Professor Tonya Butler on Dreams, Challenges, and Responsibility

I am so excited to share this week's interview with all of you! Among her many, many other accomplishments, as of August 2020 Professor Tonya Butler will begin serving as Chair of the Music Business Management at Berklee College of Music, becoming not only the first woman, but the first person of color to lead the department in its 30-year history. As a child growing up on the border of Watts and Compton in California, she wanted to be an actress, a lawyer, a teacher, and a politician — and, spoiler alert? She's done all 4.

"I may not be rich or famous, but in my mind, and based on where I started? I have arrived. I think too few of us recognize or are grateful for the fact that we have arrived. It doesn't mean that we don't have someplace else to go. It doesn't mean you can't have more goals and another chapter. [...] I'm still living out my dreams [...] but I definitely have arrived."

We'll talk about her journey from the hood to the hilltop, welcoming the challenges of her current position, her upcoming podcast, and so much more.