This is where Femme It Forward step in. They are back for their fourth year of the Next Gem Femme mentorship programme, offering opportunities for nine months of one-to-one mentoring with their large list of over 150 industry mentors. Their expertise ranges from marketing, business development, talent management, to publicity – and have affiliations with an array of household names such as Apple Music, Netflix, Republic Records, and YouTube.

Only for US and Canadian based applicants, you must be over 18 years old and enrolled in school or employed in order to apply. Over the course of 8 months from August 2024 to March 2025, this programme offers professional coaching, industry insights, and networking opportunities with female industry leaders in their chosen field.

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The programme’s access to a large list of industry experts – such as music, media, entertainment, or technology – allows applicants to engage with professionals with real hands-on experience and advice. The programme will support over one hundred applicants, including those from historically black universities and colleges, and will help provide mentees with the skills they will need for long-term development in the industries they choose. 

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Femme It Forward’s founder and CEO, Heather Lowery, is no stranger to the lack of opportunities that exists within the media and music industry. Her education at Spelman College and employment at various record labels has left her with insight into obstacles that women of colour face when attempting to break into the entertainment industry. In an interview with Forbes in July 2023, she stated that “I initially created Femme It Forward as a series […] It was a series to give more women opportunities to perform on stage […]. I realised I wasn’t doing enough for women in live music. It irked my soul until I did something about it. Five months later I launched Femme It Forward with ten performance line-ups and three panels – all women!”   

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Lowery makes it clear that the Next Gem Femme programme is a direct response to the increased need for black women in professional and entrepreneurial capacities, with 52% of women without mentors expressing a need for additional help with associating with other professionals.

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Therefore, this programme aims to bolster women of colour and afford them with the opportunities she feels they are lacking. She says that the goal of Next Gem Femme is to “Give the next generation of leaders access and opportunities to help combat opportunity gaps and structural barriers that exist for young women of colour.”

Applications for this programme close at 9:00 PM on Friday 7^th June 2024. 

_{Written By Bethan Gwynne}

The post Next Gem Femme And Heather Lowery: The Mentor Program That Is ‘Curated By Women, For Women’ appeared first on Voir Fashion.

“There is too much value placed on stability greatness can only be found through rebellion.”

These women have achieved greatness in their prospective industries by rebelling against the norm and rewriting the rules.

Lizzo

Lizzo an American pop artist who gained mainstream success when she released her number one single ‘truth hurts’ the singer-songwriter made waves with her unapologetic. Confidence in her body despite societal views. She continues to push the envelope with her fashion, music, live shows and recently as she twerked at a basketball game in a thong peeping through the hole cut at the back of her shirt. Time and time again Lizzo has proved she is 100% that bitch.

Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish an American singer and songwriter first broke out on the scene in 2016 with her single “Ocean Eyes”. The teenager’s dark and unsettling tonal songs seem to relate to all the experience of the gen Z proven as she swept the board recently with five Grammys. Billie Eilish seems to have re-written what it means to be a pop star from her music to a neon oversized and animated sense of fashion, she continues to contradict and pave her own path.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Screenwriter and actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge is known for writing tv hits like Fleabag and Killing Eve continues to entertain us with unique female characters. In the tv comedy Fleabag, she presents a female character with mental issues, a failing business and a difficult family navigating life and still made us laugh. In Killing Eve, she presents two opposite females: one an erratic female assassin and the other an obsessive ambitious investigator who chase each other around the world. Her works Present wholesome female characters with realistic three-dimensional personalities

Marine Serre

Futuristic Upcycled and hybrid are just a few words that describe the French brand Marine Serre. Marine Serre is a French designer founded the brand after working under fashion biggest names like Demna Gvasalia. She has gained an occult following for her blurring the lines between ready-to-wear, couture, tailoring and sportswear. Her garments are easily identifiable by her iconic crescent moon shape and also the by use of upcycled materials to create hybrid garments. Her creations are a view of a sustainable future of fashion.

Phoebe Philo

Philophile a term coined for the fan base of the former creative director of Céline (accent on the e) British designer Phoebe Philo. The former creative director amassed great support from fans during her time in Céline. For the first-time women felt that the designer wasn’t guessing what women would like she just knew it. Philo a mother of three presented clothes that featured realistic femininity. Her designs featured aspects of functionality and wearability that seemed to relate with many. Her less is more strategy in early 2010 gave birth to today’s minimalism in women’s fashion. In summary, her work presented women femininity from a female perspective.

Words by Precious Njoki

Graphics by Séverine Denis-Lessard

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