Women of Substance didn’t start as a grand business strategy.

It started because I wanted to hear more women’s voices while I worked.

Back when I was Director of Finance at Opera Pacific, I spent a lot of hours in spreadsheets, budgets, board reports, and all the very glamorous things that come with keeping an opera company financially afloat.

This was before Spotify and smartphones, even before iPods, when you couldn’t just pull up almost any song in the world from the little computer in your pocket.

So I made myself an online radio station (anyone remember Live365?).

I named it Women of Substance because that was the kind of music I wanted around me during ordinary days. Not background noise. Not disposable pop. Music from women who had something substantive to say.

At first, I listened at the office or while I was cleaning the house. It felt like this little thing I’d made for myself because I wanted women’s music in the room with me.

Then other people started finding it.

By 2008, when the opera company was looking shaky during the financial crisis, Women of Substance had enough life around it that I started wondering if it could become more than a personal pet project.

Over the next few years, while I was raising my young daughters and figuring out how to build a business from scratch, I grew the audience, built the email list, started taking submissions from independent female artists, and sold ads so the whole thing could keep going.

Eventually, Women of Substance moved into podcasting. Episode 1 went live in early November of 2014.

Now there are more than 1,875 episodes.

That still feels a little wild to type.

But the part that changed everything for me wasn’t the number of episodes. It was the artists.

I kept hearing music from women who were making beautiful, meaningful, professional work. These were not people chasing fame for fame’s sake. They had songs with profound messages, stories that depicted complex emotions, and a real desire for their music to reach someone who would be touched by it.

Then I would look at what happened after the song was submitted.

So often, even though the song was top notch, we were the only place it was being promoted. In fact, many artists didn't even have a website, and email list or a social presence.

That artist had spent the money, booked the studio, worked through the arrangements, approved the mix, chosen the artwork, and finally had a finished song or album she was proud of. Then the next step was usually some version of submitting it to a few places and hoping the right person noticed.

I understood why.

For years, musicians were taught that someone else was supposed to swoop in and move the music forward. A manager. A label. A booking agent. A publicist. Some industry person who would recognize the talent and open the door. When I'd ask them about their website or social presence they'd say, "I figured when I got on a label they'd handle that."

But for most independent artists, especially women building music careers around message and legacy and not for fame and fortune, that illusory music industry "knight in shining armor" never shows up.

And even when Women of Substance gave an artist a meaningful platform to be heard, one feature was never meant to be the whole strategy. A podcast episode, radio spin, playlist add, interview, review, or social post can only do so much if there isn’t a bigger plan mapped out around the music.

That’s what I couldn’t unsee.

So many women had music worth hearing, but once the feature or release moment passed, they were left trying to figure out how to keep the connection going. How do you stay in touch with listeners? What do you say next? How do you keep sharing the music without feeling awkward or pushy? How do I do this alone?

And honestly, a lot of the advice out there made it worse. It either sounded like bro hustle, tech overwhelm, or some 24 year old on the internet acting like posting constantly was the most natural thing in the world.

That’s one of the reasons I started Female Musician Accelerator (known as Female Musician Academy back in 2015 when I launched it with 18 brave ladies)..

While the job of Women of Substance is to help women’s music get heard by new audiences, FMA helps women build the roadmap so it doesn’t stop with one feature, one release week, or one brave post that disappears into the feed.

Inside FMA, we work on the part that happens after the music exists.

We look at how to plan releases, talk about your music naturally, use email and social media without feeling like you’re begging, bring AI into the process without losing your voice, and create steady connection with the people most likely to care about what you make.

The goal isn't to turn you into a marketing pro. It's to make marketing feel effortless so you don't even know you're doing it.

A clear strategy to share your music in a way that feels honest, steady, and doable, so the people who would connect with it actually get enough chances to find it, hear it, remember it, and support it.

That’s why this anniversary means so much to me.

FMA grew out of years of seeing women make music that deserved more than a one time mention and a crossed-fingers release hail Mary.

It came from watching talented artists get discouraged, not because they lacked passion or quality, but because the “what now?” part felt too confusing and fragmented to face alone.

This week, in honor of 11 years of Female Musician Accelerator, I’m offering a special discount on the two done-with-you and fully-committed membership options.

Silver Annual: Save $100 with code 11yearsSilver

Gold Lifetime: Save $500 with code 11yearsGold

The Bronze monthly option is still available at $49/month, but the anniversary discount is only for Silver and Gold.

If you want support from someone who has spent a very long time advocating for women’s music, helping artists get heard, and building real businesses around music, I’d love to welcome you inside.

​Join FMA Here ​

...and don't forget to add the discount code on the checkout page

Always in your corner,

<3 Bree

P.S. I didn’t start Women of Substance because I had some grand strategy. I started it because I wanted women’s music to be put on a pedestal. That part hasn’t changed. FMA is where I help you build the plan around your music so it has more than one small chance to be heard. Join me inside and we'll get working on your tailored plan.

Quick note about this 11 year FMA anniversary series:

We’re celebrating 11 years of Female Musician Accelerator, so over the next 11 days I’ll be sending a few more emails than usual about the anniversary special, what’s inside FMA, and why this community has become such a meaningful home for women musicians.

If you’re a male artist, already know FMA isn’t the right fit, or simply don’t want emails about this anniversary sale, click here to opt out of 11 year anniversary emails.