The night before Billboard’s 2023 Women in Music Awards, we honored another collection of women in music: the top women producers.
At the 2023 Billboard Women in Music Top Producers Dinner on Tuesday night (Feb. 28), Chlöe Bailey, TOKiMONSTA, Uniiqu3, Syd, MNDR, Suni MF, Malibu Babie, Kito, Ebonie Smith, Tiffany Miranda, Jenn Decilveo, Monique Winning, Yuli, INK and more gathered at the Pendry Hotel in West Hollywood to celebrate their music and talk about the future of the profession for women. Producers who are women make up less than 3% of working producers today, so it’s time to inspire the next generation of women beatmakers.
You might know the names Chlöe and TOKiMONSTA — Chlöe is a singer/songwriter who also produces her own music, and TOKiMONSTA is a DJ and dance producer who has released projects under her own name — but oftentimes, no matter how high-profile the music they’re working on, producers’ names stay out of the limelight. That’s why this event, as well as the first-ever Women in Music Producer of the Year Award handed out to Rosalía at Wednesday’s ceremony, look to shine a light on the women already making strides in the studio to show young women that this is a viable career path.
As Rosalía said in her speech Wednesday night, “A producer’s job is a job in the shadow. … It’s not very fun – whoever tells you otherwise, they’re lying. It’s 15 hours a day, nonstop maybe, working on a sound. It comes from love, it comes from obsession maybe, and that’s why you stay in that small-ass room with no windows while everybody else around you is at home, just chilling, eating something nice, laughing, having sex, living life, just regular human cool sh–.”
Billboard president Mike Van, Billboard editorial director Hannah Karp and Billboard chief brand officer Dana Droppo led Tuesday’s dinner, sponsored by Splice and the Mechanical Licensing Collective.
See photos from the 2023 Billboard Women in Music Top Producers dinner below.
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MNDR & TOKiMONSTA
MNDR and TOKiMONSTA photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Kito, Malibu Babie & Chloe Bailey
Kito, Malibu Babie & Chloe Bailey photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Alisa Coleman
ABKCO COO Alisa Coleman photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Chloe Bailey
Chloe Bailey photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Suni & Mike Van
Suni and Billboard President Mike Van potographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Syd
Syd photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Jenn Decilveo, Ellen Truly & Ebonie Smith
Producer Jenn Decilveo, whose recent work includes White Reaper’s “Pages,” Mechanical Licensing Collective’s chief marketing officer Ellen Truly, producer Ebonie Smith, founder of Gender Amplified.
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Jade Rose, Alisa Coleman & Elayna Kaylor
Jade Rose (left), Alisa Coleman & ABKCO Music’s Elayna Kaylor (right) photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Tiffany Miranda
Tiffany Miranda, producer and founder of the nonprofit Girls Make Beats, photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Kito, Chloe Bailey & Malibu Babie
Producers Kito, Chloe Bailey and Malibu Babie photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Kakul Srivastava, INK & Moya Nkruma
Splice CEO Kakul Srivastava, INK, and Splice’s artist marketing lead Moya Nkruma photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Hannah Karp
Billboard editorial director Hannah Karp photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Monique Winning & Samanda Rivera
Producer Monique Winning and Splice artist operations manager Samanda Rivera photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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TOKiMONSTA & MNDR
TOKiMONSTA and MNDR photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Mike Van, Alisa Coleman & Dana Droppo
Mike Van, Alisa Coleman & Billboard chief brand officer Dana Droppo photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Yuli
Yuli, co-producer of SZA’s “Blind,” photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Samanda Rivera, Kakul Srivastava & Syd
Splice’s artist operations manager Samanda Rivera, Splice CEO Kakul Srivastava and Syd photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Frances McCahon, Suni & Kakul Srivastava
Splice’s Frances McCahon, Suni & Splice CEO Kakul Srivastava photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Malibu Babie & Ebonie Smith
Producers Malibu Babie and Ebonie Smith photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.
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Hannah Karp
Hannah Karp photographed at Billboard’s Women in Music Top Producers Dinner held at the Pendry Hotel on Feb. 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.