Paul Feig presents The Artemis Women in Action Film Festival was cofounded five years ago by Melanie Wise and Zac Baldwin and is supported by Board of Directors members Sheena Metal and Heidi Mastrogiovanni, financial advisor Malissa Wise, Marketing/PR director Eric Vollweiler, and Iranian correspondent, Maryann Haddadi.
On Saturday afternoon, award-winning journalist Sheryl Aronson led an accomplished group on the Women-Powered Music Panel, sponsored by Bella Composers, featuring three multifaceted speakers who shared passions for music, each having chosen three distinct paths towards achieving their goals. [Photo (R): L to R: Kaylene Peoples, Sheryl Aronson, Kiki Ebsen, and Starr Parodi.]
The panel included Kaylene Peoples, Founder of Bella Composers and CEO of KL Publishing; Kiki Ebsen, Composer, Recording/Touring Artist, Actor, Writer,and Producer; and, Starr Parodi, Composer, Recording Artist and President of the Alliance for Women Film Composers. The group was moderated by Aronson, who covers music, entertainment and theatre for national audiences in her Agenda Magazine online blog “Arting Around,” and is a feature writer for their print edition.
What was the audience’s common denominator? All came brimming with talent and hope, but no defined understanding of how to reach their next level. When Kaylene Peoples inaugurated the “women-powered music” panel, she chose wise, experienced professionals to inspire the audience. Peoples, Ebsen, Parodi, and Aronson possess an abundance of talent and the willingness to share advice and encouragement.
Sheryl introduced each panelist and asked them to describe their path to their first career success. Delightful stories were shared, with honesty and humor, immediately putting the audience at ease. Each panelist shared how, while searching for their first open door, the resounding thud of silence confronted them once, twice, or more, so they had to keep going, determining not to quit until they’d achieved their first breaks.
Modest, beautiful, and just a tad shy, Starr Parodi lights up when she speaks of the opportunities she’s found on her musical path. An award-winning composer and recording artist, you might have first seen her in the house band on TV’s “The Arsenio Hall Show.” Given millions of people watched that show, they saw Starr nightly—that’s a great place to start!
Ultimately, Parodi became highly respected for her motion picture and television scores. In 2017, Parodi was invited by the New York Times to conduct “To All the Little Girls,” a work she produced at Lincoln Center, another example of her inspiration to future achievers with dreams. Forbes magazine noted Starr had “reinvented the modern action movie trailer” with her production and arrangement of the “James Bond” movie theme. Starr spoke of the importance of having an agent representing your work, depending on your specialty, and how each artist should evaluate and monitor their own progress rather than turn your career future completely over to someone else.
Kiki Ebsen recognized early in life that she and music would be together forever. As early as high school, Ebsen wrote her own music and played with an established band, then started two of her own bands. Kiki found national acclaim early, winning a national collegiate competition. She and her band made it into final rounds on “Star Search” before elimination. Ebsen didn’t quit after the first loss; she began a solo career and eventually recorded and released her first CD.
A few years later Ebsen was performing internationally on stage (or behind the curtain for the band Chicago) as a sideman on keyboards and vocals for Grammy-winning and platinum-selling artists including Al Jarreau, Tracy Chapman, Boz Scaggs, Michael McDonald, and Namie Amuro. Her talents resonated with audiences she found early in her travels.
While touring, Ebsen used breaks to write her own songs and perform them in small venues wherever she was, feeding her own soul as an artist while helping major stars shine. Some of her early compositions were autobiographical; others were fueled by her imagination. Panel members agreed that, at first, you might have to keep the “day job,” but you can always pursue your passions during your free time.
Kiki noted how “important it is to have your own unique voice, to follow your heart, and to not take ‘no’ for an answer.” Writing what you know assures your songs are authentic, which may mean tackling some uncomfortable subjects in exercising and exorcising your feelings. Ebsen says, “There’s a lot of pain in this world, but the arts can lift us up and bring us out, and get us to where we want our lives to be.” Seven solo CDs later, Kiki is excited about her next CD of original songs, saying “It’s hard to decide which ones to record now, and which to save for another time.”
Kaylene Peoples is, first at heart, a musician. With each story she told, you could feel her warrior spirit gently confined inside a dignified beauty as she explained how “no” was a word that was not going to sit well with her, much less any suggestion that a path involving the “me, too” world was going to fly. Rather than sitting bitter on the sidelines waiting for the business to change to adapt to her, Kaylene found a path around the norm.
Creating many of her own opportunities as musician and writer, Peoples built on her early music experiences and persevered, and almost like magic, doors kept opening. Ultimately, she became an accomplished musician, songwriter, arranger, composer, and publisher. And she’s not finished. Peoples never forgot the feelings of doubt and the need for affirmation that she had early on her journey. She could only look to herself then, and progressed forward, one step at a time. Heads nodded in the audience affirming that the road was long and hard but worth it.
As the audience posed questions about how you get your music heard and your story told, Kaylene encouraged attendees to "stay the course and not give up." Importantly, she patiently guided one talented audience member who almost missed Peoples’ message while listening to her own internal fears of rejection.
Everyone in the audience benefited from the panel’s answers; no one was left behind. Sometimes it’s a kind word, a solid idea, or literally it’s a woman of strength and courage reaching an outstretched hand to another like-minded soul with affirmation, “You can do this; you’re almost there” to drive home a victory.
Sheryl Aronson is author of “Passing Myself Down to the Grave: A Woman’s Rise from Darkness” (KL Publishing Group), released last year. Her story chronicles her personal journey from cancer diagnosis to survivor with powerful emotion. Sheryl strongly believes that more women need to be in the spotlight, especially women composers. Aronson’s journalism goal was to be a published author which, at first, seemed beyond reach. How to get your first assignment? She didn’t know, but she persisted until she found outlets to publish her interviews and profiles with artists who inspired and moved her to write about them. She never gave up.
One of Sheryl’s first interviews was prodigy Terri Lyne Carrington before Carrington’s career took off. It just seemed to springboard from there. Aronson emphasized her ability to say “yes” to an assignment, even when initially she lacked the required background. Sheryl quickly learned from an accomplished sound man, Bryan Bell, who gave her a brief master class in sound gear, as he patiently and clearly taught her technical details so she could finish her story.
Panel attendees were enthralled, inspired, excited, and encouraged to continue their journey toward their next accomplishment. With each question the audience was revealed to be an exceptional group of achievers with great potential, as they interacted with the panelists so enthusiastically. One woman had just completed a beautiful CD of healing music, and Kiki pointed out several areas of the healing industry as potential markets. Starr added that the more metadata the woman could tag and furnish in her music compositions submitted to collections and libraries would help. Identifying more potential audiences for her music would move her closer to being picked up when a film or television producer searched for a certain feel or background for their work.
There were some discussions of the impacts of Apple Music, YouTube, individual Web sites and personal social media in impacting and safeguarding an artist’s creative identity. No label deal? Don’t worry. Peoples said, "Not everyone needs a label to succeed when social media is free."
A Midwestern woman posed a question regarding a symphony she’d written. “How could she get PR?” she asked, having never done publicity before. Turns out, with the panel’s encouragement, the audience learned that she was an Artemis award winner with her latest symphony. Kiki noted, “See, you’re an award-winning composer and that title remains with you forever.” The woman was stunned but pleased to hear that said out loud. Even though she had received the distinction, the woman had not yet connected herself as an “award-winning composer.” That’s the beauty of looking at yourself through the eyes of other accomplished artists. They see you as the “best you” possible. When one has attained their own level of excellence, then they can help and serve as a mentor to someone else.
Kaylene, who owns a PR firm, shared, “Everyone needs publicity to get the word out. Whether you have a budget to hire a major firm to create and project your image, or you have to save up to hire a publicist for one project, you need PR.” She also noted, “Many established artists choose PR firms to help reinvent their careers or to rebrand a performer’s image.” For those who have no budget to hire a professional, Peoples recommended searching Amazon for books on PR for beginners.
Another audience member highlighted she had multiple types of music projects and described how she’d created a new name for a duo project, separate from her individual work. Branding, then, was another topic about defining one’s image, keeping elements of information consistent so that, over time, the brand comes to stand for exactly what you want to communicate.
Starr Parodi shared that you can be established in one area, but if there’s another area you want to pursue, you must communicate to others that you’d like to expand what people know you for. Diversity keeps you from being trapped in a single talent area. Parodi’s own career as musician, composer, producer, and arranger appeared to flow smoothly from one area into another, as her interests and options grew. Hearing her share her thoughts, each attendee got the sense that they, too, could flow and grow in their accomplishments.
After the panel ended, Peoples, Parodi, Ebsen, and Aronson offered one-on-one advice and more encouragement to attendees, who clearly didn’t want their time together to end. Kiki noted that the “energy in the room had gone from respectfully quiet to wildly effusive.” It’s always helpful to focus on your dreams inspired by like-minded achievers with a similar mindset and determination to accomplish their goals. Women can champion other women to help preserve their dreams. When you climb the stairs on your pathway to success, when a hand reaches out for you, clasp it tightly in yours and hold on. And when you get where you’re going, reach out your hand to another who needs encouragement. And on it flows.
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For more information on the Artemis Women in Action Film Festival, visit www.artemisfilmfestival.com/
For more on Bella Composers, visit www.bellacomposers.org
For the Alliance for Women Film Composers, https://www.theawfc.com/
Women-Powered Music Panel Members’ Web sites include: www.KaylenePeoples.com, www.KikiEbsen.com, www.StarrParodi.com, and www.SherylAronsonauthor.com.
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