January 18, 2019
Plans are being made to observe International Women’s Day in Grinnell, the fourth consecutive year the day has been marked with a local event. This year’s theme is Balance for Better: Building a Gender-Balanced World. S.H.E COUNTS , the Grinnell League of Women Voters and the Claude & Dolly Ahrens Foundation are teaming up to host an event on March 7 which will include a dinner and program at Hotel Grinnell. Proceeds from the event go to the S.H.E. COUNTS endowed scholarship fund which provides yearly funds to young women who are the first in their families to attend college.
This year’s keynote speaker will be Cameo Carlson. She is currently President of mtheory Nashville and former Head of Digital Business Development for Borman Entertainment and Executive Vice President of Universal Motown Republic Group. From FM radio to online radio to digital and mobile commerce, she has demonstrated a remarkable ability to stay one step ahead of the industry throughout her career. Her roles have included mobile, online and digital sales and marketing for artists such as Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, Amy Winehouse, Lil Wayne and Jack Johnson. In September 2008, Ms. Carlson was named one the Top Mobile Executives by Billboard Magazine for her work at UMRG.
Ms. Carlson began her career in college radio at Grinnell College, where she spun songs from the ‘80s on a specialty show as she worked on a degree in political science. She graduated Kappa Tau Alpha from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Masters Degree in Journalism while working as the Music Director and on-air host of the top-rated morning show for KFMZ, the city’s popular alternative-format station. Cameo ventured into the online music space in January of 2000 when she went to work as the Alternative & Rock editor for Spinner.com, an online radio product that subsequently became part of AOL. In January of 2004 she joined the small team at iTunes, which was still in its early stages as a product. She was responsible for creating many of the popular iTunes promotions and honing the editorial voice that she continues to use to market her artists.
Ms. Carlson is a voting member of both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, an associate-level member of the GRAMMY Recording Academy, a member of the GRAMMY Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and a member of the National Association of Female Executives. Ms. Carlson has also created the mentoring group Digital Divas to help young women in the Nashville music industry further their careers and knowledge of the intersection of music and technology.
“We are very excited to be able to welcome Cameo Carlson back to Grinnell where she will help us to celebrate International Women’s Day”, says Terese Grant , a member of the planning committee for the event. Other planning committee members are Delphina Baumann, Julie Gosselink, Rachel Bly, Jayn Chaney and Ivy Schuster. Tickets for this event on March 7 will be available after Monday, February 1st.
