carla desantis
Most recently, Carla Desantis has co-founded the nonprofit Songbird Sings: Healing Trauma One Song at a Time. The msision of this organization is to create a nation-wide network of accredited instructors to offer songwriting and recording workshops for trauma survivors.
A retired musician, Carla rose to prominence as the founder, publisher and editor-in-chief of the highly influential and award-winning ROCKRGRL Magazine (1994-2005), the only national publication for women in music. She is also the producer of two highly successful and critically-acclaimed ROCKRGRL Music Conferences and Festivals which took place in Seattle in 2000 and 2005 respectively as well as ROCKRGRL Day at Musicians’ Institute in Los Angeles in 2003. Speakers and performers at the ROCKRGRL Music Conference have included such musical luminaries as Patti Smith, Bonnie Raitt, Courtney Love, Ronnie Spector (Ronettes), Amy Ray (Indigo Girls), Ann Wilson (Heart), Johnette Napolitano (Concrete Blonde), Pamela DesBarres, Stefanie Eulinberg (Kid Rock), Wanda Jackson, Kim Richey, Mo Tucker, Carole Kaye, Exene Cervenka and hundreds more. Carla will be organizing another ROCKRGRL Conference in 2010.
Carla lectures extensively on the topic of gender disparity in rock, and writes for publications as diverse as Rolling Stone, Spin, Bass Player, Gig, Experience Hendrix, MSN, Media Inc, The Rocket and The Seattle Times. She was also co-founder of the short-lived Women Who Rock magazine, published by Cherry Lane.
In 2006, Carla was named one of the “50 most influential people in Seattle music” by Seattle (Sound) magazine and has twice been nominated for a Lifetime Achievement Award by Seattle Weekly. She is also a three-time elected member of the governing board of the Northwest Chapter of the Recording Academy (Grammy organization) and serves on the advisory board for the capital campaign of the Vera Project, Seattle’s extraordinary all-ages music/arts organization.
Her numerous television appearances include KING-TV’s American Idol style talent contest, Gimme The Mic, where she was a judge for two seasons alongside Sir Mix-A-Lot and morning radio host, Bender. She is also a frequent “talking head” on cable networks VH1 (Behind the Music and True Spin), E! (True Hollywood Story), MuchMusic and WE: The Women’s Network as well as a contributor to the Lisa Birnbach Show.
The late, great ROCKRGRL Magazine has been lauded in feature articles in The LA Times, The New York Times, Seventeen, JANE, The Seattle Times, The Village Voice, Electronic Musician, The San Jose Mercury News, The Rocket, Playboy, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Rock, Asbury Park Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (where she also has a blog), Bitch, Bust, Ms. and Salon.
Carla was the executive producer on two ROCKRGRL Discoveries compilation CDs. She is currently working on two books, lecturing, consulting as an artist relations and marketing specialist for Luna Guitars, and speaking out about music industry sexism wherever it may be.
Carla DeSantis has been a featured speaker at:
| Ladyfest Olympia | Ladyfest Seattle |
| Ladyfest Bay Area | Experience Music Project Museum |
| NXNW Music Conference | MusicWest Music Conference |
| SUNY, Syracuse | Iowa State University |
| University of Oregon | Oregon State University |
| Venerelettrica, Italy | Claremont College |
| Rock ‘N’ Roll Camp for Girls | Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp |
| ROCKRGRL Camp | NEMO Music Conference |
| West Coast Songwriters Conf. | Musica Conference |
| GRAMMY Career Day | AidsRock Ohio |
| Estrojam | Portland Ladies’ Rock Camp |
| Recording Academy, Atlanta | Musicians’ Institute |
| Shoreline Community College | Art Institute of Seattle |
| Seattle Pacific University | Feeding Back Conference |
| University of Puget Sound | Society of Professional Journalists |
You can view an 8-minute video about Carla and the evolution of ROCKRGRL Magazine here:http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=4010524.
For more speakers on feminist journalism, see: Paula Kamen, Jennifer Baumgardner, Lisa Jervis, Farai Chideya, Irshad Manji, Courtney E. Martin, Suzanne Braun Levine
For more speakers on the music industry, see: Johnny Temple, Farai Chideya
