The Director of New Initiatives in the music department Peter M. Gordon, helped bring to life Women in Music: Making Change Happen, a panel of women in the music industry, on Feb. 12  at the Preus-Brandt Forum at California Lutheran University.

Jessica Lavariega Monforti, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences welcomed the featured panel of six female artists who have made and continue to make contributions to the world of entertainment within the film and music subculture.

During her introduction, Lavariega Monforti, briefly touched on the importance of shining light on women empowerment movements such as #MeToo, the movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault, and celebrating the positive headway of females and gender-bias-free workplaces in the entertainment community.

“We could have had this event talk about all the inequity that exists for women in the industry and the need for more inclusion, it was certainly mentioned but I did not want that to be the topic I really wanted to celebrate the successes,” Gordon said.

Alongside Gordon sat the self-proclaimed female “bosses” including Diana LaPointe, vice president at Sony Music Entertainment, Doreen Ringer-Ross, vice president at Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI),  Miriam Cutler, three-time Emmy nominated composer, Sarah Kovacs, agent at Kraft-Engel Management, Angie Rubin, music editor, and Lili Haydn Grammy award-winning rock violinist, vocalist, recording artist and composer.

“I teach students this notion that the best way to learn about what lies ahead is to hear from people that are further ahead on that path,” Gordon said. “About the things that unexpectedly have happened to them, good things, maybe not such good things but the notion of having to adapt.”

Gordon emphasized the importance to have this event reflect a more academic and motivational aspect in hopes to teach students about real life experiences in the industry from women who have already walked down that path.

During the event, Haydn spoke about the power each individual has to realize who they are within in order to achieve success in the larger scale of the world.

“These are really intense times, and if I were in your generation, I would be very involved. Make sure everyone is registered to vote, make sure that we know that we actually have the power-look into people’s hearts and be in touch with love,” Haydn said.

Rubin has worked on music for films like “Mamma Mia 2” and “Pitch Perfect” and described how it felt to pursue her real passion leaving behind her UCLA education when she was 29 years old.

Rubin said working in a male-dominated setting has become less intimidating as she has continuously learned from previous experiences in order to push forward.

“I don’t think of my accountant as a male accountant or female accountant I don’t think of myself as a female music editor; I am a music editor. Don’t get me wrong I want equality, absolutely I do,” Rubin said. “But I want to be careful the way we go about it and I think we kind of have to keep doing what we are doing. You should do whatever you want to do, gender doesn’t matter.”