(left to right) ALI Founder Stephanie Rhodes Russell (Photo: Hannah Walker), soprano Rachel Willis-Sorensen performing at the inaugural Women's ALI Fall Benefit in 2018 (Photo: Hannah Walker), and ALI Fellow and alumna Laurie Anne Larson in 2020 (Photo: Ashlynn Clegg).

WRITTEN BY EMERI FETZER

In a long list of accomplishments for School of Music DMA alumna Stephanie Rhodes Russell, one stands out as most meaningful.

A professional conductor, pianist, and vocal coach, Rhodes Russell has spent decades touring with companies across the U.S. and internationally, including the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, San Francisco Opera and Washington National Opera. She is currently a Conducting Fellow with Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

But her proudest moment didn’t happen on the stage.

In 2018, Russell founded Women’s Artistic Leadership Initiative (Women’s ALI), a Utah-based non-profit organization with one clear mission: empower women in the arts to reach their full potential as business owners, innovators, and leaders in their industry.

“Throughout my experiences, I noted a lack of female representation in the room. As I looked into it, I realized that is especially true in key administrative positions and leadership roles,” she explained. Although this issue was frequently discussed, she felt there was a lack of concrete action, and decided she’d be the one to take it.

“I had the mentality throughout my career that many women do. I thought I only needed to do good work, and would be rewarded accordingly. Good work is essential, but as I learned more about leadership and business, I realized that there was so much more I could have done to further my career. But I needed more education skill sets.”

Sharing this education with emerging generations became a deeply-rooted passion.

“I’m a big believer that education is the major proponent behind change. Leadership and business education need to begin at an earlier age for artists,” Russell said. “We spend so much time dedicated to our craft, especially at a university level where that focus is essential to success. It becomes problematic, however, because we have so many talented women that are really well-equipped in their artistic skill set, but not in the business skills that will give them a leg up.”

Knowing it would take a strong team to start Women’s ALI, Russell enlisted the help of her four sisters, all of whom come from arts backgrounds. With personal experiences that fortified their commitment to the mission, they put in the long volunteer hours to bring their vision to life.

The core offering of Women’s ALI is a Summer Leadership Intensive where over several days, selected ALI Fellows access guest speakers, workshops, roundtable discussions, and presentations targeting the development of crucial hard skills.

Dozens of current College of Fine Arts students and alumni have benefitted immensely from the program since its founding. This year alone, eight College of Fine Arts students from across the academic disciplines are working as ALI Fellows.

The first intensive was sponsored by the University of Utah School of Music and held on campus. This year, because of health restrictions, the team pivoted to a virtual format. They were able to access a wide range of renowned national speakers including Afa Dworkin (President and Artistic Director of the Sphinx Organization), Kathleen Carey (Community Impact Leader at Gensler), and Grace Zandarski (Yale School of Drama), to name a few.

“We cover everything from personal branding, leveraging social media to build your brand, contracts 101, to finances,” Russell said.  

Stephanie Rhodes Russell. (Photo: Bre Welch)

ALI Fellows are individually paired with a professional mentor matched with their career ambitions, and they remain in an expansive and connected network for life. For example: Merinda Christensen, a student in the School of Music pursuing harp has a growing interest in arts administration. Women’s ALI paired her with a development professional at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

“We have such an amazing group of professionals willing to donate their time to these young women. When I’m recruiting mentors, I constantly hear, ‘I wish I had something like this when I was that age,’” Russell said. “It’s so exciting seeing this passage of information that can really only be garnered with experience in the industry.”

Fellows also gain hands-on experience in a safe environment where they can put what they’ve learned into action. This year, the Women’s ALI Fall Benefit Committee was comprised entirely of the ALI Fellows, who took on the responsibility of planning and executing the event. College of Fine Arts students took a leading role in collaborative programming. Lelia Salari, a student in the Department of Film & Media Arts, filmed much of the program’s virtual content, including original choreography by four Fellows from the School of Dance, accompanied by Merinda Christensen, who also chaired the committee.

For Russell, cross collaboration among disciplines that are often siloed is exciting to see. Still, nothing is more reaffirming than tangible growth in students’ confidence, problem solving skills, and sense of leadership.

“The meaningful personalized impact that we are able to create through our programs to me is unparalleled. The more that we can help them understand how important it is to start now, the better. They don’t have to do everything overnight, but we try and help them lay the foundation to make sure that when they graduate it doesn’t feel like such a leap into the dark.” ■