Inside Tems’ Leading Vibe Initiative Nairobi Launch - A Groundbreaking Space for Mentorship, Creative Growth, and Sisterhood

On September 29th, 20 female artists gathered in Nairobi to celebrate the official launch of two-time GRAMMY® Award-winning artist, producer and songwriter Tems’ Leading Vibe Initiative (LVI). In partnership with French spirit brand Henessy, LVI is a program designed to support, connect and amplify women in music across the continent.

Participants and speakers at the Leading Vibe, Nairobi edition

The platform launched its first edition in Lagos, Nigeria in August of this year, seeing an immediate enthusiasm and need for this kind of programming. Tems began this project after experiencing the many challenges of navigating the industry as a self-taught female artist over the course of 8 years working in the music industry in Nigeria and London. The mission is to offer training, mentorship, industry access and community for African women navigating the music industry. Led by Tems, the supportive team behind LVI seeks to bridge the gender gap chasm for other women who have yet to build those pathways in their careers. On a global scale, the issue of women’s lack of representation in the music industry is staggering, with US reports from 2022 indicating that only 22% of artists, 12.8% of songwriters and 2.8% of producers globally are women.

“The Leading Vibe Initiative is about leveling the playing field and building real pathways so that aspiring female artists, producers, and songwriters across the continent have the access, tools, and support to thrive, not just in Africa, but globally.” — Tems

Supported by the music software and hardware company Native Instruments, and several influential players from within the Kenyan music industry, the LVI Nairobi edition provided workshops, panel discussions and intimate chats with participant’s mentors. Participants were encouraged to share their stories and pain points, and freely engage with their new community of peers and potential collaborators. The first panel of the day, “The Power Behind the Vision”, hosted by Kenyan broadcaster Amina Abdi Rabar, focused on how participants can build their brands, create strong teams and claim ownership over their careers. The panelists included Dunsin Wright, a stylist and creative director behind some of Tem's most iconic looks, Chiki Kuruka, an artist manager and choreographer, Anyiko Owoko, a music publicist and curator, and Wale Davies the director of Leading Vibe and Head of A&R at Sony Music publishing. Through an insightful conversation these four industry heavy hitters shared their years of expertise and knowledge guiding the participants towards strategies that would help them build long lasting careers.

Speakers L to R: Wale Davies, Dunsin Wright, Amina Rabar Abdi, Chiki Kuruka, Anyiko Owoko

The group then split up into their respective disciplines to engage in specialised masterclasses that focused on their individual tracks. The artists led by Muyiwa Awoniyi, a talent manager and Director at the Leading Vibe, and Monica Kemoli, Project Manager at Platoon and founder of TANGAZA Magazine, focused on sharpening participant’s artistic identity, presence and performance craft. The group’s songwriters’ sessions, facilitated by Kenyan singer-songwriter Xenia Manasseh and Wale Davies, created space for participants to hone in on how to craft compelling stories based on their lived experiences, and provided insights on how to protect and monetise their work. Finally the initiative’s producers were guided by Kenyan producer Viola Karuri and Ugandan-Kenyan producer and audio engineer Sh_ron Onyago-Obbo (Amondo). These budding producers learnt to understand the fundamentals of music theory, sound design, production tools and creative leadership. Each track catered to its participants personal needs and created avenues to further grasp how to navigate an industry that is oftentimes doing its best to push them out. 

Muyiwa Awoniyi and Monica Kemoli with participants

After lunch and a chance to mingle, the participants dived into their second masterclass of the day, the “Collab Lab” where participants explored the power of collaboration between talents. The three streams, artists, producers and songwriters were mixed into three groups led by Xenia, Viola, Amondo and Kenyan music producer and DJ Coco Em, and split up to learn teamwork, how to experiment with your art and create with others. Participants practiced real time, how to navigate their individual roles within the music making process.

“Today has been quite fulfilling in many ways… I have grown in the sense of community. Even coming back to Kenya that was my whole goal, really networking and getting to meet artists, creators, writers… and today was the perfect match, everyone under the same roof.” - Elsy Wameyo, artist and LVI participant  

The second panel of the launch “If I Could Tell Her” created room for conversation with some of Kenya’s most prominent female artists paving the way for LVI’s participants in the scene. Guided by Muthoni Drummer Queen, a Kenyan artist and creative entrepreneur, the panelists shared their real-life experiences navigating visibility, and remaining authentic to the artist you want to be and the stories you want to tell while pushing through the challenges of the industry. The fully Kenyan panel hosted artist and producer Karun Mungai, rapper Femi One, and artists Nikita Kering and Victoria Kimani in an insightful and vulnerable discussion. 

The day concluded with a fireside chat with the visionary herself. Tems joined LVI’s global impact strategist Tubi Retta in a conversation about her journey and what brought her to begin Leading Vibe in the first place. She shared her struggles being a young woman in Lagos, trying to get studio time and work hard for the career she knew she could have. Tems offered words of encouragement and expressed her desire to see change within the industry. Change that she is ready to take leadership of. 

LVI’s global impact strategist Tubi Retta in conversation with Tems

Speaking to Favour Imodu, Leading Vibe’s project manager, this initiative is truly seeking to empower and provide young female musicians with the tools they need to succeed. LVI is building community and shared spaces for a highly underrepresented group to be supported. Their one day Nairobi activation, is part of LVI’s first phase, the team identified 20 talented musicians who are at the beginning of their journeys, this day was meant to offer encouragement and begin the work of crafting a community of artists across the continent. 

“How do we give these girls access to information? Information holds so much value now, how do they get access to mentors who can actually guide them through this? When they need any help, no matter how little, if it translates to [boosting] their self worth that is success for us. It’s not about 1M streams… it’s about how you get to feel about yourself.” - Favour Imodu, LVI Project Manager on their mission

Tems and the team at the Leading Vibe Initiative have recognised some of the biggest pain points felt by women musicians, and are working to close those gaps by crafting a continental support network of artists that ideally will use what they know and share it with those in their communities who may not have had access to Leading Vibe.