
Berklee Online is paving the way for a new era in a music industry that has historically lacked female representation and leadership. Over the past decade, Berklees award-winning online school has been making conscious efforts to increase its rates of female students, staff, and instructors.
At Berklee Online, we recognize our potential impact on the next generation of artists and music professionals, says Debbie Cavalier, CEO of Berklee Online. Increasing the rate of female students, staff, and instructors is a necessary step to ensure that more women are represented in the future of the music industry and those who lead it.
In the last two years, female enrollment at Berklee Online has increased by 65 percent. This is more than two times that of male enrollment, which is at 32 percent. Over the last five years, female enrollment has grown steadily, from 24 percent to 31 percent.
Cavalier was appointed by President Roger H. Brown as the CEO of Berklee Online in 2012. Since then, she and her leadership team have restructured the organization by hiring more female instructors and staff. As a result, the growth rate of female instructors has increased from 28 percent in fall 2012 to 33 percent in fall 2018.
Berklee Online began as a very male-dominated enterprise in 2001, says Cavalier. By 2006, I was one of only two female leaders on staff. Today, we have nine women in key leadership roles. Our team is gender-balanced, collaborative, and strong.
A few of the women in key leadership roles at Berklee Online include Carin Nuernberg, recently named vice president of academic strategy; Darcy Winer, senior director of finance; Corina DeCandia, director of operations; and Molly Tomlinson, director of technology, who is the first female to hold this role at Berklee Online.
Some of the female instructors at Berklee Online include Bonnie Hayes and Tonya Butler. Hayes, chair of Berklees Songwriting Department, has worked with Billy Idol, David Crosby, Cher, and Bonnie Raitt. Butler, assistant chair of the Music Business/Management Department, has worked with clients such as Rhino Records, MGM Music, and Global Disc Records.
Alison Plante, former chair of Berklees Film Scoring Department, was appointed as program director for Berklee Onlines new Master of Music in Film Scoring program. Pinar Toprak, the first female composer to score a major superhero movie, Captain Marvel, is among Berklee Online's film scoring instructors.
With female enrollment at an all-time high, more female instructors, and a 97 percent student satisfaction rate, Berklee Online's certificate, undergraduate, and graduate degree programs teach students the skills and help build the confidence to meet and exceed music industry demands. With more than 11,000 annual enrollments in credit-based courses and 2.4 million enrollments in massive open online courses, Berklee Online is the largest online music college in the world. Learn more at online.berklee.edu.
Related categories:
News
Most Popular
Students Find Rainbow Connection at Newport Folk Berklee Instant Strings joined headlining musicians such as Trey Anastasio, Robin Pecknold, I'm With Her, and Kermit the Frog at Newport Folk Festival 2019.
Latest
Berklee Online Increases Rates of Female Students, Staff, and Instructors In the last two years, female enrollment at Berklee Online has increased by 65 percent.
Summer Student Pens Song for South African Womens Day South African singer Alutha Taho partnered with women-focused arts organization the Mama Project to release the song Together We Can.
Feel the One: Terri Lyne Carrington and Others Get Mystical with Jazz Advice The drum legend and Berklee professor put together a special ensemble to perform and field questions from students.
Read All
Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.
Berklee Blogs
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram
Snapchat
Soundcloud
Spotify
North America Stories
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/09/2026
Manifold Technologies, developer of software-defined, FPGA-accelerated infrastructure for live production, has named Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer...
21/09/2026
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has won Best Journal Article at the 2026 IAMT Impact Awards for What Video Editors Need When Everything Is Changing Around Them,...
21/09/2026
Major League Wrestling (MLW) has announced a streaming distribution agreement with Tubi for its weekly series MLW FUSION. Beginning September 17, new episodes w...
21/09/2026
Disney Entertainment has announced that Adam Smith has been named Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer, with responsibility for Disney and Hulu including product, engi...
21/09/2026
United Airlines and DISH have announced an agreement to bring live professional ...
21/09/2026
SES and JioStar have announced a multi-year agreement under which SES will provide satellite distribution services for JioStar's television channel portfoli...
21/09/2026
The Detroit Red Wings have announced details for their inaugural season on Detro...
21/09/2026
Manifold Technologies has appointed Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer for North America, effective October 1, 2026. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Wi...
21/09/2026
Angels Broadcast Television (ABTV), the local television home of the Los Angeles...
21/09/2026
The 2026 US Open Tennis Championships marked a year of change with respect to TV...
21/09/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
21/09/2026
From Graphic Novel to 30-Minute Animated Film: What I Learned Building an AI-Ass...
21/09/2026
Liam Hopkins Builds Recording Studio with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton September 20, 2026
0 Comments
Video complements audio production with music v...
21/09/2026
Physical AI is moving rapidly from research to large-scale deployment. By 2035, ABI Research projects an installed base of 49 million level 3-5 autonomous vehic...
21/09/2026
Today, Egypt's AI builders gathered in the Grand Egyptian Museum for a reception that highlighted the nation's rapidly growing AI ecosystem - spanning A...
21/09/2026
Every AI factory needs power and cooling that fit its computing architecture. As AI infrastructure expands, power, cooling, water, site and grid constraints are...
21/09/2026
AI security is an engineering problem. That means defined security requirements,...
21/09/2026
Clean energy isn't hard to come by, but the pace of large-scale adoption has historically been slow due to bottlenecks - including out-of-date infrastructur...
20/09/2026
COW Jobs: Video Editor, Motion Designer - Remote, PT, 6 Months
Brie Clayton September 20, 2026
0 Comments
Video Editor + Motion Designer (Remote | PT ...
19/09/2026
Two High-Profile Professional Sports Franchises Renew creative.space Contracts with DigitalGlue
NFL team and Major League Soccer Club cite ease of use, secure ...
19/09/2026
Limited Edition Audio releases VoxSplit Pro for overlapping dialogue separation ...
18/09/2026
IBC 2026 Tech Moves Beyond the Gloss and Into the Rack If you spent any time in the halls of the RAI this year, you noticed a clear shift in conversation. The c...
18/09/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
18/09/2026
Qvest has appointed Jens Miedek as Senior Vice President Sales, Media and Entertainment. Before joining Qvest, Miedek spent 16 years at Riedel Communications an...
18/09/2026
Fonn Group has acquired full ownership of everviz, a cloud-native platform for interactive charts, maps, and data-driven graphics, and will rebrand it as Teikna...
18/09/2026
Other World Computing (OWC) has announced the acquisition of OpenDrives, a provider of software-defined video and rich media storage management solutions. The a...
18/09/2026
Kaltura and Verimatrix have announced a partnership integrating Verimatrix's Digital Rights Management and security capabilities into Kaltura's Cloud TV...
18/09/2026
The sixth edition of the World Nomad Games combined traditional sports, large-scale cultural performances, and some decidedly modern broadcast technology. Held ...
18/09/2026
DAZN and Super League Basketball (SLB) have extended their partnership for the 2026-27 season. Every Championship, Cup, and Play-Off fixture will be available l...
18/09/2026
Nielsen has announced that its Streaming Content Ratings (SCR) product will move from weekly to daily data delivery, with clients now receiving viewership data ...
18/09/2026
ESPN will present LALIGA's ElCl sico on ABC for the first time, with FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid airing Sunday, October 25 at 4 p.m. ET. A one-hour pre-mat...
18/09/2026
The University of Pennsylvania's Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate ...
18/09/2026
The Charlotte Hornets have announced DAZN as their exclusive direct-to-consumer streaming partner for the 2026-27 NBA season. The service launches immediately, ...
18/09/2026
Broadcast sports' original medium will let drivers keep on hearing the plays thanks to a new bill set to pass the Senate....
18/09/2026
Fourteen iPhone 18 Pro devices - eight connected over a T-Mobile Private 5G Netw...
18/09/2026
The Minnesota Lynx have announced that their final local broadcast of the 2026 regular season will air free on FOX 9 following the shutdown of Victory . The Ly...
18/09/2026
Monumental Sports Network (MNMT) has announced that its Monumental+ streaming service is now available as a subscription through Prime Video, giving Capitals an...
18/09/2026
WTGL, the women's team golf league created by TMRW Sports in partnership with the LPGA, has announced its inaugural season schedule. The season premieres Su...
18/09/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
18/09/2026
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has won Best Journal Article at the 2026 IAMT Impact Awards for What Video Editors Need When Everything Is Changing Around Them, ...