A survey by Young Creative Council found that 88% of young female creatives felt that they lacked a role model, while 70% had never worked with a female creative director or executive creative director.
And when it comes to audio, there are very few women in senior creative and sound engineering roles with women accounting for less than 5% of audio engineers.
To celebrate International Women’s Day and this year’s theme of #EmbraceEquity, our Forever Audio team are sharing how they got into the industry and the challenges they’ve faced, as well as what ‘equity’ means to them.
Kathleen Moroney, Executive Creative Director, Forever Audio
What does equity mean to you?
Equity for me is understanding that not everyone starts their journey from an equal place. There are many more barriers for women, people of colour, the lgbtiqa+ community and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and therefore those groups need to be given more opportunities so that we can eventually strive for equality in the future.
What do you do in your day to day role within the business?
It’s my responsibility to ensure our creative output is to the highest standard of quality and innovation possible. I oversee the creative ideas process, scripting and production across all audio and help to guide ideation sessions across audio and digital.
Aside from the day to day, it’s my job to create unique immersive experiences, deliver and book team training, design and run events, decide on narratives for industry events and ensure our comms and marketing is all on brand.
A brief summary of your background/how did you get into your role?
I started as a creative writer for Bauer Media, working across their flagship stations (predominantly Kiss FM UK and Magic Radio). I then moved on to start a creative department at UKRD radio group when they rolled out in-house creative, working as a creative manager. From there I moved over to the agency side and now work at Forever Audio.
I had no idea that a creative writer for radio was even a job that existed. I studied creative writing and journalism at uni and I wrote my dissertation on radio comedy, so these all helped me to land my first role as a writer for radio.
What challenges have you faced as a female in audio?
There are very few female creatives and even fewer at senior level, so the challenges have come thick and fast throughout the years. You have to develop a very thick skin and in my experience, you can often be underestimated or patronised as a female. A perfect example is when I worked at an agency as a senior creative and I was told the client didn’t think
women could write, so I had to write the campaign and then pass it to a male colleague to send the email with my work. This level of complicity is incredibly damaging and it also puts a huge amount of additional pressure on you as the writer. I’ve also been told to bring male members of staff to meetings for “seniority” despite holding very senior positions. I’m happy to say that I’m seeing this less and less, but unfortunately when I speak to friends and colleagues at other companies, it’s clear that it still goes on. In order to change things for the better we really need women and men working together with the common goal of equity and equality.
What opportunities are there to help promote equity for women in audio?
There’s not a huge amount that I’ve seen, but we have taken the STEAM pledge within our business working with Camden STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths). Within this we invite local college and school students in for hands-on workshops where they get to learn about the different roles in our company and get to run a recording session in our studios. We also do lots of community outreach to educate young people from diverse backgrounds and young women about the world of audio and the potential career paths open to them.
What would you like to see more of from your field/industry?
I’d like to see more commitments to diverse hiring and more welcoming environments within companies. It really starts with outreach and actively trying to seek out and educate young women about the industry. Second to that is about creating working environments where women feel comfortable and are set up for success. That could be as simple as mentoring programmes and internal training to policies that affect female members of staff such as maternity and menopause policies and training. We have two major issues, recruiting women into roles and then retaining them in the industry, so these steps could at least start to address some of the problems.
Rakel Pascual, Junior Dubbing Engineer, Forever Audio
What does equity mean to you?
To me, equity means having the confidence that I won’t be underestimated or at a disadvantage, facing problems that other social groups wouldn’t.
In order to achieve this, I think equity isn’t possible without the support of laws and social behaviour in order to get a more fair society.
What do you do in your day to day role within the business?
I mainly spend my day working with Pro Tools, mixing the different styles of dubbing we work on at Forever Audio. As side tasks, I help internal teams check scripts in Spanish, my mother tongue, and at least once a week I edit with the Audiobooks team. Finally, I’m learning about the IT management of the studios from our Head of Engineering and a Senior Sound Engineer.
A brief summary of your background/how did you get into your role?
I started working as a freelance Sound Engineer for live sound, including tours, festivals and theatre. But when the pandemic struck I got a new role as Junior Broadcast Engineer, focusing on Broadcast Support and Radio Systems.
This led to my current role, joining Forever Audio as a Junior Dubbing Engineer where I can use my previous experience in audio engineering and my tech knowledge. It’s a perfect match.
What challenges have you faced as a female in audio?
I think one of the most important challenges is facing a potentially hostile environment when there is little or no representation of people who identify as women.
Sometimes I feel the female achievements in the audio field are not shared as much as the achievements of our male counterparts. This can be very frustrating.
What opportunities are there to help promote equity for women in audio?
There are great projects run by women in Audio like Women in Live Music or Women in Film and TV that help to share the knowledge (with mentorships and training), promote references, help us to make new contacts to get the first steps in the audio field.
What would you like to see more of from your field/industry?
More government support to get equity in fields like audio engineering. I want to see changes about how STEM careers are shown to women as well as more projects like the one that Forever Audio runs partnering with Camden STEAM to run workshops with local schools and colleges. I want more female and lgbtiqa+ representation, in particular in technical and senior roles.
Chloe McLaren, Senior Audio Producer, Forever Audio
What does equity mean to you?
Equity to me is the absence of conscious and unconscious bias. People are conditioned into ways of thinking and it’s everyone’s responsibility to challenge this both within themselves and with others.
What do you do in your day to day role within the business?
My main role is to keep the wheels of production moving forward and keep everyone informed of what’s going on, while guiding clients with audio best practices. I work closely with the creative and engineering teams on all audio projects ranging from commercial work with Spotify to large scale immersive audiobooks, with everything else audio in between.
A brief summary of your background/how did you get into your role?
I started out front of house within creative agencies and that opened my eyes to commercial production. In 2015 I moved into a role within the creative team at a big media owner / radio group and so began my love for audio. Coming in from agency land, I was really surprised at the pace of audio production and the fact you can achieve so much within the timelines we
work to. I love it because it’s so dynamic and with audio we’re speaking to people’s imaginations, it feels much less rigid than other mediums.
What challenges have you faced as a female in audio?
I’ve worked in male dominated environments and I think as a woman you have to be harder and more adaptable. You have to read people and situations because I think the male to female view can be much more unforgiving than the male to male. It can be tied with quick judgement on both a personal and professional level.
I do have one experience of being treated differently as a female from when I was junior. A male colleague (who I worked very closely with) and I were starting out in our careers and had been in our roles for a while so we were both looking to progress. We took the same approach, which was to find out as much as we could about different departments within the company and learn about different roles by speaking to people and asking about what they did day to day. Following this, in conversations with the male senior team about progression, my colleague was told it was great he was so keen and interested in the whole business and they loved the way he’d approached it, yet I was told it demonstrated to them that I didn’t know what I wanted to do. My colleague got promoted and I left the business.
What opportunities are there to help promote equity for women in audio?
I think businesses have both opportunities and responsibilities to have a positive impact. That starts with hiring, equal pay, and career development.
I don’t know of any particular schemes that exist.
What would you like to see more of from your field/industry?
I feel really strongly that I want to see more initiatives that make it possible for young people outside of London to access our industry. There is so much opportunity within or within spitting distance of the M25 and it’s sparse elsewhere. As someone who grew up in the North, I was desperate to work in the media sphere and the path of how to get here just wasn’t visible.
It’s also an extremely white industry. I’d like it to be more accessible to people from all backgrounds. The voiceover industry is also very behind in terms of diversity and there is a huge demand from brands for diversity in casting. There has been a positive shift recently but there’s still a long way to go before we can start to see equity in representation when it comes to casting.
Tobie Pettitt, Senior Audio Producer, Forever Audio
What does equity mean to you?
It means realising that everyone has a different starting point and experience and there are many ways of making sure everyone is equally represented, no matter what.
What do you do in your day to day role within the business?
I work on the voiceover casting and recording for ads, working closely with sound engineers in the studio on sound design and final mixing for TV, cinema and online. I also work closely with clients, making sure they receive top quality service and maintaining really good relationships with them.
A brief summary of your background/how did you get into your role?
I started in audio in my early 30s as a career change from the public sector. I was lucky enough to go straight into a Producer role due to my previous project management experience and was trained up on producing a variety of projects from TV ads and e-learning to language courses and online dictionaries in 20+ languages.
What challenges have you faced as a female in audio?
I’ve been lucky in that I don’t think I’ve faced many challenges but I think it’s expected that women will be producers and men will be engineers, although things are starting to change for sure.
I also feel that you have to show more than perhaps a man would, that you’re capable of doing your job well.
What opportunities are there to help promote equity for women in audio?
Don’t know of any.
What would you like to see more of from your field/industry?
I’d love to see more diversity, not just white faces everywhere, and I’d love to see more women engineers or just generally women in more technical roles.
Andrea Swann Martinez, Director of First Impressions and Team Assistant, Forever Audio
What does equity mean to you?
Equity to me means fairness and equal representation in all aspects of a business. Despite the fact that women make up 24% of the production industry, which is a 1% decrease from 2021, we continue to play a crucial role in driving the industry forward. However, we often remain underrepresented and overlooked. Ensuring equity in the workplace is not just a perk, but a necessity for creating a fair and just environment.
What do you do in your day to day role within the business?
In my day-to-day role within the business, I wear multiple hats to support the team. My responsibilities range from maintaining the professional appearance of our front of house area, greeting and assisting clients and guests, to interacting with talented creatives who visit our workplace as well as assisting on pre production paperwork and assisting in sessions. No day is ever the same, which keeps things exciting. I truly enjoy the dynamic nature of my role and the opportunity to make a positive impact on our clients and guests.
A brief summary of your background/how did you get into your role?
I was a graduate of Oxford School of Drama, where I discovered my love for the entertainment industry and honed my skills as an performer. After graduation, I worked in
various assistant roles across the entertainment business, including festivals and events. My desire to advance my career brought me to London, where I found Forever Audio. With its inclusive, supportive and creative environment, I have been able to further my knowledge and refine my craft in the industry.
What challenges have you faced as a female in audio?
While I have not yet encountered significant challenges at the start of my career, the underrepresentation of women in engineering positions is stark and signals the need for greater diversity and inclusion in the field. It’s clear that breaking this mould will be a difficult task for women.
What opportunities are there to help promote equity for women in audio?
To promote equity for women in audio, companies can prioritise diversity in hiring, offer equal pay and opportunities for advancement, foster a positive and inclusive work environment, and provide training and mentorship opportunities. By taking these steps, women in audio can be better supported and empowered to succeed in their careers.
What would you like to see more of from your field/industry?
I believe in promoting gender equality in the workplace. This includes increasing the representation of women in leadership roles, providing equal opportunities for all employees, and acknowledging the contributions and accomplishments of female employees. By valuing and respecting women in the business, we can create a more inclusive and diverse workplace for everyone.
What would you like to see more of from your field/industry?
I would like to see more women leading the production process in the studio, in engineering and editing. We need to ensure that extends to women of all backgrounds and I think there is an urgent need for more people of colour in production roles. There have been changes with regard to casting over the last few years (for example: more women voicing non-fiction titles, more lgbtiqa+ voices and more Black British voices across every genre) but we need to build on that and consolidate our learnings and extend this behind the mic and into the (less visible) engineering and production teams.
In times of economic turmoil and uncertainty, evidence bears out that female employees and other under-represented employees are the worst affected. We saw this happen during the pandemic, and it looks forecast to continue in the uncertain post-Brexit economic climate. Equity in the workplace is either something employers value, or it isn’t. Equity and inclusive employment practices are not luxuries, they are commitments. I’d like to see that upheld.
Any further info?
There’s sometimes a lot of praise for ‘keeping things simple’, which often translates to keeping the status quo. This is always going to be used to the advantage of people from some backgrounds more than others. It can be used to avoid bigger questions and conversations.
