Women in the Music Industry
Maricella Juarez, lovingly known throughout the industry as MJ, has been a positive force along side Seymour Duncan for several decades. Together they have created lasting and meaningful relationships with dealers, musicians, and even their own competition. The sincerity of her efforts to create...
Jennifer Batten is often found at a NAMM booth checking out the gear or providing her feedback on products she has played over the years. Washburn Guitars released a signature model that she took part in designing, which she has proudly played on recordings and on tour. While working with Jeff...
June Wang is very proud of her company, Pearl River. She is an outstanding spokesperson for the China-based piano manufacturer. In fact, it was Ms. Wang who assisted the NAMM Oral History team to conduct an interview with the then-chairman, Zhi Cheng Tong back in 2006. Ten years later, at the...
Sherry Bird teamed with her future husband, Steve Bird, to open a Steinway dealership in Austin, Texas. Together they also opened a second location in San Antonio. With a strong business background, developed working for an oil and gas company in Texas, Sherry took over the books and business...
Deena Bird began teaching piano while she was still a teenager. She later established her own music school, which for a while was located in the Steinway Gallery of her hometown of San Antonio, Texas. One day while walking in the hall she met Lyle Bird, the father of the store’s owner. Well, the...
Elizabeth Ward and her husband, Dale Probst, brought their love of pianos and their backgrounds as tuner and technicians together to form Ward & Probst Piano & Organ Service in Wichita Falls, Texas. Since she was a young girl, the piano has been a big part of her life. Her father...
Jane Jones began her career as a piano technician while working in music retail. She noticed pianos in the repair shop lined up and wanted to do all she could to get those instruments back in the home making music. She began teaching herself as a tuner and soon joined the Piano Technicians Guild...
Ruth Zeiner has been an active and passionate member of the piano technicians industry! Her guidance and advice has helped encourage and foster the careers of members of the Piano Technicians Guild (PTG) for years. As president of Allied Piano LakeOne USA, Ruth has offered tools and support to...
Diane Cobb is the Director of the Church Music Publishers Association (CMPA). The association was formed back in 1926 to create a united front on key areas that concern its membership including education and copyright protection. Diane has played a vital role in the goal of facilitating outreach...
Patrice Rushen has forged many in roads in the music industry. While Patrice got her start recording as an accomplished jazz pianist, she soon branched out into many other genres including pop and R&B. Along the way, Patrice took her passion for composing and arranging into the TV and Film...