Andreea Magdalina
Courtesy of shesaidso
There’s no shortage of music conferences in Europe this October, with the massive Amsterdam Dance Event taking over its namesake city October 16-20. Just ten days prior and bit further south, shesaid.so — a global organization of women in the music industry — is hosting its first ever conference, Meetsss.
The four-day, female-first, music-forward conference is happening October 3-6 in the scenic town of Portimão, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The conference marks the fifth anniversary of shesaid.so, which has enjoyed steady growth since its grassroots start in London in 2014. The organization was founded by Andreea Magdalina, the one-time VP of Content at Mixcloud who in recent years has worked as an independent consultant developing digital products, marketing campaigns and music partnerships.
With 15 chapters worldwide, the organization’s membership is now over 10,000 and includes high-level women, trans and non-binary individuals across all areas and at all levels of the music industry. Shesaid.so is also a breeding ground for future power players, connecting industry beginners to positions with growth potential through its members and mentorship program, she.grows. Shesaid.so was also a hosting partner at this year’s electronic music-focused International Music Summit in Ibiza, where Magdalina delivered the keynote address “The Future of Feminism is Men.”
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“Dance music is one of the most progressive pockets of the music industry, I tend to believe,” she says. “When I see change in music, I see it in electronic music first.”
The schedule for Meetsss features both heavy-hitting partners such as YouTube Music, Live Nation, Pioneer DJ, The Orchard, Resident Advisor, Kobalt and influential speakers including Georgia Taglietti of Sonar, Jennifer Justice of The Justice Department and Holly Manners of Warner Records UK, among many others. This lineup promises to expand shesaid.so’s network, creating a more powerful global presence for the brand, productive dialogue and, hopefully, structural changes across the music industry.
“We’ve designed the program with the shesaid.so community in mind, but we’ve also done our homework in ticking the industry boxes,” Magdalina says. “We have fantastic industry people, but we’re not necessarily touching on the sales-friendly topics. It’s more culture- and community-focused, and, of course, the gender conversation, and women, are at the center of it all.”
Meetsss is open to all genders and features a number of male presenters, including IMS’ Ben Turner, who will be having a fireside chat with Magdalina. Pioneer DJ’s Mark Grotefeld will moderate a panel on mental health. “It is important to us to make sure that men are part of the conversation, but also listening as delegates,” says Magdalina. “Our approach has always been solutions-focused and trying to open a channel of conversation with men in a non-combative way to try to make them allies.”
Magdalina uses the plural pronoun “we” when speaking about shesaid.so, as the organization is a team effort, with herself as an amplifier for the community’s needs and challenges. Shesaid.so’s approach spins these issues into initiatives, discussions, events and campaigns, which is how Meetsss — which has been in the idea phase for two years — became a reality in Portugal.
The event’s Portuguese partners are the Pipol Agency, who are producers of the conference, and Village Underground Lisbon who helped curate the Portuguese portion of the program. (Pipol also applied for a grant from the tourism board of Algarve, which helped subsidize the conference.) The first half-day is devoted entirely to Portuguese music culture, with Portuguese artists Da Chick, Surma, Mafalda, Fabia Maia, Studio Bros, and Roundhouse Kick featured throughout evening showcases.
“Portugal isn’t shesaid.so’s biggest market,” Magdalina admits. “But it makes sense from many different angles. Besides receiving funding from the Portuguese government, it’s the last days of summer — so it’s going to be an enjoyable experience from a lifestyle perspective.”
Given its location, the inaugural Meetsss event is designed with a European audience in mind, although the representation of the presenters is international. With speakers from global brands including Spotify, Google, Universal Production Music, AWAL, CAA, Sonos, Facebook/Instagram as well as the British Council, France’s Le Bureau Export and Italia Music Export, there will be myriad opportunities to learn and interact for everyone in attendance.
“Our presenters are high-profile women who are part of boardrooms and decision-making meetings,” Magdalina says. “It’s important to hear from them what their experience is and the kind of solutions they suggest to ensure there are more women in those rooms, receiving investments, starting companies, promoted to VP status and truly being on top of the pyramid, because we know the C-Suite level is still very much a boys’ club, and it will take a while before that changes.”
“At the same time,” she continues, “it is important to show we’re not trying to create a women’s only place. We’re trying to give voice to our members and create a dialogue where necessary between men and women.”
Part of the conference’s draw is its intimate nature, with only one panel or workshop happening at any given time. Panel topics will include the pay gap, mentoring, bias and harassment in the workplace, female composers, sustainability and mental health. Workshops will take place on music marketing, public speaking and negotiation. Each day will start with morning yoga, wind down with dinner and drinks and end with a streamlined nighttime program focusing on international cross-section of female-identifying artists. With the delegates numbering at around 200, this structure offers more time and opportunity to network in an easier and more meaningful way.
There’s also an unstructured mentoring model at Meetsss in which participants can choose to be a mentor or mentee. In each delegate bag, there will be black and white shesaid.so stickers, representing mentor or mentee, respectively. Depending on the day, you can choose to wear one or the other sticker indicating which role you are taking on, if any.
Fostering dialogue that benefits women and other underrepresented communities — and having this dialogue impact the world outside the conference doors in Portugal — is at the core of shesaid.so’s mission.
“What we have to say is meant to be addressed to the entire industry and not just the shesaid.so community,” Magdalina says of Meetsss’ goal. “We’re using this opportunity to tell our story in a more cohesive way to a wider audience, bringing together our community and the things we talk about internally, the values we’re trying to instill into the industry — but face-to-face with a wider community presence.”