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Earlier this week, the Country Music Association unveiled its fifth class of the Women’s Leadership Academy, bringing together a new cohort of 16 high-performing, high-potential women from across the industry to take part in the 12-week leadership development program.

Five years after its launch, the Academy has grown into more than a professional development opportunity. Through weekly four-hour sessions, group coaching and work outside the classroom, participants build relationships that continue long after the program ends.

The idea for the Women’s Leadership Academy came from Tiffany Kerns, CMA’s Senior Vice President of Industry Relations and Philanthropy, after she noticed a gap in professional development opportunities across the music industry.

“When I joined the music industry, it was shocking to me how few of our businesses have HR departments. In other industries, HR will typically offer continued development for personnel.” Without those resources, Kerns said many women were left searching for opportunities to invest in themselves professionally. Coming out of the pandemic, she also heard from women who were either questioning whether they wanted to return to work or navigating changes in their careers.

“Women do not have the professional development that they need, or have had accessibility to it. And secondarily, they don’t have a community,” Kerns says of the realizations that first sparked the idea. The goal was to create a place where women could turn to one another while navigating career transitions, negotiations and other professional challenges.

Building the Academy required more than developing a curriculum. Kerns said one of the program’s biggest early challenges was earning the trust of the women it hoped to serve. “I think the music industry is fickle and can somewhat be jaded,” she says. “We needed to build confidence and trust in the program.” Rather than opening applications immediately, CMA hand-selected the first cohort while continuing to develop the program and establish its reputation. Kerns said it was important for participants to understand that CMA’s role was to facilitate the experience while creating a space where women could be transparent and support one another.

That sense of community has become one of the defining aspects of the Women’s Leadership Academy over the past five years. “When we put this together, I was so focused on making sure the women walked out of the program feeling equipped to handle life and business differently,” Kerns says. “I had hoped that they enjoyed each other, but now what I feel like we are seeing is something that you typically see in sororities or sisterhood. There’s just this genuine desire to want to support one another.” That support has extended far beyond the classroom. Kerns recalled watching women show up for one another through promotions, job changes, layoffs and even personal challenges like infertility. The connections formed during the program have continued through regular check-ins, friendships and even retreats planned entirely by alumnae.

The lasting relationships are built over many hours of shared work and vulnerability. Participants spend four hours together each Monday for 12 weeks, while also taking part in group coaching, completing work between sessions and continuing conversations outside the scheduled curriculum.

This year’s cohort is guided by executive coaches Lisa Gamble of Gamble Coaching & Consulting LLC and Nicole Provonchee of Bright Blue Consulting. Kerns said building the program around carefully selected coaches was an intentional decision from the very beginning, helping establish the trust needed for participants to be open and vulnerable with one another. Rather than focusing on company-specific challenges, the curriculum encourages participants to develop their professional acumen while exploring topics such as leadership, mental health and boundaries, conversations that often push participants outside their comfort zones.

The impact of the Women’s Leadership Academy has continued to grow alongside the program itself. One of the clearest signs of that growth is the reputation the Academy has built within the industry. “I’m most excited that we’re not convincing people to apply, but that it’s built a reputation,” Kerns shares. “People have seen women either walking taller in their building or having been more equipped, able to advocate for themselves and other women.”

As part of the program’s fifth anniversary, CMA is also launching the Women’s Leadership Academy Alumni Network, bringing together participants from all five cohorts. The initiative grew out of alumnae’s desire to stay connected after the program ended. The network will provide ongoing opportunities for mentorship, collaboration and professional development while allowing graduates to engage with future cohorts. “If they love it this much, we wanted to figure out a way to make sure they maintain their engagement, so we don’t lose that amazing resource that we have in them,” Kerns says.

As the Women’s Leadership Academy kicks off its fifth year and expands beyond the classroom through its new Alumni Network, the program continues to build on the community it’s created. Looking back, Kerns says the Women’s Leadership Academy has become more than she originally imagined.

“I feel like they’re blowing my mind in how they make sure that this isn’t just a program, but that it’s actually becomes part of their lives.”