Women’s Voices — A Brand Story
This post is part of a series about the women behind ‘Women’s Voices’, an in-app story created by Deezer for International Women’s Day:
Part. 1: Women’s Voices — A Product Story
Part. 2: Women’s Voices — A Brand Story
Part. 3: Women’s Voices — A Data Story
Part. 4: Women’s Voices — A Product Design Story
Part. 5: Women’s Voices — A Product Marketing Story
My name is Sarah Kendous and I am Head of Brand at Deezer.
Along with the Product and Product Marketing teams, we have been exploring opportunities for Deezer to create meaningful, human and impactful experiences in order to help us connect with our users on a deeper level, and express ourselves on societal issues that we deeply care about through music. As a challenger and human brand, we are not only a music streaming service but we also feel deeply rooted in what matters to our audiences. Music is both a driver and a reflection of change in the world — that’s the kind of insight we started from.
Being a feminist myself, I was delighted to see how onboard and driven all the teams were about creating an experience around International Women’s Day.
My role in particular was to elaborate a singular concept that revolves around 3 key pillars:
1. Celebrating our victories,
2. Raising awareness on what is yet to be done,
3. And in time, being part of change for a more equal world.
We didn’t want to stop at celebrating what has been achieved. We wanted to get into the nitty gritty of what is still to be fixed. This gave way to the idea of showcasing women of the industry, and breaking the stereotype of women being only behind the mics. It was important to first establish that women are active in all professions related to music and have moved the needle in so many different ways. But more is yet to be done!
It has been a massive undertaking as it has involved orchestration between tech, marketing, HR, local and global teams, who have all come together so we can have a 360 consistent approach and make sure the impact is strong within and beyond our product. I am very proud of each one of us, in particular on how strong and committed we have been. You can feel that it is a subject that we all take to heart and that perfectly combines professional and personal passions.
When it comes to women’s voices, my favorite woman’s voice has to be her royal highness Nina Simone — the fierceness, the edges that she didn’t care to round, and how unapologetically herself she was (or rather, still is, because she’s immortal!) She broke down so many barriers, and her words and stands are more relevant than ever for women and people of color, but also for people experiencing mental health issues.
This story obviously goes beyond one single day or month as we, at Deezer, have embarked on a bigger conversation about Diversity and Inclusion, in which gender and identity are key aspects to address.
Lastly, this initiative is dedicated first and foremost to the women that we are, the ones we raise, the ones that raised us, the ones we fall in love with and those that inspire us, the ones born into it and those that become it; women of all shapes, sizes, colors and walks of life. We can do it. You can do it. Happy International Women’s Month!
This post is the second part of a series of articles written by some of the women behind the ‘Women’s Voices’ project. The third part is available here.
If you wish to be part of change and help us build meaningful experiences on Deezer, check our open positions and join one of our teams!
