We were lucky to catch up with Tiphany Kane recently and have shared our conversation below.
Tiphany , so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?
There are many ways that I am the only one in the room that looks like me. I am a woman in tech, specifically immersive audio, who is building a Dolby Atmos Immersive Audio mixing studio. There are not many women in the audio industry. Only 5% of the audio sector is female-identifying Audio Engineers/Producers. My dream is to work with other women in audio to mentor and train young women in immersive audio careers.
Learning to be effective has been both a personal challenge and a challenge to the status quo. As a personal challenge, I am rewriting years of programming from being raised in a strict, patriarchal religious cult. I was told my whole young life that women are helpers, subject to their fathers, their husbands, their brothers, and any other male figure. I escaped that cult at 19, and have spent my whole life unlearning that programming and teaching myself how to lead and stand up for myself.
I am grateful to have surrounded myself with wonderful strong women. One of my dear friends is the CEO of a tech company. Another friend is a senior manager of tech infrastructure & architecture at the world’s largest non-profit. These women inspire me to stand up for what I believe in and to champion other women. Additionally, I have surrounded myself with men who believe in equality and inclusion. My partner, David, is a consistent champion supporting my dreams and aspirations. I think it is vitally important for people who are “the only one in the room” to 1) surround yourself with people that inspire you 2) surround yourself with people that support you and believe in you 3) work to make sure you do not remain “the only one in the room”.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am living my dream! At 48, I left a 20 year career in public education to pursue my dream of owning my own business. My life-partner, David, became my business partner as we launched a media production company. We specialize in immersive audio and video production. In just two years, we have created a name and reputation for high-quality work. In fact, we have won multiple awards for our work, including a Gold Medal for excellence in video editing from the w3 Awards.
We are currently in the process of building a Dolby Atmos immersive audio mixing studio. We will be the only Certified Dolby Atmos mixing studio south of the Los Angeles area (we are located in Orange County, California). Building this studio is a huge undertaking and we are so excited. The studio will have 2 state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos mix rooms, 3 VO/ADR rooms, Video recording studio, color mix room, and a large common room used for community education events. At the forefront of all we do, we want to have a community aspect. We will be a hub of education and learning for the local audio community.
I am lucky enough to speak all over the country about audio and video. I host and produce several podcasts as well. The journey from public school employee to tech industry entrepreneur has been full of super high ups and crazy bumps in the road. The challenges have all been worth it!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I’m going to dig deep inside for these answers. Skills and knowledge are fairly easy to get these days. We have the access and ability to learn anything we want. I think the most important skills/qualities/knowledge come from inside ourselves. As a woman raised to believe that my voice and opinion did not matter, my most important skill was learning to trust my voice. I needed to learn to trust that I have important things to say and that my ideas contribute to the world. For many people, this may not seem very revolutionary, but for me, it was quite revolutionary! What helped me in this area was spending time with women who raise their voices about the topics that matter most to them. I host a podcast dedicated to interviewing these women so that I can continually work on my confidence in the power of my voice.
The second quality is resilience which is the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties. One thing that is guaranteed in life is there will be challenges and difficulties. Resilience helps us to make it through the difficulties, challenges, hardships, and disappointments that will inevitably come our way. Working to continually build resilience has been vital to my success.
Finally, creativity is a superpower. Both taking time to pursue creative endeavors and being able to think creatively about business are so important. To pursue my creative endeavors, I love going to dance class, recording a podcast episode, or playing a creative game with my children. Creativity in business means continually asking, “How can I solve bigger problems? How can I do this differently? Who can I collaborate with to solve this problem?”
Believe in the power of your voice, build resilience, and creativity is your superpower are the three most important qualities that have propelled my journey.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I have been inspired by organizations like We are Moving the Needle (www.wearemovingtheneedle.org), WAM- Women’s Audio Mission (www.womensaudiomission.org), Women of Namm (www.namm.org/membership/women-of-namm), and EqualizeHer (www.equalizeher.org). These organizations support young women in becoming producers, engineers, and other professionals in the audio industry. My goal is to have the studio we are building be a place that supports these organizations in educating young women and bringing more inclusivity and equity to the audio industry. Collaborating with these organizations and interviewing the founders of these organizations is an important goal of mine.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kasamediapro.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiphanykane/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tiphany.k
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiphany-kane-514264175/
Image Credits
Greg Sais, David Sais, Lee Uhara, Madison Truscan
