Mar is an artist manager and radio host with her own company, Mar On Music. She manages Partner, Goodbye Honolulu, Tallies and Poolblood. Originally from Vancouver. Mar lived in London UK for 8 years where she played in various bands and worked for BBC radio. She has toured in numerous Canadian and UK bands, been a CBC radio personality, worked as a European booking agent, music publicist and now runs her own MGMT company in Toronto. She loves radio and hosts a weekly new music show on CHUO 89.1FM & CHMA 106.9FM in Canada. Mar champions indie artists above all else.
What progress have you seen on gender equality in your life and work?
When I first started playing in bands 20+ years ago, “girl band” was a genre, female vocals were degraded, and people would review us with lines like “these chicks can actually play”. In our present day, if someone talked about female musicians that way, they would be called out. There was no calling out in our day, it was deemed a “good review” and the ingrained misogyny in my own soul didn’t even see anything wrong with it.
Can you name a woman who continues to inspire you, and how?
My mom, I found her high school yearbook from 1967 where she stated “she hoped to be a good housewife” in the life goal section. Over 50+ years later my mom has had a career in education, written published books and is still working and running her own business in her 70s. We inspire each other by following our passions and working for ourselves.
Photo Credit: Dustin Apodaca