About
Formed on November 24th 2020, Women in Jazz Media is a not-for-profit organization created by award winning Jazz artist and journalist Fiona Ross to help support and create an equal, diverse, safe and healthy Jazz Industry.
Parliamentary Jazz Media Award 2021 Winner
Nominated four times for the National Diversity Community Organisation Award for Gender.
A team of writers, photographers, painters, musicians, presenters, journalists, producers, editors and more and are based in China, Spain, Germany, Serbia, USA, Scotland, Greece and England and have roots in France, Italy, Jamaica, Poland, Russia and beyond and collectively speak 8 languages.
What do we do?
Jazz represents freedom of expression and yet historically, women, people of colour, the LGBTQ community and many more have not been given equal opportunities in the Jazz industry. We explore a wide variety of initiatives to help increase the gender and diversity balance to ensure everyone has a voice. We look for platforms and where no platforms exist, we create ones to ensure everyone can be represented.
We published our first entirely female led and managed magazine, platforming women on International Women’s Day March 2021 and due to its significant success, we publish three magazines a year with a readership that has now reached over 50,000. Actively seeking out existing female writers to support and promote their work we also search for new female writers and offer support through our mentoring scheme. Working with our partner publications and organisations, we explore the diversity of their content and offer support to increase representation where needed.
Through our five podcast series, we explore the careers of industry specialists, challenges and inspirations and discuss what actions we can all take to support and encourage a more diverse Jazz industry. Our ‘In Conversation With...’ podcast series was nominated by the Women’s International Podcast awards in the ‘Changing the World one moment at a time’ category and we were named as one of the Top 15 ‘Women In Media Podcasts’ in 2023 and we are currently at number 9 in the top 60 ‘Best Jazz Podcasts’ in FeedSpot.
Our social media platforms, projects and community have developed significantly since we began and we celebrated our 4 year anniversary in Nov 2024, and this link gives a good overview of the work we have achieved.
Mission Statement
- Promote and celebrate women who work in Jazz
- Encourage and support a more diverse Jazz community
- Create a healthy and supportive environment for women who work in Jazz
- Encourage collaborative thinking and mutual support within the Jazz community
As seen in
Testimonials
A new light in 2021. Illuminating a pathway to unify, respect and honour equality and diversity for all women in Jazz.
Professionalism, dedication, and perseverance are the hallmarks of sustainable achievement - these are also the tenets that exudes from the mind and work ethic of Fiona Ross. Knowing this in advance, I am convinced that the timely formulation of the Women in Jazz Media project will have the notable characteristics of a global movement sure to resonate in the hearts of many.