My name is Rachel Walker Mason. I’m a 44 year old bisexual, mixed-race woman with a Masters in Songwriting and two young children. I’m a voting member of the Grammys and council member of the Ivors and I spend my time writing songs for and with different artists across the world, achieving song placements in the Billboard Hot 100 and Official Chart Top 10. I write in many genres including country, EDM, Americana, jazz, rock and r&b and love to collaborate with others. I have synesthesia which means I see colours when I hear music and I taste steak in my mouth when a songwriting session is going well. I am the recipient of a prestigious British Citizen Award for contribution to the arts, am an Executive Member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and was named “a songwriting expert” by BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme. I am a regular columnist for Songwriter Magazine, a judge for the UK Songwriting Contest, I mentor other musicians through Help Musicians and GRAMMYU, and out of painful personal experiences I created the award-winning project Lyrical Light which is a songwriting group for those struggling with their mental health after becoming parents. I have fallen in love with production music in the past 3 years and enjoy the variety and the challenges of writing to a brief. I’ve written for short films, adverts, podcasts and tv shows across a variety of genres. Sitting in a windowless studio with a cup of tea and a producer writing a belter of a song is my happy place and I want to do more of it! Winning this award would be an incredible endorsement from the judges that this pathway into music production music is right for me, and will announce to the world that a bisexual, mixed-race mother in her 40s can succeed in production music. I think this in turn would encourage others who feel it might be their time to take this shot.