In celebration of International Women’s Day we sat down and had a chat to some of the amazingly talented women that work within DHP to find out a little about what they do and how they got there. In this final round of interviews we spoke with Stealth’s General Manager Jess Lonie, Promotions Coordinator Lavinia Calamai, Oslo’s Assistant Manager Rebeca Castellani, Bodega’s Shift Supervisor Athanasia Papathanasiou and Assistant Manager Laura Davies, Venues Area Manager Michele Phillips, Ticketing Operations Manager Tina Edwards, and Amy Liscoe and Chloe Leak from Rescue Rooms bar.
General Manager at Stealth
Jess Lonie
What does a day in your job involve?
No one day is the same in my job! Running a venue means getting involved in every aspect, which means one day I’m in the office working on the stuff that happens behind the scenes such as health and safety procedure, retail plans, ensuring promotions for upcoming events are live, making sure we have booze to sling and the staff to run the bars, and the next day I’ll be in the thick of it working alongside talented DJs and the production team to make sure everyone that comes to Stealth has an unforgettable night.
What kind of experience did you need to enter into the role?
I started working on the bar back in 2014, with no bar experience and definitely no management experience. Progressing from there has given me the opportunity to grow within each role and to keep moving forward, which has no doubt provided me with the valuable skills it takes to run a venue. I think having a serious passion for the job is essential, and getting out of your comfort zone when trying ideas out is the only way to discover that new big trend that everyone falls in love with.
Have you had any boundaries that you have had to overcome and if so how did you do this?
I’ve always struggled with second guessing myself when making decisions, especially as the decisions got bigger! Remember that it’s okay if something doesn’t work, not every idea is going to be a big success and that’s cool too.
Describe your role in three words.
Fulfilling fun rollercoaster.
Do you have any advice for women looking to work in the industry?
Stick to your fucking guns. If you believe in something then you can 100% make it happen, and there will always be someone there that’s got your back even if you don’t know it. Take every opportunity to learn something new because you never know when a skill will come in handy. Take pride and trust in your experience.
Who is your favourite female artist / female fronted band at the minute?
Spiritbox are doing some amazing work at the moment, I can’t get enough of their most recent album ‘Eternal Blue’ which is so beautifully put together and flows so well that I feel like I blink and miss it every time I listen. Courtney Laplante is truly inspiring and is an iconic female vocalist in the modern metal scene, and she also has a podcast called ‘Good For A Girl’ in which she speaks with other women working within the metal industry about their experiences. I highly recommend it!
Assistant Manager at Oslo
Rebeca Castellani
What does your job involve?
The role varies day to day to be honest, from dealing with bands/settlements/riders (the usual production bits and bobs), to organising/providing staff trainings, running club nights, doing rotas, hiring, sometimes being behind the bar cause why not, doing it yourself is always a great way to teach. Maintenance jobs around the venue, line cleans, deliveries… I guess its like a medley of “whatever Oslo needs at that moment”. I personally am keen of building bridges with my staff, and try to create the “family” theme with one another. At the end of the day, no student ever really liked a hospitality job, or being behind the bar every weekend. My aim is for them to see that they can have fun, learn, make friends and discovering new music whilst getting paid, who doesn’t want that?
What kind of experience did you need to get the job?
I started in the company as Bar staff, progressing in just a few months to Bar Supervisor, as my previous experience in hospitality back in Spain was in management for 4-5 years in a club night, combined with my make-up career. I also had around 4 years of customer service/sales/management experience in retail which is always a good add on to skills. Luckily and with hard work, I made my way up to Assistant Manager after the pandemic in 2021.
Have you had any boundaries that you have had to overcome and if so how did you do this?
As expected, of course. In many occasions, its quite complicated for men to take orders, or to listen to a superior role if you’re a woman, or to be respected. I’ve had to work harder, and if I had sick days, the doubt of me being actually sick was always there, for some reason. I’m lucky enough to have a management team that are all men apart from me and someone else, and they’re some of the most amazing people I’ve met in my life, respect has always been there.
Describe your role in three words.
Hard-work, commitment, passion.
Do you have any advice for women looking to work in the industry?
Never doubt your own capabilities or yourself. Its gonna be really hard at times and you’ll feel like you’re about to break, or break someone’s neck. Be strong, learn how to breathe, and learn that what is common sense in your mind, is not common sense in everybody’s mind. Try to always learn new skills to keep excelling and show how amazing you truly are.
Who is your favourite female artist / female fronted band at the minute?
I’m currently having a lot of Alicia Keys vibes, The Pretty Reckless (one of my all time favourite bands) and also a teen throwback to Hilary Duff, she’ll never get old.
Venues Area Manager
Michele Phillips
What does a day in your job involve?
My main role is to support the venues, where priorities can change day-to-day depending on what internal activity we have going on and what external factors are affecting us that week. Hospitality has had quite the battering over the last couple of years, so it has been a testing time for everyone. The venue teams I work with are awesome and how they have handled the ‘covid years’ is a testament to their resilience. One of the parts of my job I enjoy the most is developing and growing the teams that I am fortunate enough to work with; helping new or advancing managers by offering them guidance and seeing them go on to make the role their own is incredibly rewarding.
What kind of experience did you need to enter into the role?
Thanks to DHP, all the experience I needed was provided throughout my career with the ‘Family’. I started on the bar at Rock City in 2003 and from then I have worked in one capacity or another at most of our venues. I am proud to work for a company that allowed me to thrive, making mistakes along the way but giving me the opportunity to learn from them and grow into my role.
Have you had any boundaries that you have had to overcome and if so how did you do this?
I am very susceptible to bouts of Imposter Syndrome. It was only a few years ago I discovered that it was quite a common thing that lots of other people also experience. Some days I feel really confident and others I have no idea how I am doing what I do and feel like I am just making it up as I go along. The more we talk about issues like Imposter Syndrome, the more we normalise it, which helps to make it less of a thing. I want to scream “don’t be me; understand your worth, you are where you are because you are awesome!”
Describe your role in three words
Awesome. A. F.
Who is your favourite female artist / female fronted band at the minute?
Skin from Skunk Anansie, not necessarily current, but she is amazing! I had an amazing time watching her perform at Rock City pre-covid and she is spectacular! She is over 50, and she totally ruled the room.
Bar Supervisor at Rescue Rooms
Chloe Leak
What does your role entail?
I am a bar supervisor, so my role entails overseeing the bar and resolving any issues as they arise, training and advising staff, talking to and serving customers, and reporting to management and security when necessary.
Describe your job in three words.
Fast-paced. Demanding. Rewarding.
What is your favourite thing about your job?
My favourite thing about my job is that it gives me opportunities to lead. I thoroughly enjoy coordinating every aspect of the bar so that the night runs smoothly from start to finish, and I often find that overcoming various challenges to achieve this helps to develop my self-confidence and resilience.
Have there ever been boundaries you have ever had to overcome, and if so how did you do this?
When I first became a supervisor, I lacked confidence in my position and found it very difficult to delegate or take authority when necessary. As a result, I would try to do everything myself and let a lot of issues or concerns slide. I asked my managers for advice on this and observed the ways that they approach and talk to staff. I then started practising this myself and found that each time I delegated a task or voiced a concern, it got slightly easier and I felt more comfortable doing so. However, this is a continuous struggle and is something that I am always trying to improve.
Who is your favourite female artist / female-fronted band at the minute?
My favourite female artist at the minute is probably Ruth Royall. She has a beautiful, soulful voice that is featured on some of my favourite DnB tracks, and she has been twice nominated Best Vocalist at the Drum and Bass Awards. She is killing it both musically and professionally, as she has used her growing social media presence to lead her ‘Keep It Real’ campaign, challenging the unrealistic standards and expectations that are upheld by social media.
Ticketing Operations Manager
Tina Edwards
What does a day in your job involve?
It involves working with a team of ticketers, where we manage the DHP events in our venues, outside of our venues, any venue hires, and then also manage alt tickets as a customer facing ticket selling platform.
What kind of experience did you need to enter into the role?
I started in ticketing a very long time ago. So I started working in ticketing in Way Ahead, which was Dave Brett’s record shop, which was on St. James’s Street, which then matured into See Tickets. Dave Brett used to own Way Ahead records, which was a record shop and at the side of it had a small ticket shop. Then they started selling tickets online for Oasis in 1995, or maybe a little bit after that. Then that brought a call centre, and I started on £2.75 an hour in the call centre, answering calls for buying tickets, then I managed the call centre. Then Dave Brett sold Way Ahead records. Born out of that became See Tickets. And I worked there for just over 17 years. So I went from running a call centre to then being an event manager and then account managing for SJM and working various tours. So I’ve been in ticketing forever.
Have you had any boundaries that you have had to overcome and if so how did you do this?
I mean, when I started in ticketing, there was no women. And there still aren’t many women at the top. It’s still the still the same men running the same businesses that were doing it when I started, which is a little bit frustrating. I can remember I took Cait to an award ceremony in Manchester a few years ago. And she was astounded as to how many men and how few women there were. So it’s not really changed that much. There’s more women down below. There is more women coming up. It is getting a lot more positive and there are more head of departments that are women in certain areas, so they are less male orientated coming through, but its still men at the top and it’s like that in so many areas. So even though its still coming through, the top of the pyramid remains the same. But the employing of women is far greater than it ever used to be.
Describe your role in three words.
Evolving, Stressful, Fun.
Who is your favourite female artist / female fronted band at the minute?
I’ve got two, but I’m going to go with Annie Lennox. Followed very closely by Tina Turner and both because I think they have done amazing things for women in the music industry for very different reasons. Both ground-breaking, both amazing, but I’m going to go with Annie Lennox.
Shift Supervisor at The Bodega
Athanasia Papathanasiou
What does a day in your job involve?
Everyday is different. Whether I am helping on the bar, organising the staff or helping run gigs. I run interviews to hire new staff members, organise the weekly rota and help train certain bar staff to a supervisor level. I also welcome and look after bands and artists when we have gigs on. Helping them feel as comfortable and invited to a new city as possible and make sure their shows run as smoothly as possible. My role is still very new to me and I am still learning more and more everyday.
What kind of experience did you need to enter into the role?
I think my experience in working for the venue as bar staff previously helped a lot. Learning valuable skills from those in management and trying to take initiative from what they taught me. I think my background in working in restaurants since being a teenager also helped me build my confidence in communicating well with customers and other colleagues. It definitely helped me adapt to meeting new people and quickly maintain friendly, warm interactions with them over short periods of time.
Have you had any boundaries that you have had to overcome and if so how did you do this?
I think my biggest boundary has been having confidence in my ability and what I’m doing. It has definitely been a bit of a struggle to start a new position with more responsibility and I find myself worrying about not being good enough and second guessing my decisions regularly which can take a toll but I’m slowly easing more into my duties and understanding how to deal with these looming negative thoughts a lot better. I have started trusting my decisions and believing in myself more and realising I need to remind myself it’s not always possible to please everyone. I have also had wonderful support from my colleagues and friends that keep reminding me, I am doing a good job and I appreciate them for that every day.
Describe your role in three words.
Exciting, motivating and entertaining.
What is your favourite thing about your role?
I love how sociable the role is and getting to meet new people. I love helping build a great team of people that all get along and making people feel as welcome as possible. It makes the job so much better when you know you can go in everyday and see so many lovely people that you have genuine and wonderful connections with.
Who is your favourite female artist / female fronted band at the minute?
My favourite female fronted band is currently Lake Street Drive, who are playful and jazzy. Their songs are always uplifting and I’m embarrassed to admit they are definitely one of the bands I can’t help but sing along to in the shower. As far as my favourite female artist goes, it’s a lot harder to pick just one as I love so many, including Pip Millet, Celeste, Lianne La Havas, Nina Simone, Amy Winehouse, Joy Crooks…. Just to name a few, there really are too many to choose from.
Assistant Duty Manager at The Bodega
Laura Davies
What does a day in your job involve?
Every day at work is so different from the last. I either manage the venue for certain shifts or rep gigs on others (sometimes both at the same time 😅) I do some of the behind the scenes stuff at Bodega like booking food vendors and ordering stock.
What kind of experience did you need to enter into the role?
At my previous job I worked as floor manager for nearly a year and then I worked on the bar at Bodega for nearly three years omg. Even though I had the experience I was so nervous to start managing. Moving from the bar into a serious position was so weird.
Have you had any boundaries that you have had to overcome and if so how did you do this?
I wouldn’t say I’m the best at being super stern with people, at first if I had to tell someone off or ask them to do something I was very hesitant and didn’t want to come across as bossy. After a while though I found a way to (hopefully) be fair while also being authoritative.
Describe your role in three words.
Fun. Challenging. Exciting.
What is your favourite thing about your role?
My absolute favourite thing about my role is being surrounded by music all the time, everyday at the job I’m hearing new music and discovering artists I never knew, each day is so exciting!!! I also love the people I work with. We’re so lucky to have such a great team at Bodega; where we all have each other’s backs. I feel it’s a very safe environment for both staff and customers.
Who is your favourite female artist / female fronted band at the minute?
Right now I have so many I honestly don’t think I could pick an all time favourite. Amyl and the sniffers are one of my favourite ever bands, their music is so empowering it gets me really riled up. They have a song called GFY and honestly it makes me feel about 100ft tall aha. Some of my other faves right now are Automatic, Gustaf, Sneaks, Nice Biscuit, Khruangbin, Lime Garden, Tierra Whack, Midnight Rodeo and Sobscene ❤
Promo Coordinator at Thekla
Lavinia Camalai
What does a day in your job involve?
I am promo coordinator which I don’t think sums up exactly what we do because we do so many different things within and outside promotions. Event planning, event promotion and event management on the night is I would say the three that we do. I do loads of artist liaison as well. Its kind of like Marketing, promotions and event management. My day to day, its very unstructured I would say. It’s a very dynamic job, so most of the time I do 4 days a week on average, and I normally have Monday Tuesday Wednesday office hours and will do all listings, socials, and social scheduling, event planning, chatting to DJs and promoters, getting ticket updates. We get announcements coming through, we set up socials for them, add them to the website, set up ads, do PR campaigns, so its very dynamic, there’s loads going on. Then usually on Friday nights I run events, so I manage the event whether its internal or external I’ll be on site to make sure I’m the point of contact. It’s a lot of dealing with issues and last minute stuff to sort out. You can wake up one morning and have something completely different than what you have on your to do list.
What kind of experience did you need to get into the role?
I graduated in music business, so that did help a lot. I studied at BIMM Bristol. So that kind of gave me a general knowledge of how the music industry works and is good because it covers different aspects of the industry, whether it’s Artist Management, events management, or marketing and promotion, all that stuff. But I would say I didn’t just go to uni, what helped me to get to the role was all the stuff I’ve done outside. I started doing internships. When I was in my second year, my first internship was for a booking agency called the Empire Agency in Bristol. And then I did an internship for Motion for four months, roughly. And then after that, I started my own brand that I still run to date called Dolce Vita as an inclusive queer friendly, techno and house brand. They’ve helped me to be ready for it and to be fair, I’m continuously learning in the role and the cool thing about the industry is that it keeps changing every day. So I definitely know way more than I used to, but I’m still learning and I think you have to be humble enough to understand that you will never be fully be aware of everything that is going on, you’re always gonna have to learn something new and be prepared to acquire new knowledge.
Have you had any boundaries? And like, if so, how have you overcome
I mean, it’s been being a woman in the industry. Now things are getting better. And I think I think that’s it especially with this being for International Women it’s definitely something that needs to be mentioned. There is way more inclusivity, way more awareness right now, and I think DHP is a great example of a company that cares about inclusivity, cares about equality, equal opportunities and all that, but there’s still many other companies outside DHP unfortunately, many other places in our industry, that don’t give opportunities to women and especially a woman, a foreign woman, queer foreign woman I would say, three three things that make me diverse that in Bristol and in some companies are a strength, so I can use them in my favour because I know that I’m different and it’s my power, but I did struggle in the past few years, getting opportunities or like getting taken seriously because of my gender, because of my sexual orientation, because of where I’m from. So I think it needs to be addressed that things are definitely getting better. And some companies and brands are realising that we need to equalise music, and opportunities. But it isn’t like this everywhere. We’re not even close to get to the point where we should be.
And describe your role in three words.
Dynamic, Creative and Inspiring.
Who is your favourite female artist / female fronted band at the minute?
I do listen to a lot of electronic music, but I need to give a shout out to one of my favourite artists that is actually someone I’m working with. And it’s Tlya X An. she’s a local artist. I think she’s such a wicked producer vocalist, singer songwriter. She makes her own visuals. She mixes and masters her own tracks, she’s incredibly DIY, she’s so talented. I think she’s gonna be huge, her sound is a mixture of Grimes and Grove. So definitely an artist to watch out for. And another I would say on a bigger scale is probably Grimes. I’m obsessed with Grimes. I think she’s she’s been doing amazing in the scene.
Bar Staff at Rescue Rooms
Amy Liscoe
What does a day in your job involve?
I work as bar staff at Rescue Rooms Nottingham and my role entails serving customers and ensuring the general upkeep of the business.
Describe your role in three words.
Diverse, exciting, refreshing.
What is your favourite thing about your job?
I enjoy having a job with a challenging environment and never knowing what an evening will entail. I like being part of a team that know what they’re doing so these challenges are welcomed. This makes going to work exciting and interesting and something to look forward to with such a lovely and friendly team around me.
Have there ever been boundaries you have ever had to overcome, and if so how did you do this?
This job and previous bar staff work have always given me confidence. Working in a nightclub as well as a bar now means I have to adapt to different environments and individuals. I always enjoy meeting these people and enjoy seeing myself develop to be more confident and self assured in myself and where I work.
Who is your favourite female artist / female fronted band at the minute?
There are so many! Taylor Swift, First Aid Kit, HAIM and Pale Waves include some amazing female artists who are all legends in their own right!
