Laila McKenzie began a life in dance music when she was 16 years old, collecting glasses in a club in Sheffield. She has since acquired an intricate knowledge of the music industry and of house in particular, having spent her life promoting, managing events, dancing and most recently co-authoring Lady Of The House with Ian "Snowy" Snowball, a book that tells the stories of more than 150 pioneering women in dance music.
From March 8th through 12th, to coincide with International Women's Day, the inaugural Lady Of The House exhibition took place at Lost Horizon in Bristol, where McKenzie is based. In this week's Exchange, which was recorded before the exhibition, she discusses how Lady Of The House came to be and how the three pillars—celebrating, championing and honouring women—tied into the multi-day cultural exhibit.
According to McKenzie, Lady Of The House is about preserving the legacy of dance music. "We've started levelling the playing field for gender," she said. "Now we need to do it for people from low socio-economic backgrounds, Black, brown, LGBTQI+, disabled women. We need to give them that elevation."
In conversation with Vanessa Maria, McKenzie discussed what it means to be a woman in dance music, how she's experienced the industry change over the years, the importance of community and how dance music has been both her demon and her saviour.
Tracklist:
Just Her - Follow You Down (GU Music)