“It allows me to just be free”  – Glade Marie chats to Em

This article is part of our Community Conversations series, exploring stories of personal, professional and collective growth from across our 7 years working to redress the gender imbalance in music tech. 

Each piece follows a 1:1 chat between someone who has been closely involved in Saffron’s activities over the past 7 years and a member of the Saffron team. In this piece, Mix Nights graduate turned Saffron Ambassador and London City Coordinator Glade Marie chats to her former tutor Em Williams.

EM: Can you tell me a bit more about your background? How did you first become interested in DJing?

GLADE: So my background is in dance. I’ve danced since I was three years old. We used to run a dance group when I was about 14 – me and my friend would get all our friends together, teach everyone dances and go to competitions. Then I found out about mixing music for those competitions – so that was my first introduction to music. The sets would be like three-minute dances and you’d have maybe four different songs. So,  it was more editing than DJing at the time, but I remember downloading the software and learning how to edit the songs so we could have a smooth dance performance. 

I didn’t really move past that until I moved to Bristol for work in 2016 and saw that Mix Nights was starting. I think I actually found the ad on Facebook. At the time the course was really affordable – it still is – and you could choose to learn on either vinyl or CDJ. I started on vinyl and I was taught by Daisy and Danielle and it was so, so amazing. I learned so much about music and started collecting vinyl after that. 

EM: I think you were either in the first or second Mix Nights group we ever had – so super early days back in 2016.  You said you started on vinyl, what made you choose that medium?

GLADE: I love hip-hop, and a lot of things that I had read about hip-hop would talk about the birth of turntablism in New York, which was very much linked to disco records, and people mixing in between the breaks in the tracks so breakdancers could dance. And I tend to think, if I’m going to learn anything, I want to learn the truest form of whatever it is I’m learning. I think I’m just addicted to whatever is the ‘authentic’ way to do something and I’m still really interested in that. 

EM: So how have you and your relationship with Saffron and Mix Nights developed since then?

GLADE: It’s so special how big a role Saffron has played in my life since then. So lockdown was my first re-introduction to Saffron since taking part in Mix Nights. I guess I was still connected in terms of habitat and I was still keeping in contact with certain people I’ve met over the years.  Then lockdown came around and I had a bit more time on my hands. I was speaking to Laura, Saffron’s founder, who offered me a position doing social media and through doing that I developed a much deeper knowledge of the company and I’ve been working with Saffron ever since. I have now moved into doing more ambassadorial work, as well as project managing Saffron’s courses in London, and it’s been amazing.

EM: Have you got any funny moments or happy memories you’d like to share?

GLADE: So going all the way back to my first Mix Nights group, I was paired with somebody called Anabelle. If I’m not wrong, I think she was in her 50s at the time, had three kids, the biggest energy and the best record collection and I just remember feeling so connected. We had so much fun. So I just have so many fond memories from those early days inspired by the diversity of people I was meeting and the experiences I was sharing.

More recently, I went to a festival in London where Mix Nights had a stage and I saw so many people who had taken part in the courses, from London, Bristol, and Nottingham. That was a really, really beautiful memory for me because we’re expanding so much at the moment and I got to experience that in real time and see people connect with and support each other.

Em: So jumping to now then – as our new City Coordinator in London – what’s it been like for you to move into a role where you’re giving back to the community?

GLADE: Oh, it’s been life-changing. I definitely felt my relationship with London changed a lot after I took that role. London before that was a place where I had really strong connections in terms of friendships, but it really can be quite an isolating place for a lot of people. The role started introducing me to loads of people who were new to London, new to music, new to DJing, new to everything – and that energy just changed my perspective. It really helped me connect with that sort of grassroots vibe Saffron has that I first connected with back in Bristol, so it just feels like I’m doing that all over again. I just feel more connected to the city and more connected to myself now so it’s a really special thing for me.

EM: The individual growth you’ve achieved as a DJ since first taking part in MCs nights has been phenomenal. Have there been any challenges to overcome along the way?

GLADE: Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I mean, when it comes to challenges, COVID was a huge challenge. I felt like my career was slowly getting off the ground just before COVID, and then it felt like there was just a complete stop. 

So what happened after that was I got a radio show. No Signal, which is this station I’m friendly with that emerged during the lockdown, offered me a weekly show and that opened up so many doors for me in London. It was such a special thing to be part of. So yeah, I think in terms of obstacles, trying to keep connected to the community and trying to keep inspired and trying to make my voice and music heard during that time felt really difficult, but the consistency of doing something every week really developed my discipline and helped me to connect more in the long run. So whilst it was a difficult time, it brought me more blessings in the end than I expected it to. 

EM: So what are your hopes and ambitions further down the line?

GLADE: I would love to work a bit more with younger women and non-binary people. It would be great to be part of a change in the music education that people are experiencing. Further down the line, I’d love to see a lot more diversity in lineups, diversity in music executives, people behind the scenes in the music industry and just a bit more of a change in pathways for young women and young non-binary people and trans people to start those steps a bit earlier. I’d love to be able to move into that space as well.

EM: A big emphasis is often placed on traditional success in the music industry, what would you say is the most important thing you’ve learned about yourself as a result of getting involved in Saffron?

GLADE: I think my work with Saffron has helped me to not care as much about the industry, which is amazing. I don’t want to sit every day thinking about who I can meet to help me get a bigger gig or a better slot or lineup or more money. I don’t want to be thinking about any of those things and I don’t think that I would be as relaxed if I wasn’t connected to the community through Saffron. I think that community connection really settles me and it allows me to just be free. 

If I can get gigs, and if I get to progress in the industry then great, but because I have a tie to a music community outside of that, I do feel that it really helps my confidence. It helps my sense of assurance in the music industry itself because I don’t walk into it feeling like I need any validation from it.

EM: So over the course of your career, what changes, if any, have you observed in the music tech industry as far as diversity and inclusivity are concerned?

GLADE: Over the past six years, I have noticed a lot of partnerships. I feel like people are being reached out to in terms of marginalised genders and marginalised communities. I feel like there is more effort being put in, in terms of bigger brands and bigger institutions working with people who they don’t usually work with. I do find that to be inspiring and hopeful. I do really enjoy seeing so many different types of people on lineups and different types of events happening. I want to see a lot more of it. 

I think that there is still so much work to be done, which is why I’m so grateful to be part of Saffron. But yeah, I do see the change. I remember moving to Bristol and what was going on in the music scene felt completely different to now. Bristol itself as a case study has changed so much through Saffron and Mix Nights, so I know that energy is just going to spread out into the UK, the more work we do.

EM: And finally, what changes would you still like to see or be part of?

GLADE: I think that some of my favourite producers and favourite artists – I can go back and see videos of them at like age six, with an amazing keyboard, amazing guitar, amazing studio or something like that. It’s great to have the resources at such a young age and I feel like hopefully, we can see more initiatives and more emphasis on that. I feel that if we can change the way music is viewed in schools, and especially after-school programmes and stuff like that – it will be really beautiful to witness how confident those kids will grow up to be. How confident they will be and what they will grow up creating as well.

Want to learn to DJ? Check out our Mix Nights courses in Birmingham, Bristol, London and Nottingham.