When alumna Jasmine Kok M.M. '18 began her coursework at Berklees campus in Valencia, Spain, she noticed something: there were no female faculty members and very few female students in Berklee's Music Production, Technology, and Innovation (MPTI) program. Inspired to create a space where women could share their experiences and challenges in the music industry, Kok cofounded She Knows Tech, which seeks to close the gender gap in music technology. In January 2020, right before the Grammy Awards, the group released a video titled It's Time -a one-shot production featuring a wide range of women playing every single role in a live studio session.
Watch the Its Time video:
We spoke to Kok about the inspiration behind the video, the work of She Knows Tech, and why it's important for women to be able to see themselves in every part of the music industry.
Tell us about the inspiration behind She Knows Tech. The idea came about when I was a graduate student at Berklee Valencia, and I noticed the lack of female faculty members in my program. The male-to-female ratio among MPTI students was almost four to one. (This was an improvement over the previous year-it had been 10 to one!) I was surprised to hear from my faculty advisor that women simply aren't applying for these programs. I wondered: does that mean we are not interested? Or not confident?
I wanted to do something, and my program director recommended I form a team. I worked with two other graduate students, Lillian Gagnon and Anna Parry. I couldn't have done it without them. We started as a student activity/peer-to-peer platform. We hosted workshops and interviewed female guests from the industry who came to campus. Most of the women we interviewed were producers, engineers, and technologists, and it was great-but I started to wonder: how effective were these workshops? Were we really making a difference? How could we develop a more sustainable program?
What did you do next? I started talking to a bunch of the female MPTI students about an idea for a mentorship program. We got commitments from five graduate students to mentor four undergraduate students each, offering seven sessions instead of a one-off like a workshop (though we kept doing those, too). I was surprised-we got almost 40 applicants for our first class. We were able to take 20, and almost half of last year's mentees are now in tech-related majors at Berklee.
What has been the impact on the mentees? There are several impacts. First, there's this buzz of excitement that permeates the entire semester-I recorded a track! I learned how to make a beat! The program provides a place to learn skills and share them and be encouraged. The most powerful thing the mentees are walking away with is not the technical knowledge, but the confidence they were able to mirror from their mentors. I've certainly seen that in my own experience-my mentors have helped me by modeling, and I've gained confidence by watching them.
Tell us about the process behind the It's Time video. It's funny-that came about because I was applying for a business internship in Europe, and to complete that application, I had to shoot a video. So I pulled a bunch of students and staff together and had them narrate the impact I hope to make in the industry through She Knows Tech.
I really love that there are a huge range of women in the video: different accents, ages, races, and voices. I was adamant about getting a lot of women of color to participate, because so often the women you do see in the industry are white. I wanted to do it in one shot and make it powerful. Everything in your news feed online is a video, and I wanted people to watch the whole thing.
When you visualize women in the studio, you often see the artist, the artist's girlfriend, a secretary, or a studio manager. I thought, What if we put together a team of women setting up a session? We are more than just those roles. We threw some different thoughts and statistics into the video, too. I wanted to end it with women who are very experienced in this industry anchoring the facts and voices, so we featured several faculty members. And the young girl at the end is one of my piano students from here in Valencia. I'm so glad she and her mom said yes to participating-there's a future element to this work. It doesn't just impact women now, but the future of the industry.
What's next for She Knows Tech? We are in the process of getting registered as a company. Lots of festivals and conferences are getting canceled this spring because of the coronavirus (COVID-19), but I want to continue reaching out to those events to carve out a spot for women to go-to nerd out, basically. When I was at ADE 2019 [the Amsterdam Dance Event, a huge electronic music conference], to my surprise, master classes were mostly attended by men. The youngest was 8 years old! I wanted to create a space where women could inspire each other to own this space. Whether you are confident or not-just to come together and own it.
I also want to collaborate with higher education institutions to help them set up a tech training program. I want to encourage them to open doors for women-the other 50 percent of their clientele! I started doing this work because I was hoping someone would have done it for me. We can wait, or we can all do something.
Related categories:
News
Related Reading
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.
Dee Dee Bridgewater Urges Women to Lift Each Other Up The jazz icon joined several Berklee faculty members for a panel discussion on the challenges and triumphs of being a woman in the music industry.
Meet Seven Students from Berklee's Class of 201
Most recent headlines
03/01/2026
A still from OBEX by Albert Birney, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance...
02/01/2026
Freezing Florida: NHL's EVP, Entertainment Bob Chesterman on Taking the Wint...
02/01/2026
NHL Winter Classic 2026: TNT Sports Prepares for First NHL Outdoor Game in Sunsh...
02/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
02/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
02/01/2026
Any Given Day: Cork University Hospital premieres Wednesday 7 January on RT One and RT Player at 9:35pm
RT will debut a powerful new six-part documentary se...
02/01/2026
Friday 2 January 2026
All episodes of Heated Rivalry will be landing on Sky and...
02/01/2026
Sequins, chat shows, live sporting action, ground-breaking docuseries and brand-new Irish drama to kick off 2026
New Year, New Content Coming Soon across RT
...
01/01/2026
Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Announces 2026 Noel Schajris Scholarship The scholarship will cover tuition and housing for one Berklee College of Music stud...
01/01/2026
New year, new games, all with RTX 5080-powered cloud energy. GeForce NOW is kicking off 2026 by looking back at an unforgettable year of wins and wildly high fr...
31/12/2025
Back to All News
NFL Christmas Gameday on Netflix Scores Again With the Lions-V...
30/12/2025
As the College Football Playoff Enters the Quarterfinals, ESPN Blows Out Its Meg...
30/12/2025
SVG's Best of 2025: Original ArticlesTake a look back at all our coverage of big-time productions, game-changing technologies, and state-of-the-art new faci...
30/12/2025
MELBOURNE, Fla., Dec. 30, 2025 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) will release its fourth quarter 2025 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, J...
30/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
30/12/2025
Your live countdown to 2026 with Inhaler, David Gray, Lyra, Garron Noone, Sharon...
30/12/2025
It marked the first civilian operational authorization for a HAPS flight in Europe, led by Space42's subsidiary, Mira Aerospace
The flight demonstrated HAP...
29/12/2025
San Francisco 49ers Strike Gold With Halftime Laser SpectacularStunning display caps $200 million renovation of Levi's Stadium techBy Dan Daley, Audio Edito...
29/12/2025
The Cup's Around the Corner: An Inside Look at Broadcast Preparations for th...
29/12/2025
SVG's Best of 2025: Longform VideoWatch the standout keynote conversations, deep dives, and panel discussions from the year for free on SVG PLAY!By Brandon ...
29/12/2025
From crisper Lossless audio and immersive music videos in beta to new Audiobooks+ plans, custom transitions between tracks, and in-app Messages, we keep levelin...
29/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
27/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
25/12/2025
Holiday lights are twinkling, hot cocoa's on the stove and gamers are settling in for a well-earned break.
Whether staying in or heading on a winter getawa...
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
RT has unveiled an exclusive first look at the new Dancing with the Stars promo...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
The Boyfriend' Season 2 Unveils Heartwarming Trailer, Key...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today!By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
P...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
When alumna Jasmine Kok M.M. '18 began her coursework at Berklees campus in Valencia, Spain, she noticed something: there were no female faculty members and very few female students in Berklee's Music Production, Technology, and Innovation (MPTI) program. Inspired to create a space where women could share their experiences and challenges in the music industry, Kok cofounded She Knows Tech, which seeks to close the gender gap in music technology. In January 2020, right before the Grammy Awards, the group released a video titled It's Time -a one-shot production featuring a wide range of women playing every single role in a live studio session. 
