Staff

Terri founded WAM in 2003 while she was a tenured Professor and Director of the Sound Recording Arts Program at City College of San Francisco from 2001-2011. Her love of music and the recording arts spans 30 years as a songwriter, composer, recording engineer, and producer. Winston was signed as a recording artist, engineer and producer by Polygram and BMG, and has shared the stage with such acts as P.J. Harvey, Pixies, Throwing Muses, Flaming Lips, Fugazi, Cake, and Third Eye Blind. She has collaborated with Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group and Greg Hawkes of The Cars and worked as a recording artist and producer for MainMan whose roster also included David Bowie, John Mellencamp, Lou Reed, & Iggy Pop. Winston has composed and produced theme music for KRON-TV's "First Cut" series, Banana Republic and films that have shown on BRAVO's Independent Film Channel, French Television's Cine Cinemas and major festivals all over the world. She has received an ASCAP songwriting award, Boston Music Award and Bay Area Music Award, is a voting member of the Recording Academy (The GRAMMY's) and is active in the Producers and Engineers wing. Winston has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.

She is currently serving on the Recording Academy's (Grammy's) National Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion and The Academy of Country Music's Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.

Arielle is an audio engineer from Los Angeles. After graduating from the University of San Francisco with a Bachelor’s in Media Studies, she began her career in film exhibition and became Operations Manager of the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, where she was also a film projectionist. Eventually, she followed her interest in technical work and her passion for music and completed the audio engineering program at City College of San Francisco. During her training, she interned at WAM, where she fell in love with the organization’s mission and the community surrounding it. Since 2019, she has worked as a live sound engineer and studio engineer around the Bay Area. In her spare time, Arielle is also a vinyl DJ and plays shows with her band. Arielle is excited to bring her operations background and audio skills to WAM and to help make audio more accessible to the community she loves.

Jamie is a marketing expert with 15+ years of music industry experience specializing in marketing, content creation, music and audio production, songwriting, and voice-overs. She is best known for her time at LOUD Audio, where she quickly became the face and voice of the Mackie brand. Her early years were served as a Field Representative, traveling nationally and internationally to train multiple dealers and call centers on products.

She quickly became the Product Marketing Manager and host of Mackie's first-ever podcast, the "Ins & Outs with Mackie." During her time as host, she got to work and interview notable music industry experts such as Sanjay C, Mike Herrera (MXPX), Matthew K Heafy (Trivium), Herman Li (Dragonforce), and Terri Winston, Founder and Executive Director of WAM. In 2021, she aided in multiple campaigns that rapidly increased social engagement and the development of a fresh new website for the Mackie brand. Before her departure, she was nominated for Billboard's Executive Woman in Music Award.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Jamie is a versatile multi-instrumentalist who finds joy in songwriting, live looping with pedals, and performing with her Electro-pop band, Manifique. She is impassioned about collaborating with like-minded individuals dedicated to amplifying the voices of underserved markets.

Originally from the Central Coast, Melissa started going to shows in the Bay Area at the age of fourteen and has been hooked on the energy and transformative power of music ever since. As a firm believer in the importance of supporting artistic development - and creating space and visibility for all - her background includes working in Education & Community Engagement at Intersection for the Arts and volunteering at Bindlestiff Studio in San Francisco, and volunteering at Creative Growth in Oakland. Melissa received her BA from Boston College, where she also spent three years hosting a weekly FM radio show at WZBC 90.3 FM. Melissa is a development professional who is thrilled to combine her grant writing skills with her love for music and appreciation for all those involved in its creation.

Minji Will (she/her) is an educator, musician, and audio engineer from Chicago. With a degree in music education, she has experience teaching in public schools, at The People's Music School, and music directing at various community theaters. Minji believes music production and audio engineering are expansive and transformative tools for self-expression and collaboration, and she has dedicated herself to learning the craft. She has experience as a staff engineer, and studio manager at Gravity Studios in Chicago. Minji is excited to merge her educational, administrative, and technical background to support WAM’s mission.

Vivienne (she/her) is a musician, storyteller, and educator based out of San Francisco, California. Knowing that art can be a catalyst for change, and both a healing and empowering practice, she has focused her work on increasing access to arts education and opportunities. As an educator, she has worked as a Teaching Artist with the San Francisco Opera and as a Senior Instructor of Audio Production with the Media Education team at YR Media in Oakland, CA.

Vivienne has also worked in various capacities at the intersection of music, sound, and advocacy with groups such as Primary Wave Music, Pollen Music Group, Color of Music Collective, and Bay Area Girls Rock Camp. She also has an extensive background in behavioral health and social services, most recently having supported the San Francisco Department of Public Health Behavioral Health Services Division as the TAY SOC Advisory Board Coordinator.

Vivienne is incredibly excited to bring together her background in program design, youth development, sound, and arts education to support the Girls on the Mic program, and the overall mission at WAM!

Naike is a multi-disciplinary artist, DJ, community builder and natural healer from Tanzania (East Africa). With a background in creating hip hop and street theater rehabilitation programs for youth in their hometown Moshi, Naike strongly believes in the healing power of sound and collective storytelling. They hold an MA of Science in Oriental and Herbal Medicine, and are classically trained in the Bansuri flute and other sound healing modalities. Fusing these elements, Naike is passionate about creating community events that center joy, healing and liberation, particularly for QTBIPOC. You may see them up and down the West coast, hyping crowds DJing with Portland based Trans DJ Collective UwU, or hosting restful sound-baths under forest canopies. Naike has worked in creative direction with the Stanford Summer Theater, The East Side Arts Alliance, done documentary work for Acupuncturists without Borders and been an educator with Portland’s Young Gifted & Black, Wild Diversity and Weaving Earth.

Laura (she/her/ella) is a post-production audio editor and engineer born and raised in San Francisco. As a youngster she performed in choirs and developed a deep love of music and all things related to the performing arts. Being a natural introvert, she redirected her passion for music behind the scenes as a post-production sound editor and sound designer. She earned her BFA in Music Production & Sound Design from the Academy of Art University in 2019. Through her internship at WAM she expanded her skillset to include live sound engineering. Laura is passionate about BIPOC representation in media, particularly in the Latinx community. She is motivated by her own upbringing in an immigrant community to make music, art, and technology accessible to all students regardless of socioeconomic status. In her spare time you’ll often find Laura wandering aimlessly through a bookstore in search of Latinx authors. She’s so excited to be joining the Girls on the Mic team!

Ari (they/them) is a dancer, DJ, audio engineer, and visual artist from Santa Cruz, Ca. Ari graduated from UC Davis with a BS in Environmental Chemistry & Dance in 2022. Alongside Ari’s artistic career, Ari is an educator and loves working with kids; especially sound related. Ari began working in Sacramento, Ca as a peer mentor for a nonprofit organization called Future Development Youth Center (FDYC), focusing on giving opportunities to lower income youth - teaching them how to DJ, make beats, and produce music videos. Working with kids has always provided Ari joy because they wish to give kids opportunities to tell their story, build confidence, and find creative outlets. They started being an audio engineer at the school radio station KDVS, where they recorded artists in an analog studio as well as put out two mixtapes on the KDVS label featuring all local artists. Then, they continued their passion in audio engineering and working in live sound when they joined WAM through their internship program in Fall 2022. The internship program gave Ari the confidence to continue to intertwine their artistic passions and their career path. Ari learned DJing from their supervisor, Frank Woods, the founder of FDYC in 2019 and fell in love with the art of mixing. Ari found their passion for DJing old school hip hop to techno to inspire people to dance and have fun. Five years later, Ari spends their weekends DJing around the Bay setting the vibes through a blend of techno, Middle Eastern, Latin, and Afro beats, hip hop, and more. They are also passionate about making safe spaces for QTBIPOC folks. Alongside their passion for music, they continue to nurture their passion for performance in all directions. They work as a stage manager with SfArtsEd, work at the OASIS club as a lighting technician/designer, and collaborate with other artists to perform independent works.

Emily Bouton is a youth specialist, violinist, and artist based in Oakland. She graduated with a bachelors in Cognitive Science and Media Studies at McGill University in Montreal.

Emily worked for years as a Program Coordinator at A Home Away from Homelessness in SF, and previously as an STEAM educator for the Rhode Island Museum of Science and Art. She is driven by seeing people step into their creative power, facilitating the transformative/therapeutic process of making things, and witnessing the deeply cool things that youth create.

Currently, Emily plays in various Oakland-based orchestras. She also is a board member for Bay Area Girls Rock Camp.

Idh Bitar is a producer/vocalist transporting through obscured portals to sounds of undiscovered emotion, past, future, and fractured light. He began performing poetry in 2010, and since then has become a magnetic, multi-disciplinary performance artist and audio engineer in the Bay Area. Combining elements of gameboy, beat machines, synth, and genre fluid vocals, Idh creates visceral soundscapes to immerse into. They teach local youth various mediums of expression, and lead a bi-monthly writing workshop for local artists.

Hi, my name is Danielle Goldsmith. I am a recording engineer/mixer/producer based out of the Bay Area and Los Angeles, CA.
I began engineering at Women’s Audio Mission in 2016. Shortly after my training, I became a house engineer at Tiny Telephone in Oakland, CA, and in early 2021 I opened a home studio in Los Angeles called Wiggle World. I feel confident working in both the analog and digital domains. I love working in a wide range of styles and genres. I enjoy taking a highly personalized approach to recording. I like to work closely with artists to ensure we produce the best possible sounds in a fun and creative environment!