Welcome to the Breaking Barriers series of our A Little Louder Now podcasts. During this series, Alex and Alicia shine a light on two trailblazing women in a different themed topic each month. These two take their fangirling seriously and are excited to share about women who broke down barriers and reached back to pull up the next generation.

For the month of May, we chose the theme of Amazing Artists. This month we are shining a light on two groundbreaking women who broke barriers in their respective artistic mediums. Our featured Amazing Artist for this episode is Ivy Benson, whose all female band broke gender barriers to become the BBC Radio’s resident dance band and headlined at the London Palladium for six months in the 1940s. We celebrate Ivy's life and the amazing art she contributed to the world. One thing we learned was how many women Ivy gave an opportunity to become a professional musician. She was truly an incredible woman. Alex and Alicia are excited to take you on a journey through Ivy's life. Take a listen!

Music by Jennifer Szakolczay

Editing by Brittany Waltmire

Learn more about Ivy Benson:

https://www.last.fm/music/Ivy+Benson+&+her+Girls+Band/+wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Benson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Goodman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_dance_band

https://www.welcometoleeds.co.uk/channel/history/video/ivy-benson/

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/clhlwr/research/ivybenson

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ivy-benson-mn0000965233

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-ivy-benson-2322038.html

http://jaquo.com/ivy-benson-band/

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29557015

https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/343718ed-4caf-44a2-8291-4aaa18d48c2c

https://veryintelligentprincess.com/guest-posts/ivy-benson/