Originally written for SCOOP Magazine, published May 2018

Search “Women in the Music Industry” online and you’ll be bombarded with headlines blasting that “Female Songwriters and Musicians Are Outnumbered” and “There Is a Lack of Gender Diversity in the Industry.” It’s unsettling how predictable that seems by today’s standards, which is why it is all the more inspiring that female musicians are finding their place in the industry. Climbing the ladder toward success, however, can be difficult.

“I have a very specific sound and a lot of ideas and things I’d like to try,” says Knoxville-based musician Daje Morris. “Sometimes it takes a while for my male cohorts to trust or understand the direction I’m wanting to take things.” Morris—who describes her sound as a blend of artistic soul with spoken word, Americana, and jazz colorings—has not allowed setbacks to stop her from making her place in the Knoxville music scene.

Morris has been influenced by artists such as Billie Holiday, Corinne Bailey Rae, and Nina Simone. Their jazzy, soulful styles are evident in Morris’s first EP, The Bloom Project. She released the EP in 2016—the same time she entered the world of live music performance. Since then, Morris has performed at festivals like Knoxville’s own Big Ears and Rhythm N’ Blooms, but her accomplishments also lay below the surface. Through her music, she has found the bravery of her own art.

“One of my friends and I often have the discussion that being an artist is like choosing to streak through the streets of New York completely naked,” says Morris. “From sitting down to write about things honestly to getting up on stage to share, every part of this process can be incredibly frightening. Embracing it requires courage.”

It is a courage that Morris has found within a changing and more diverse Knoxville music scene. That’s encouraging for Morris, who is deeply passionate about what music can mean and what it can do the listener. “I believe that there are so many ideas and feelings to communicate—but some things can only be felt and understood in the context of music,” says Morris.

Morris chooses to live every aspect of her life with this sense of passion. She is not only a musician, but also a poet and a photographer. In fact, she firmly believes that all of her art forms work together to express all the beauty and the messiness of the world around her.

Still, there is something about music that keeps Morris going. It is something that she hopes will continue to take her around to new venues—because she loves getting to connect with people through her art. “My most favorite recent opportunity was to play a Sofar Sounds session here in Knoxville,” she says. “It was so sweet and engaging. I’d love to keep creating and entering spaces like these with my music.”

Morris wants to unite people. That’s clear from her debut EP, which focuses on both joy and pain. “I wanted to create something that might pull a scarlet thread through the fabric of our lives and connect us through our stories,” she says of the EP on her SoundCloud page.

Morris knows that complexity between men and women may make uniting them a little more difficult, but she feels it is necessary to change the industry. She believes that both men and women deserve to be valued for their creative expressions without being suppressed artistically.

“I want to be free with my voice—with where and how I get to use it.”

Originally written for SCOOP Magazine, published May 2018

Eight. That’s the number of female student body presidents that the University of Tennessee has had since its inception 99 years ago. While the organization has grown and changed throughout the years, so, too, have the times.

Senior college scholars student, Morgan Hartgrove, is that eighth woman who gets to tackle the issues during this incredibly tumultuous time for women.

However, Hartgrove says she has been fortunate because she has not had to face any of the discrimination that has been dominating the media since late 2017. That does not mean it’s something that she has been allowed to ignore.

“I just came back from a conference with all of the SEC student body presidents and their student government associations, and there are only three female presidents,” Hartgrove said, “so, when it comes to female representation, I don’t really see that.”

Hartgrove cites the hiring of Beverly Davenport, the university’s first female chancellor as a major step in the right direction to representing women and their leadership. Still, Hartgrove also made it known that the men, especially the different campus organization presidents and the university administrators, have been nothing but wonderful and respectful during her reign.

“I know that I’m so fortunate,” Hartgrove said. “And this is exactly how it should be, you know. Female should not struggle when it comes to being in these roles.”

As Hartgrove’s time with SGA comes to an end, she wants all future female leaders to stop second guessing themselves and take a leap of faith. She said it was something she had to do in order to run, in order to win, and in order to become the person she is today.

“I can guarantee my male counterparts weren’t wondering if they would do well,” she said. “They were wondering if they would win.”