For Lillian Werbin, CEO and owner of Elderly Instruments, community is key. They excel in creating spaces that support the music and the music-makers, either with Elderly, with their production company Sturdy Roots or within their many advocacy and board roles with NAMM, IBMA, Bluegrass Pride and more. Lillian shares their story of working their way up through the family business into leadership, advice about how to know whether board service is for you, how they manage it all and how they fell in love with the banjo. Through it all, Lillian is a force for connection and evolution within music.

Through the organization she founded to advance gender equity in music, We Make Noise (formerly Beats By Girls), and in her role as Director of the Popular Music program at Arizona State University, Erin Barra has dedicated her career to pulling back the veil on music production and welcoming those eager to learn to the table, ensuring she's giving them the best chance of success in today's entrepreneurial-focused industry. Erin shares how her path in music and education pulled her along every step of the way, why surrounding herself with a brilliant team has always been key to her success, and proves that a willingness to embrace the uncomfortable can lead us to the career paths we’re meant to have. Giving people the tools to create and share their ideas is how she makes the world a better place, and we’re grateful she’s doing the work.