We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jenn D’Eugenio. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jenn below.
Alright, Jenn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
In 2018 there was a meme going around social media of a 1950s couple, the man holding a record and the woman knitting. The man’s speech bubble talks about the intricate details of the special version of the record he’s holding, to which his wife’s response is that she could care less. This was being relentlessly shared by people saying they could relate in their relationships. It became overwhelmingly frustrating to me because I was like the man in the photo, and I enjoyed sharing those kinds of conversations with my partner. It felt like such an ancient way of sharing the collector sentiment around vinyl.
The same year I started working at a record pressing plant in sales, I am now the Sales & Customer Experience Manager there outside of my business. Working at a pressing plant had been the dream job I never knew I wanted. It was a perfect way to combine my passions for design, music and for helping people. As I met people in this industry I realized that there were actually a lot of women in leadership positions, women who were opening and running pressing plants, cutting lacquers, and at various other stages throughout the process of making vinyl, all the way to the owners of record stores selling the product.
As I was seeing these hard working women, I kept thinking of that meme and how women were systematically looked at as not having the same passion for vinyl. Who was empowering these women? Where were their voices in all of this? A month later I started a website, blog, and Instagram account called ‘Women in Vinyl”. I used these resources to interview women on their experience, what they were doing for the industry and how they got to where they are. It gave them a voice, a community and is creating role models for girls who like me, had no idea this was the dream job they never knew about. The support from those within the vinyl industry and beyond has been amazing, and clearly something that was needed.
Today, Women in Vinyl still showcases those working in the industry by sharing their stories with the world. In 2020 we began creating a board of directors encompassing a strong group of people in various roles within the music and vinyl industry. We’ve expanded beyond a blog to create a diverse online community, with a podcast, job board, educational resources, and webstore; where we continue to innovate, educate, demystify and diversify the future of the vinyl industry. Last year we became a nonprofit 501(c)3. Moving forward we will allocate funding to support girls, women, and otherwise marginalized people to start their journey and have an open and accepting pathway into this industry. We plan to fulfill that goal through scholarship funds, mentorships, job boards, business development, workshops and more; to create, preserve and improve the art of music on vinyl.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Jenn D’Eugenio and I’m the Founder and President of Women in Vinyl. We are a non profit organization working to empower women, female-identifying, non-binary, LGBTQ+, BIPOC and otherwise marginalized humans working in the vinyl industry to create, preserve and improve the art of music on vinyl.
I work at a record pressing plant as the Sales and Customer Experience Manager, and have been a vinyl enthusiast for over 20 years, and am dedicated to the art and creation of vinyl. My background prior to the music industry spans that of designing textiles for Fortune 500 fashion companies to career advising for one of the top art colleges in the country; however my passion for vinyl has led me to a career helping to manufacture the physical product for bands, and both major to independent record labels. When I saw an opportunity to work in the field and take my love of vinyl from collecting to the next level I jumped on it. It has been the best career decision I’ve made.
As the founder of ‘Women In Vinyl’, and co-host of The Women in Vinyl Podcast I hope to combine my love of vinyl and advising to empower women and underrepresented people in this industry to have a voice and achieve their goals, finding a career path here on purpose and not by chance. We provide a community, funding, and a variety of resources to do just that!
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I think that authenticity is key. I am passionate about what I do and the board we’ve built is too, which is reflected in everything we do. It is very important to me, and all of us, how we message things, who we partner with, or how we market ourselves to make sure that we’re remaining authentic to our brand and our mission. If it doesn’t feel right, and it doesn’t hit education or empowerment it’s ok to say no – which has been a hard lesson – saying no. As the business has been growing and you want to get the word out, you can sometimes feel pressure to say yes to everything and give your time for free. The business wouldn’t be where it is now if I hadn’t been head down plugging away, sharing women’s stories and trying to get this message out there; that message through our mission, has to come first still!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The nature of an organization promoting a marginalized group, Women, in any male dominated industry requires resilience from the start. Out of the gate you are making some people uncomfortable because of their own potential bias, or lack of understanding of the invisible privilege they have. It creates a divide in the workforce. That is not to say that we don’t have a ton of male supporters who are fantastic allies, we’re thankful for them. On the flipside I’ve received hate messages, and a slew of comments like “what about men in vinyl”, “those are your boyfriends records”, “you don’t deserve to listen to that album”, “I’m surprised you knew that “… the list goes on. To me, people that think like that are also part of our education process and what we are trying to accomplish; so while it’s sometimes hurtful I remember that this is part of why we exist and there is more work to do. Use the haters to fuel your fire.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://womeninvinyl.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womeninvinyl/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/womeninvinyl/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenndeugenio/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/womeninvinyl
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-ziCznu8Ei4-pnJy9tImvA
- Other: Check out our podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-women-in-vinyl-podcast/id1559469148
Image Credits
The two photos of my in the factory setting with the orange machines are by: Emma Howells https://www.emmahowells.com/ The black and white photo at the turntable is by: Carla Olson https://www.instagram.com/carlaolsonphotography/?hl=en All other images are by me