In conversation with: Jennifer Joseph BCWM Co-Founder

Alumna Jennifer Joseph (external link)  ‘15 co-founded Black Canadian Women in Music (external link)  (BCWM) with Jahlyssa W. and Shaneka Warren.

BCWM is an organization created to provide space for Black Canadian women working in music to connect online and through in-person events. It’s an opportunity to network, find support, and inspiration.

The organization recently received a nomination for Best Organization of the Year at Women in Music Canada (external link) , despite being active for only a year.

Joseph said, “For us to be nominated, to be included in that category is just beyond words, it's a very beautiful accomplishment. We're just happy to be acknowledged on that pedestal.”

In the first year, BCWM grew to 100 members and over 800 Instagram followers, hosted two mixers and two events, collaborating with The Gift Shop (founded by Imani Busby, Creative Industries ‘23) and Cyro Sounds. The organization also worked with 40 sponsors, with a mission to work with Black- and/or women-owned businesses.

BCWM started after the three connected at a concert together one night.

“We're all women who, in some sort of way, work behind the scenes in music,” Joseph said. “We've experienced this thrill, this happiness of being together in person, and being able to share our grievances of working in the music industry as Black women or behind the scenes.”

The idea grew, and they created a group chat for the three of them to brainstorm and toss around ideas.

Joseph said, “If we feel this way, how many other Black women in Toronto, in Canada, feel the same way?”

They asked each other if it would be crazy to start something catered to Black women who work in music behind the scenes.

After sitting down to discuss what this would look like, the three created a group chat on Instagram and started inviting other women who would benefit from it.

Then they hit a cap.

“We're like, okay, this needs to be properly structured. We established a whole business strategy, social media plan, all of it, and then from there, it kind of grew,” she said.

Joseph said it’s been beautiful to see natural connections being made from the group chat to meeting in person at their mixers.

“From there, we've had so many people link up, whether it's working together in some sort of capacity as creative director for a video shoot, or becoming a manager to a producer in our group, or working a part of a festival,” she added.

They have put a spin on the old networking idea and made it their own.

“It's always going to be networking first, but also we're always going to have fun. We are women who work in the music industry. So it's always going to be linked back to music. That's our core.”

The response has been great, Joseph said.

“It’s built organic connections between women who may already know of each other, but it’s created a natural connection between them,” she said.

“If there is an opportunity for us to create a space where Black women like us who work behind the scenes in music get to mix and mingle amongst each other, we're going to do it all the time, and we're going to keep doing it and doing it better.”

Joseph hopes that BCWM members are getting more than just connections from their events.

The team wants to help members evolve themselves, whether it’s through future workshops or panels, rather than just exchanging business cards.

“We created an actual space where they get to meet up and gather, so the sky's the limit. We want to be able to not only make connections, but also collaborate within our community.”

At her marketing job and while creating this organization, Joseph said her experience as a Journalism student has come in handy.

“If you're a journalist, you're a journalist for life because you've studied this. This is something that's ingrained in you.”

She said you’ll apply it to everything you do, “When I start things from scratch, for me personally, I always see it as how do I tell this story to other people? How does this land online? What are we saying to them? What's the story behind this?”

Joseph is thankful that she and the other two co-founders share the vision and understand how each other works.

“We've built a bond, and we have a natural understanding of what we want to grow, what we want it to look like and how it will continue to grow.”

When asked if she had any advice for students, Joseph said it is important to network as you are progressing in your career.

“There are life mentors, there are people who are there for you, who will support you. Network, know your worth and connect.”