package. As a foster parent, she filled a void by creating music that specifically helps families find compassion, empathy and unity. Her latest album “Falling Forward” features a female cast of players and producer who brought her pandemic lockdown songs to life. And she’s got plenty more where those came from. When she’s not writing, she’s teaching fiddle and ...
Sep 06, 2024•30 min
Can DJ Shotski Save Polka From Aging Out? I met DJ Shotski (Stacy Harbaugh) through her Substack home called Shotski’s Lodge . Her posts immediately attracted my attention because she does something that no one else I know does: She produces radio shows, videos, and articles featuring the glory of … polka! And not just any polka, Stacy specializes in Dutchmen-style polka from Wisconsin. Talk about a niche topic! For a musical genre with an aging population, she is the young voice ushering in the...
Aug 23, 2024•36 min
Babilonia: The Many Voices of Celia Chavez Celia Chavez gave up a singing career for the financial security that everyone said would make her happy. When she could no longer deny her passion or stay in an abusive marriage, her journey took her to New York and eventually to international stages as back up singer for Enrique Iglesias , P!NK , Burning Spear , Julia Fordham , and Melody Gardot . She then decided to jump 20-feet toward center stage, married her musical soul mate Simon Petty, and rece...
Aug 09, 2024•42 min
Connie Reeves: Saved By The Light Taff Optical Pickups founder Connie Reeves could have missed her calling. Spending her young, formative years in war-torn Chile, Connie’s adulthood was plagued by depression and alcoholism. But one dark day, a small ray of light changed her life’s direction. With the spiritual green light from a 1960’s pioneer in sound technology, Connie went on to develop this millennium’s biggest advancement in stringed instrumental amplification. In This Episode * A “terrifyi...
Jun 17, 2024•38 min
Satori Shakoor: Detroit's Funkadelic Midwife of Stories Born Jeanette McGruder in 1954, Detroit native Satori Shakoor knew she wanted to be a star from a young age. Her wish was granted with an audition for George Clinton’s group, The Brides of Funkenstein, and later becoming backing singer for Parliament Funkadelic. Stardom takes on many forms, and hers led to an unexpected yet successful career in storytelling after traumatic life-changing events. This episode is dedicated to storytellers ever...
Apr 29, 2024•27 min
Summary If you’re a movie buff, you’re going to love today’s guest. She’s a composer and multi-instrumentalist whose music has appeared in over 30 motion pictures and soundtracks like Porno, This Is Jessica, and Lotte That Silhouette Girl. Not to mention over 100 song placements in Emmy and BAFTA award-winning shows like Ellen DeGeneres, The Young & The Restless, Skins, Teen Titans Go, and Dance Moms. All you gamers out there may even recognize her sounds in the Microsoft video game Project ...
Jan 20, 2024•32 min
GoGo Germaine: A Riot Grrrl’s Fury Painted Black Author and music journalist Erin Barnes, a.k.a. GoGo Germaine, shares the highs and lows of her girl gang days as a teen rebel. Her book Glory Guitars: Memoir of a ‘90s Teenage Punk Rock Grrrl chronicles Gogo’s questionable firsts at varying degrees of sobriety. There’s more than meets the eye to a woman who discovered she can see the true colors and healing power of music and words. In This Episode * The story behind Erin’s nom de plume GoGo Germ...
Dec 07, 2023•33 min
Todays’s guest is a singer-songwriter with an evolutionary heart. Her story shines light on the meandering path that many of us often travel before finally committing to pursuing our deepest passions. An accountant and social worker by training, she founded nonprofits and other businesses with her husband, Dan. While she couldn’t muster the courage to audition for a voice class in college, she had the experience and grit to take a leap of faith and commit to a singing career. In a music industry...
Nov 01, 2023•41 min
It’s my first podcast episode to launch on Substack! Scroll to the bottom to hear more episodes— all are available for free. Herizon Music is funded by subscribers like yourself. If you like what you hear and see, pls upgrade to a paid subscription. Thank you for joining our band of dreamers, rule breakers, and rockstars! — Thea 🎶 Upgrade now! Today’s guest is the first female chair of the Electronic Production and Design Department at Berklee College of Music . She is a sound designer, Compose...
Oct 04, 2023•46 min
Vanessa Lively walks the talk of a free-spirited soul who channels the healing power of music into uplifting the chronically unhoused in Austin, TX. Her story as a creative and advocate is powerful and thought provoking. In this episode: Vanessa’s gypsy-esque musical roots and lifestyle that took her from Texas to Ecuador to Bolivia and Peru. The song contest hosted by Noel Paul Stooky of Peter Paul & Mary that jump started the nonprofit Home Street Music How Home Street’s music circle trans...
Jun 29, 2023•39 min
Dr. Jennifer Whitehead is an associate professor of music at Ohio Wesleyan University. With a Doctorate of Musical Arts in voice and singing health, she's teaching the next generation the skills necessary to heighten and extend their singing careers. Anyone who speaks for a living can benefit from her wisdom. She frequently appears in both staged and concert works in central Ohio, where recent roles with Opera / Columbus include Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, Guinevere in Camelot, Papagena ...
Apr 12, 2023•48 min
Bassist Janis Wallin is the “Mistress of Groove” of the jam band scene. With decades of experience, she’s the bass teaching, vegetarian-eating, Bootsy-loving trail blazer with an alter ego. In This Episode - Why it took nine years for her band band Family Groove Company to finish their newest album titled “Through With Tomorrow” - The story behind a personal invite to join legendary bassist Victor Wooten — with only 10 minutes to show time - How to prepare for playing in multiple bands who impro...
Feb 17, 2023•35 min
Cheryl B. Engelhardt received her first New Age Ambient or Chant Album GRAMMY Award nomination this year for her latest album “The Passenger.” Thea Wood spoke to her about the therapeutic story behind the album, which was written and recorded on a cross-country train trip and produced and mastered by an all-female team. In this episode, Cheryl covers: – How New Age/Ambient music is different than other genres – The challenges of writing/recording an album on a train (with a few good travel tips ...
Jan 31, 2023•52 min
BlueSkye is the teen sensation from Michigan who is taking her unique brand of songwriting to the top! As Herizon Music’s Tate-Makeba Rising Star award winner in 2022, she made the most of her year. In this chat, meet the teen who is taking the Midwest by storm— blue skies and all! In this episode, BlueSkye covers: — The origin of her unique name. — Her not-so-lucky Lucky Penny — The story of her song "America’s Middle Class" — What it's like to audition for the NBC television show The Voice. Vi...
Dec 29, 2022•31 min
This podcast is a production of Herizon Music Foundation, a nonprofit uplifting women in music through education, experience, and role-coding programs. It’s made possible thanks to fans like yourself. Please donate today ! In this episode, Katie covers: — What does the TV show producer do behind the scenes? — The most memorable thing a celebrity showed her on AXS TV series “Rock & Tell." — How she snagged a job from another host. — A valuable lesson her billionaire boss Mark Cuban taught her...
Oct 19, 2022•34 min
This is Part II of Thea Wood’s chat with Donna Jean Godchaux McKay. In this episode, the Alabama native leaves a promising musical career in Muscle Shoals for uncharted waters in California. She got more than she bargained for! This podcast is a production of Herizon Music Foundation, a nonprofit uplifting women in music through education, experience, and role-coding programs. It’s made possible thanks to fans like yourself. Please donate today ! In this episode, Donna Jean Godchaux Mackay cover...
Sep 22, 2022•32 min
In this chat, Donna Jean Godchaux Mackay covers: Meeting and working with a young Cher in the studio The homemade “instrument" her mother came up with so she could make music as a child How Muscle Shoals became a safe haven for musicians amidst societal turmoil How Elvis treated her in the studio and his last words to her before his death What surprising outfit teen Donna Jean wore to the recording studio -- they still talk about today! Cultivating lifelong friendships through music Credits: Son...
Jul 28, 2022•28 min
When you hear our next guest’s last name, you most likely think of her larger-than-life big brother David Lee Roth — lead singer of Van Halen . But did you know that musical prowess ran in the family? Driven to turn her love of music into a gift that mothers and babies could enjoy together, Lisa Roth conceived an album series called Rockabye Baby , which transforms pop and rock hits into instrumental lullabies. Acts like Metallica , Lady Gaga , Fleetwood Mac , Madonna , No Doubt , Snoop Dogg , a...
Jan 06, 2022•31 min
Terri Nunn is the lead singer of Berlin, which many remember from the height of MTV music video days as the sexy trio who brought us “The Metro,” “Sex,” and their runaway Top Gun soundtrack anthem “Take My Breath Away.” The track earned them an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Here we are 40 years and 8 albums later, and the band introduced their newest album titled “Strings Attached” featuring the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra re-visiting the band’s most iconic tunes. In early 2021, host Thea ...
Nov 10, 2021•41 min
You may be asking: “What more does Kalie Shorr have to say?” As it turns out, a lot! If you missed the first episode titled "Kalie Shorr: How She Became An Open Book," listen here . In the conclusive deep dive chat with Kalie, she covers: — Discovering discrimination in the Nashville music scene — Using age as a power play — Putting sisters before misters — What feminists DON'T do to each other — The smart way to write a song about someone who has wronged you See full show notes and Kalie's new ...
Aug 24, 2021•24 min
Recorded in February 2021 via Zoom, Country music sensation Kalie Shorr shares her journey to voicing taboo topics in the first of a two-part podcast series. Her debut album “Open Book” was listed at #7 on the New York Times Best Albums of 2019, named one of CMT’s Next Women of Country, The New Nashville by Teen Vogue, a Top 10 Country Artists to Watch in 2019 by Huffington Post. In this Part 1 episode, Kalie Shorr covers: — Her tumultuous childhood growing up the youngest of 7 half siblings — T...
Jul 22, 2021•27 min
Ep 28: Blanca Cecilia Gonzalez is the epitome of realizing the American Dream. Her tale of immigrating from Columbia to the United States and rising to become the concert master multiple times at Carnegie Hall will warm your heart. Never miss an episode! Sign up for the Spotlight Newsletter . In this episode, Blanca covers: — What it was like adapting to her new life in New York at the tender age of four. — The “Suzuki Method” of learning to play an instruments — Playing Carnegie Hall for the fi...
Jun 28, 2021•33 min
Kelley Glover is an ethnomusicologist, teacher, and entrepreneur who created, composed, and produced the music education game app and cartoon UBetterSing! One of her goals is to educate music lovers about systematic racism, colonization practices, and how they affect music academia. Kelley’s research and stories stem from her personal experiences and research at Howard University and public education music programs as both a student and teacher. This episode contains frank and sometimes difficul...
Apr 07, 2021•40 min
Maggie Szabo is a Canadian immigrant who's tackling feminine stereotypes, social injustice, and cellulite with lipstick in hand. Her pop music sensibilities poke fun at pop culture while redefining it for the next generation. We think she’s spot on… and 100% “worth the weight!” In this episode, Maggie Szabo covers: Making the music video “I Don’t Need You” during COVID (and who is the hot guy who wants his lipstick back?) Landing a promo song for BET series Tyler Perry’s Sistas and Jennifer Huds...
Feb 23, 2021•37 min
