In 2004, as thousands of fans gathered for the Vans Warped Tour, a pink RV rolled up, crashed the festival and disrupted what was then heavily a male-dominated scene.
The driver? Shira Yevin, a punk rock rebel on a mission to give women in music a voice.
“I was working on Warped Tour in 2003, coming from the riot grrrl NYC scene, and as a musician myself, I had a lot of friends in all-girl punk bands. I couldn’t understand why I didn’t see any women on stage. I approached Kevin Lyman, the founder of Warped Tour about it. He had a lot of women working behind the scenes, which was great, but he expressed frustration. It wasn’t just a Warped Tour problem; it was the entire industry.”
According to Yevin, Rock radio wasn’t really playing female artists, and labels weren’t exactly lining up to sign female bands. “His booking choices reflected what would sell tickets, and that’s just how things were. We proposed the ‘Girls Garage Tent’—a space for local bands and a DJ,” she continued. “It seemed like a great plan, but with the 10th anniversary of the tour happening, a lot was going on, so he said, ‘Let’s do it next year.’ But when you’re 21, next year feels like a lifetime.”
That’s when Yevin said forget it and decided to crash the tour in a massive pink RV.
“Kevin walked by and just looked at the setup and said, ‘Shira, so, you want to do the whole tour?’ It felt like both an invitation and a challenge.”
The impact of the Girls Stage was profound, with Paramore performing their first tour on that very stage in 2005. Joan Jett’s appearance, in particular, was a defining moment for Yevin—solidifying the Girls Stage as not just a rebellion but a revolution. Years later, the initiative would find its place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Warped Tour exhibit.
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What started as an act of sticking it to the man, took off and became an unstoppable force. The Girls Stage went on to showcase over 300 female artists, breaking down barriers in a music industry that, as Yevin puts it, sidelined women. “There weren’t many places for women in punk rock back then,” Shira recalled. “So, I built one.”
Fast forward to 2020, and Shira’s fight for gender equity in music hasn’t slowed down.
And despite the success of the Girls Stage, Shira isn’t content to rest on her laurels. Seeing the continued challenges women face in securing opportunities, she’s set her sights on creating a space that goes beyond live performances. That’s where Gritty In Pink comes in—a platform designed not only to celebrate women in music but to get them paid. Through partnerships with industry heavyweights like Live Nation Women and Fender, Gritty In Pink has expanded its reach, providing critical resources and creating a sisterhood of support for women navigating the music industry.
This mission will be on full display at the upcoming INPINK event happening at the Live Nation headquarters in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, Oct. 16 hosted in partnership with the Stella Foundation. Bringing together female investors, founders, and leaders from across industries, the event is set to spark conversations on gender equity in tech and business. Featuring a roundtable discussion and a live DJ, the gathering aligns with Shira’s goals of breaking down barriers and creating opportunities for women.
Through the INPINK marketplace, Shira is helping rewrite the industry’s rules, facilitating over $350,000 in transactions and opening doors for women in music in ways that were unimaginable in the industry of yore.
For Shira, it’s always been about building community. “We needed a place where women could uplift each other,” she said. “Gritty In Pink is about creating that space where we can come together, support one another, and thrive.”
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With the marketplace continuing to grow, and partnerships with brands like Angel City Football Club and TuneCore bringing more visibility, Shira has no plans of slowing down. She’s eyeing expansion into new industries, including sports, where gender imbalance remains stark. Her vision is to prove the model in music and then apply it to other male-dominated fields, creating a ripple effect of change.
From crashing Warped Tour to building a revolutionary marketplace, Shira Yevin’s work continues to challenge the norms of the music industry. And while she’s expanded her vision, her mission remains the same: to break down barriers, uplift women, and create opportunities where there were once none.