The panel was hosted by Vanessa Bosåen, President of Virgin Music UK and Board Member at Abbey Road Red.

Vanessa was joined by five brilliant women with a mix of voices in music tech including Christine Osazuwa, Chief Strategy Officer at online discovery and ticketing platform Shoobs, Rachel Lyske, CEO at music compositional AI start-up DAACI, currently on the Red programme, Alica Molito, CIO at metaverse platform XONE, which has just graduated from the Red programme, Xann Schwinn, CEO and Co-Founder at singing for health platform Biiah, and Ariana Alexander-Sefre, Founder and Co-CEO at Spoke, a mental wellness app entirely led by the world's best musicians.

The Women do Tech panel kicked off with an introduction by the host, Vanessa Bosåen, who shared her journey through music technology, from running an independent label working closely with music tech start-ups to being a director on the board of the BPI and launching the BPI technology springboard before becoming the president of Virgin Music UK.

Vanessa invited each of the panellists to share their journeys so far. Rachel Lyske, CEO of AI music composition platform DAACI, traced her career journey from her musical background as a musician, vocalist and composer at the Royal Academy of Music to directing the independent music festival In The Woods.

Ariana Alexander-Sefre, the co-founder of Spoke, a platform that connects music and wellness, opened up about her personal journey in democratising access to wellness resources and how music and wellness complement each other.

Xann Schwinn, CEO and co-founder of Biiah, a corporate wellness app that uses music to enhance well-being, discussed her experience of being involved in music tech for over a decade and how music tech opens up the possibility to allow anyone to participate in music.

Christine Osazuwa, the Chief Strategy Officer at Shoobs, a platform for events, outlined her extensive experience in music technology as a data scientist who previously worked at two major labels and as the UK director of She Said So, a network for women in music.

Alica Molito, the Chief Innovation Officer of XONE, a mobile platform for building immersive music experiences, shared her journey from studying music business at Berklee Valencia to being a creative director who has worked internationally from Valencia, New York, Lisbon and London.

Christine Osazuwa: “Building the plane whilst it’s in the sky. Let people in and don’t gate-keep and allow everyone to be a part of the conversation. If you open things up to people, people will surprise you.”

Ariana Alexander-Sefre: “If you’re not embarrassed by your first MVP prototype, you went out too late. Go out and iterate, things are built by people using, breaking and making a product better.”

Rachel Lyske: “From the day we start to sing, pick up an instrument or press play, you’re already working. Don’t give yourself such a hard time - there is no perfect version of you.. You can contribute every day to the eco-system around you, so say “yes” to things.”

Alica Molito: “Just do it - a lot of what has brought me this far in my career included learning completely new skills for the first time. I got into UX, UI and prototyping after never having done it before, don’t be intimidated by any task as once you start doing – it’s not as hard as it seems.”

Xann Schwinn: “Be relentless in the things you are passionate about, there is only one of you in the world. The things that are meant to be will be. No one will remember your first prototype after 10 iterations. It’s all about forward motion.”

Ariana: “[Apple CEO] Tim Cook, I was able to sit with him for 45 minutes last year. Also, it’s important to have a breadth of people in your network; peers and those that are ten steps ahead. You have to put yourself in a situation for good luck and opportunities can happen. I’m also really inspired by my Grandma who had friends of all ages.”

Christine: “I’m inspired the most by people that went out and did and didn’t follow the ‘right path,’ for example, my friend Cherie Hu, CEO of Water & Music. Fall in love with the problem and not the solution. I found that diversity in conferences was terrible and this was a driving factor for me. Data literacy and awareness and how data is used in the music industry was a key driving factor for me. Don’t let people tell you there is one right way to do things.”

Xann: “Today's discussion about the network effect is highlighting why there isn't only one 'most' influential person in this instance. Be intentional. I seek out people who I feel may influence that next step forward.”

Rachel: “No, I was made CEO at DAACI which is my brother’s invention. He wouldn’t have asked me to do it if he didn’t believe I could. I said ‘yes’ to the opportunity, which is how I learned that important lesson about saying ‘yes’ to things.The advantage to me being the CEO and not Joe is that he’s too close to it because it’s his invention. This way we have space and time to think. I orchestrate the team, allowing them to play to their strengths, and he can focus on the invention.”

Ariana: “In early-stage start-ups, your role title almost means nothing. You are all sitting together in the fire pit doing absolutely everything together. However, if you are going out speaking about investment or partnerships, they do want to speak to the CEO. Having a Co-founder and team really helps to keep pushing the boulder up the hill.”

Alica: “In a small startup usually the founder takes on some CEO tasks but you can find a startup in whatever way you like, including not taking on the CEO role. If someone is aspiring to be a CEO, there is no one way of doing it. You can be a creative or have a corporate background and be a CEO.”

Christine: “At some point a problem will fall to you and you will ask ‘why is this like this?’ and it’s because somebody hasn’t come around and tried to fix it. You will think to yourself if it’s just a ‘you thing’, but it’s never just a ‘you thing’. There are many people that you can go out and find with a similar mindset to you. You may feel you can be ‘too much’, but be ‘too much’ as it’s easier to be who you are up front because hiding it and shielding it away will make you feel small and make yourself fit in a place that you don’t belong in.”

Xann: “Now doesn’t have to be the time, people now live up to 110. We all started where you were., I didn’t know what I wanted to do. These traditional roles didn’t sound right for me [I didn’t want to work for a label or publisher], so I followed my passion which led me to tech and I found myself here on this stage ten years later. Things don’t have to make sense; focus on the things you love and the things that make you feel good and it will take you to the space you are supposed to be."

Christine: “At some point a problem will fall to you and you will ask ‘why is this like this?’ and it’s because somebody hasn’t come around and tried to fix it. You will think to yourself if it’s just a ‘you thing’, but it’s never just a ‘you thing’. There are many people that you can go out and find with a similar mindset to you. You may feel you can be ‘too much’, but be ‘too much’ as it’s easier to be who you are up front because hiding it and shielding it away will make you feel small and make yourself fit in a place that you don’t belong in.”_

Rachel: “It’s not a race. Everyone has different abilities in different spaces. I once had the opportunity to do a gig at Abbey Road and I didn’t get it and I was devastated. Ten years later, here I am sitting in Abbey Road at a Women Do Tech panel. However, I made the most out of the opportunities I did have. We are all not on the same journey so allow yourself space to learn and grow.”

Ariana: “In a start-up, everything is an experiment. The best thing you can do is test, experiment, look at data and iterate. DON’T spend too much time and money building something until you’re sure that people want it.”

We’d like to conclude by saying a huge thank you to our Women Do Tech panellists for delivering an amazing session that was full of insights and essential advice for aspiring women in the music and tech industry.

The audience was clearly engaged and inspired by the stories and perspectives, as shown by their questions and furious note taking. By sharing your experiences and challenges, you have helped to inform and empower the next generation of women leaders in tech.

This article was written by Abbey Road Red Programme Manager, Anthony Achille.