My Time at the Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls That Started it All in 2004

It’s wild to think that this photo was taken 21 years ago, when I was a camp counselor at the Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls — and that this little band of then 8- and 9-year-olds is all grown up. What’s even crazier is to think about how much this one week in Portland, Oregon, and taking part in the first-ever rock camps for girls, changed my trajectory.

There might be no Rockmommy if it wasn’t for this experience that I stumbled on by chance.

In 2004, there weren’t many rock camps for kids. It’s crazy to think about, because today there are zillions of rock camps for kids, but at that time, it was a new idea..The movie School of Rock was only one year old. Having never gone to any camp like this, I stumbled upon the opportunity to be a camp counselor almost by accident.

I was in my mid 20s, searching for my purpose in this world, feeling a bit stagnant as a journalist. I’d just gotten accepted to the magazine publishing program at Northwestern University, and I loved playing guitar and singing in two bands in the Washington, D.C., area.

So one day in the spring of 2004, as I stood in line at a grocery store, waiting my turn, picked up a copy of a women’s magazine (I can’t recall if it was Seventeen or Teen Vogue), and boom! I just so happened to land on an article about the rock camp, which grew out of founder Misty McElroy’s 2000 project as a women’s studies major at Portland State University. While I’d only played guitar for a few years at that point, I knew immediately that I belonged there.

So I reached out to Misty and applied to be a guitar teacher, and ended up getting asked to volunteer as a band coach. When I arrived, I was assigned the youngest band at camp. The girls would spend the morning learning their respective instruments and in the afternoon, come together to play them. In my downtime, I’d get to spend a week in Portland — traipsing from the cute downtown area to Multnomah falls, to the Oregon coast with my co-counselor Rachelle. Throughout the week, I enjoyed so many heartwarming and interesting moments, like meeting Sleater-Kinney’s lead singer during a morning icebreaker exercise (I honestly had no idea who she was until someone told me later!).

[SEE RELATED: BRITT LIGHTNING ON VIXEN, VAN HALEN, AND WHY YOU NEED ROCK N’ ROLL FANTASY CAMP]

Spending a week coaching these girls to play their instruments and write their own songs ultimatel gave me confidence in knowing I could take care of kids, teach them, and positively impact their lives. It made me realize that I wanted to teach guitar at the Willie Mae Rock Camp in Brooklyn, which I did in 2006 and 2007. I met my friend Gail there, and she invited me to join her in organizing the Girls Rock & Girls Rule tour, which led me to meeting my friends Michele and Rew. After two summers at Willie Mae Rock Camp, I saw an email ad for a job as a kids’ guitar teacher at Brooklyn Guitar School. This also changed my life, connecting me with so many other musicians I’m still friends with today.

The experience teaching guitar in Brooklyn in my early 30s solidified my desire to become a mom. And the rest is history.

So what’s the lesson here, besides me going on a trip down memory lane on my birthday ? (Yes, today, March 10th, is my birthday!)

I guess it’s that sometimes the right path forward comes when you least expect it. You can make all of the grandest plans in the world, and create monster-size to-do lists, and spin your wheels trying to be “busy” to achieve some sort of dream goal. And it’s usually in those moments that your next right move becomes clear.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t stumbled on that article about the Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls when I did. I may not have volunteered at the guitar camp in Brooklyn. I may not have ever been hired by the Brooklyn Guitar School. I may have not had that divine realization that I wanted kids.

If you find yourself feeling stuck, maybe the lesson is to slow down and wait for a “sign” like the one I had standing in a grocery store line all those years ago. Maybe the lesson is not to beat yourself up for not knowing what’s next. In my experience, sometimes the opportunities that present themselves aren’t the ones we planned for — but end up changing our lives for the better.