Girls Rock MKE is thrilled to announce the appointment of Hannah Pardee as its new Executive Director, effective July 1, 2026. Hannah brings a wealth of experience as a longtime volunteer with Girls Rock and Ladies Rock Camps, Ladies Rock alumna, and most recently President of the Girls Rock MKE board of directors. We invite you to read her welcome letter:
“The year is 2006. I’m 15 years old and I’m in Portland with my family, crossing all my fingers on both hands that I’ll be called off the waitlist to attend the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls. I’ve been singing my whole life, writing songs since the tender age of eight, and have been the lead singer of Milwaukee’s hardest-to-say-clearly indie rock band The Roves since middle school. I desperately want to meet other girls like me, who eat, sleep, and breathe music, and though I don’t have the words or mental framework at the time, I’m looking for my community.
I was ultimately thwarted by that waitlist, and never got my own Girls Rock camp experience as a young person. So when I heard that Milwaukee was starting its own chapter in 2013, just as I was finishing up my undergraduate degree in New York City and planning to return to my hometown for graduate school at Marquette University, it felt like a dream come true. I was so excited to offer up my budding audio engineering skills, hard-earned over 900 hours at the Institute of Audio Research, and so nervous that volunteer spots would fill up immediately that I applied as soon as the volunteer application opened – even though I was actively attending an in-person accounting class. I showed up to that summer’s volunteer orientation at Palomino a full week early, ready to rock.
I hadn’t touched a guitar in four years at that point, and had relegated singing to showers, errands in my parents’ borrowed car, and part-time work as a very bad karaoke DJ. The music scene here was so intense and intimidating to me as a self-taught young woman musician, despite my years of youth experience. I was spending my days at Marquette learning about intersectional feminism and its applications in mass communication; practicing video editing on interviews with Girls Rock MKE founders Val Lucks and Ashley Smith for my digital storytelling certificate; and analyzing camper song lyrics from 2013 and 2014 for qualitative research courses. I had started to understand my desire for an inclusive music community on a deeper level, and the rise of local grassroots festivals like Riverwest FemFest and Arte Para Todos told me I wasn’t the only one searching.
Since 2013, I’ve been a band coach, workshop facilitator, camp support, roadie, organizer, and more for both Girls Rock and Ladies Rock camp programs. I worked closely with Mary Joy on the Ladies Rock Planning Committee before participating as a guitarist in 2018, rocking on stage for the first time in almost a decade – something I still wasn’t 100% sure I could find the courage to do, despite my deep musical roots and witnessing the bravery of campers, both young and old, for years at that point. I joined the Board of Directors that year, working my way up to Secretary in 2023, then President in 2025. It’s hard to believe I’ve spent 13 incredible and rewarding years volunteering with this truly amazing community, or that this journey has led me to become Executive Director of the organization I hold so dear.
Throughout the last 13 years, I have demonstrated in my professional and personal life my passion for empowering and amplifying the Milwaukee music scene’s underrepresented genders, including girls, women, nonbinary and trans individuals, and gender-expansive folks of all backgrounds and abilities. I have worked in a variety of capacities at youth serving nonprofit organizations, higher education institutions, and mission-driven corporations, all while working extensively to develop and build relationships within Girls Rock MKE’s multifaceted intergenerational and multicultural audience. I’ve steadfastly supported our organizational goals and objectives, consistently communicated our mission and values, and fiercely fought for positive social change – and I plan to continue doing all of those things as your next Executive Director.
During that long-ago trip to Portland, 15-year-old Hannah spent most of the week hanging around a zine resource center, wishing she could be immersed in the camp experience, but instead planting the seed of a new dream. Seeing how that zine resource center operated – offering a blend of studio space, all-ages programming, and beloved community – gave me insight into what the young people of Milwaukee’s music scene desperately needed at that time. For the last twenty years, it’s been my vision to help connect emerging musicians to the tools, space, and resources they need to get started and keep going, prioritizing collaboration, creativity, and community-building. I’m so proud to say that’s what Girls Rock MKE does and Let’s Get Loud MKE will keep doing: connecting underrepresented musicians of all stripes to lessons, equipment, and most importantly, to each other.”
You can also read a personal note here from outgoing Executive Director Mary Joy Hickey, whose 12+ years of dedication and vision have shaped the organization for this moment and forthcoming era. You can read our full press release and prepared FAQs here.
Please join us in officially welcoming Hannah to the team at the Girls Rock Camp Showcases! 12-2pm on Sundays, July 19 & August 9 at the Cooperage. RSVP here for July 19 and here for August 9.