Guitar Center and She Is The Music Host Women on Record Event

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Guitar Center partnered with She Is The Music—the nonprofit founded by Alicia Keys and Ann Mincieli—to host Women on Record, an inspiring conversation with some of the most influential women working behind the scenes in today’s music industry.

Moderated by Guitar Center Chief Human Resources Officer Anne Buchanan, the panel featured Grammy Award-winning engineer and She Is The Music cofounder Ann Mincieli; genre-defying producer and Young Art Records founder TOKiMONSTA; and songwriting/production duo Nova Wav (Denisia "Blu June" Andrews and Brittany "Chi" Coney), who have helped shape tracks for icons like Beyoncé, Rihanna and Jazmine Sullivan.

Musical Inspiration and Formative Breakthroughs

The evening opened with stories that reached back to early influences—childhood memories, first instruments, formative breakthroughs. TOKiMONSTA, known for her immersive blend of electronic and hip-hop textures, said, “My start probably echoes many of your first endeavors into music, which is piano lessons I didn’t like that my mom made me take … Thank you, Mom—it ended up helping.”

Left to Right: Denisia "Blu June" Andrews, Brittany "Chi" Coney and Ann Mincieli

Chi recalled sneaking FL Studio onto her mom’s school computer and falling in love with beatmaking. Blu June spoke of growing up in church and realizing she didn’t need to be in the spotlight to create meaningful music. And Ann Mincieli traced her journey back to being a teenage lefty guitar player in New York, learning on right-handed guitars and absorbing influences from Diana Ross to the Pointer Sisters to the young Wu-Tang members she went to school with.

It was clear: Everyone onstage began as a listener, a tinkerer, a student.

Mentorship and Community Building

That early passion evolved into something more: a responsibility to lift others up. “You don’t forget the things you tell others,” said Chi. “You’re still the student, too.”

The panelists spoke with warmth and clarity about mentorship, community building and opening doors that had once been closed. Nova Wav described organizing an Atlanta songwriting camp for completely unsigned talent. TOKiMONSTA talked about the work she does supporting up-and-coming artists through her label and collaborations. Mincieli spoke about the ongoing efforts of She Is The Music to create real structural change in studios and industry institutions around the world.

Left to Right: Anne Buchanan (Guitar Center CHRO), Denisia "Blu June" Andrews and Brittany "Chi" Coney

Buchanan also announced that the Guitar Center Music Foundation would be awarding a $5,000 instrument grant to She Is The Music to support their mission of fostering gender equity in the recording arts. It was a moment that reinforced the theme of reciprocity: Growth isn’t just personal, it’s collective.

Gear Talk

Of course, this being a Guitar Center event, it didn’t take long for the conversation to turn to gear.

TOKiMONSTA got a laugh from the audience as she described getting her first Taylor acoustic at her local Guitar Center after hearing the Smashing Pumpkins in high school. “That’s my only acoustic guitar,” she said. “And it’s from Guitar Center.”

Left to Right: Anne Mincieli and TOKiMONSTA

Ann Mincieli, a lifelong gearhead, dropped jaws when she mentioned her personal collection of more than 60 guitars and vintage amps. “I bought one of my first Höfner 500/1 violin basses from this store. It’s a 1956,” she said. “If you know, McCartney’s was a ’62.” She also recounted scoring Carol Kaye’s Versatone bass amp from Guitar Center Hollywood—a serious piece of recording history.

Nova Wav reflected on how it felt to come full circle: from aspiring artists stretching their budgets to buy gear to now being panelists at an event celebrating women in music. “When you sow into the gift,” said Blu, “it sows back.”

Women on Record Takes Center Stage

As the evening wrapped, each panelist was honored with a bouquet, and attendees lingered long after the applause to talk, connect and carry the conversation forward. It was clear that Women on Record was more than a panel—it was a gathering of shared purpose, collective memory and ongoing evolution.

Because as every great artist knows: No matter how far you’ve come, you’re still the student, and you’re still the teacher.