Grrls to the Front: Where Were You When I Was 16?

When I Was a Teen, No One Said “Grrls to the Front”. Last week I read an article about Grrls to the Front, a program designed to encourage girls to step into parts of the audio and music world that have traditionally been dominated by men.

The goal is simple: give girls a chance to try engineering, producing, and running the board—the behind-the-scenes work that shapes the sound we all hear.

And I couldn’t help wondering what my life might have looked like if something like Grrls to the Front had existed when I was a teenager.

I remember watching, I think it was The Real World, and these kids go to roadie for Van Halen.

Van. Halen.

My heart sank. I turned the TV off. I’d have given my right arm to be there. I had no stomach for watching other people live the dream. Particularly when some of them weren't as jacked as I'd have been.

Back then, the message wasn’t “come try this.” It was more like, “Oh, honey! You don’t wanna do that!”

You just… didn’t see girls there.

No one said girls couldn’t work in audio or production. But you didn’t see them behind the board, and you didn’t see them running sessions. When something isn’t visible, it’s easy to assume it isn’t meant for you.

Programs like this change that. They let girls step into the room early. They put the gear in their hands. They show them what’s possible before life quietly nudges them in another direction.

And who knows what might grow from that?!

Maybe the next great engineer. Maybe a producer. Maybe a guitar tech who realizes this is where she belongs.

If you have a minute, the article is worth the read. It’s a reminder that sometimes the biggest change in a career path starts with something very small:

Someone simply saying, “Come on up. You belong here.” https://www.commonsnews.org/issue/855/855Grrls_ToTheFront_sho Reading this, really made me feel all “Building Doors”. Thanks Christy Harst for being an advocate for necessary change.