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Turning Teen Voices Into Songs
May 25, 2026
Our latest guest post is by Katie Geyer, Managing Director of R2R grantee WriteGirl, a nationally recognized creative writing and mentoring organization that promotes creativity and self-expression to empower girls and gender-expansive youth.
More than a dozen chart-topping women singer-songwriters gathered at the Recording Academy in Santa Monica on Saturday, May 2, 2026, for the 25th Annual WriteGirl Songwriting Workshop, mentoring teen girls and gender-expansive youth as they transformed their writing into compelling music.
Guest singer-songwriters included GRAMMY-winning and GRAMMY-nominated writers and lyricists who have collaborated with artists such as Beyoncé, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Bebe Rexha, Miley Cyrus, and Dua Lipa.
Emmy Award-winning songwriter Michelle Lewis, whose credits include Cher and Amy Grant, led the morning session alongside GRAMMY nominee Lauren Christy, known for hits including Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” and “Sk8er Boi.” Together, they guided participants through rhythm, rhyme schemes, and the building blocks of song structure. The session concluded with a glow-stick dance party demonstrating the different parts of a song.
“I thought songwriting would be complicated, but the way it was taught made it so intuitive! — one teen participant shared
The annual WriteGirl Songwriting Workshop gives young writers the opportunity to experience how their words can become music. Guided by acclaimed songwriters and professional women writers, participants explored the craft of songwriting and watched lyrics transform into memorable melodies in real time.
“I loved getting to work with music. I learned how fun songwriting can be!” —another teen participant shared
Following one-on-one mentoring sessions with the professionals, participants finalized their lyrics for the afternoon Showcase of Songs. The singer-songwriters then had only minutes to compose melodies and perform the original songs live for an audience of volunteers, teens, and families.
The showcase featured performances by acclaimed singer-songwriters Andy Allo, Lauren Christy, deegie, Musiic Galloway, Laurie Geltman, Michelle Lewis, Nia Padilla, Lindy Robbins, Heidi Rojas, Autumn Rowe, Keren Taylor, and Nina Woodford.
“This was food my soul didn’t know it needed,” — said one WriteGirl member
Now celebrating its 25th anniversary year, Ready to Rise grantee WriteGirl is a creative writing and mentoring organization serving 1,000 teens and young adults annually. The songwriting workshop is one of more than 50 events each season designed to prepare girls and gender-expansive youth for college, careers, and beyond.
WriteGirl has maintained a 100% success rate in helping teens in its Core Mentoring Program graduate from high school and enroll in college. In 2013, the organization was honored by First Lady Michelle Obama as one of the nation’s top arts education nonprofits. WriteGirl also received national attention for helping launch the career of inaugural poet Amanda Gorman.
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