Acclaimed Songwriters Mentor the Next Generation
More than a dozen chart-topping women singer/songwriters gathered at the GRAMMY Recording Academy in Santa Monica on May 2, 2026 for the 25th Annual WriteGirl Songwriting Workshop to mentor teen girls and gender-expansive youth and help them turn their writing into compelling music.
Guest singer/songwriters include GRAMMY-winning and GRAMMY-nominated writers and lyricists who have written for, or collaborated with, artists such as Beyoncé, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Bebe Rexha, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa and more.
Emmy award-winning songwriter Michelle Lewis, who has written for Cher and Amy Grant, led the morning activities alongside GRAMMY nominee Lauren Christy, known for hit songs including Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” and “Sk8er Boi.” Together they guided participants through lessons in rhythm, rhyme schemes, and the building blocks of song structure. Their segment ended with a fun glow-stick dance party to demonstrate 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 said.
The annual WriteGirl Songwriting Workshop provides an opportunity for teen girls and gender-expansive youth to see how their words can become songs. With guidance from these acclaimed songwriters and other professional women writers, workshop attendees learn about the craft of songwriting, and see how lyrics become catchy tunes — all in real time.
“I loved getting to work with music. I learned how fun songwriting can be!” one teen participant said.
After some one-on-one mentoring time with the pros, the teens finalized their lyrics for the afternoon Showcase of Songs. The professional singer/songwriters had just minutes to create a melody for each song and perform it onstage in front of the audience of volunteers, teens and their 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, WriteGirl is a creative writing and mentoring organization that serves 1,000 teens and young adults annually. This workshop is one of more than 50 events in the WriteGirl season designed to prepare girls and gender-expansive youth for college and beyond. WriteGirl has maintained a 100% success rate in guiding teen participants in its Core Mentoring Program to graduate from high school and enroll in college. WriteGirl was honored by First Lady Michelle Obama in 2013 as one of the top arts education nonprofits in the United States and WriteGirl received national attention in recent years as the nonprofit that helped the Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman get her start.
Thank you to our event sponsors and supporters: Skechers, The ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund, Inspired Nation, Dr. Hauschka, the California Arts Council and Sharky’s.
Photos by Karla Espino
