Rock is a Verb
Rock is genreless—energy and solidarity, vibes and fire. Its roots are with Black queer women. It is what YOU decide to DO. We make the music that moves us.
Our Lyrics
We center youth and adults of marginalized genders through inclusive programming and mentors who reflect our community. Our strengths-based music programs support holistic growth—building activism, self-expression, and collaboration—while participants learn instruments, create and perform original music, and explore the music industry through a social justice lens, practicing body positivity, boundaries, co-creation, and problem-solving along the way.
Our Rhythm
Mission
Rain City Rock Camp’s mission is to empower girls, women and gender nonconforming individuals to engage their creative potential through music, champion equity, and thrive in a community of allies and activists.
Vision
We envision an equitable world that celebrates creativity, embraces authenticity, and values all voices.
Values
COLLABORATION & SELF-EMPOWERMENT through individual strengths and community
MUSIC as a medium for personal growth and social change
LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES for youth and adults of marginalized genders
SUPPORTIVE & INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY in our work and partnerships
AUTHENTICITY & RESPECT in all spaces
ANTI-RACIST ACTION with a commitment to being in conversation and learning together
Our Band
Carly Toyer (they/ them)
Director of Programs
As a young San Diegan, Carly practiced vocal scales while boogie boarding, spent summers being a musical theatre camp counselor, and brought home plastic clamshell CD discographies from their job at the city library. After their college days investigating Gender Studies and touring in a DIY band, Carly settled into Seattle to spend nearly 10 years as an all-ages music educator and a youth summer camp director. A passionate advocate for self-love, community-care, and self-expression, Carly is proud to co-manage the many programs at Rain City Rock Camp that bridge the gap between making music and liberating your heart. You can catch them shredding guitar and keys in KaraoShe, or in their kitchen listening to comedy podcasts and making onigiri.
Gabi Emerson (fae/faer)
Gear Lead
Gabi is a half Thai, half Danish musician, educator, engineer, producer, and manager of Fourth Strike Records. It started learning to play the baritone ukulele when fae was 6, before branching off into classical guitar and then falling in love with the sound of the bass guitar. Fae learned a lot of performance skills in the church growing up, and almost went to seminary to become a music minister. These plans were uprooted when it was introduced to Magic: the Gathering by faer cousins and then it dropped out of the track it had been on to go to college for Jazz Performance at Berklee college of Music to become a Magic: the Gathering judge, where it spent 10 years before really coming back to music full-time, via a friend randomly inviting it into the Fourth Strike Records community. These days, Gabi teaches at RCRC in addition to managing all of the gear and facilities needs, as well as Meter Music School, and also is back in school at Shoreline Community College for Audio Engineering. Outside of music Gabi really enjoys visiting mountains, disc golf, photography, and spending time with faer loving partners….
Mandy Pierce (she/ her)
Executive Director
Mandy was born and raised in Kansas City but has called Seattle home for almost 20 years. She has a dynamic background rooted in creativity, social justice, and youth advocacy. She dabbled in piano and even had a brief stint playing the accordion, but ultimately found her passion in writing and visual arts. She has spent most of her career teaching, consulting for educational nonprofits, and advocating for equitable, inclusive programs that support intentionally marginalized communities. Outside of work, Mandy enjoys remodeling houses, raising 3 kids to be awesome socially and emotionally aware humans and traveling anywhere and everywhere. She believes in the transformative power of creativity and the potential for profound social change when community and humanity are prioritized over capitalism and oppressive systems.
Nance Mariano (they/them)
Volunteer and Teaching Artist Manager
Nance is a Chamoru musician, educator, wedding officiant and 200 pound dead-lifter. They first got involved with Rain City Rock Camp as a camper in 2024 as the front man of the band CHOMPS and have since served as backstage crew, vocal instructor and workshop leader, band coach, guest performer and Gear & Facilities Lead. They first started their music teaching career with RCRC and are so excited to support other artists on their own teaching journeys. They are a proud member of the band Rodeo Coven and the artist collective Guma’ Gela’ and you can catch them playing shows all around Seattle.
Our SoundBoard
When Liz was growing up in Michigan and Montana, she dreamed of becoming a backup singer or a dog walker. She took piano lessons to avoid household chores but her real passion was musical theatre. She learned about RCRC when her kids attended summer camp and Liz reports her best ever volunteering experience was serving as a band coach. Liz is proud to work for a local credit union which recognized Rain City Rock Camp through their People Helping People program. Outside of work, she loves to volunteer at local non-profits and engage with her UU church community. Liz sings in church choirs, a community choir, and a trio. She is bi-sectional and takes turns singing soprano and alto.
Judy moved to Seattle in 2008 and first volunteered as a camp counselor at 2010’s summer camp program. Judy fell in love with all things rock camp, and she managed to convince RCRC to take her on as the volunteer volunteer coordinator in 2011. On staff as the organization’s first coördinator/wrangler until the end of 2016, Judy is now very happy to back as a board member. Judy isn’t a musician, but she did play cow bell and sing at 2013’s ARC. She likes to knit, listen to the UK top 40, and pet other people’s cats.
Karen Studarus is a music lover, engineer, and small business owner. She’s professionally focused on making power and transportation systems more sustainable, reliable and affordable. Karen turns up as a band coach and a roadie for RCRC programs. She’s a library fanatic and has been supporting adult literacy for 20 years. Let’s rock!
Drea Marilyn is a queer filipinx composer, singer-songwriter, musician and educator. She studied at the University of California Riverside and has been an educator for the last 25 years. Currently she works at a school that specializes at working with kids who are neurodivergent and she plays in an indie rock group called Bonita Fishwife.
Sieglinde Levery-Nicholas is in her 11th year at Puget Sound Community School (PSCS), where she works with their fully collaborative staff as Director of Community Engagement. She grew up in the Central District, attended Franklin High School (and then Cornish College for a bit), before heading to New England, where she lived for almost a decade. She taught theater, worked in restaurants and spent several years moonlighting as a music promoter and band manager in the north shore of Boston. She co-founded an independent music agency and even co-wrote some songs. She lives in Rainier Beach with her spouse, Drew, and her 5-year old kid, Oliver. She is passionate about equity, accountability, and tearing down the patriarchy. She keeps finding new passions and interests but is always excited about great books, graphic design, painting, and band names….
Sarianna Reynolds is a long time Rain City Rock Camp parent and thrilled to join the Board. She is an educator, a mom of three, and lifelong lover of books, music, and road trips. Sarianna is excited to help RCRC create opportunities for folks to fight for justice and rock out!
Juliana Cantarelli Vita is a Brazilian musician, music educator, and ethnomusicologist based in Seattle, Washington. She holds a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology/Music Education from the University of Washington and, after a decade training future music educators as a professor, now develops and teaches K–5 music programs at The Bush School. Juliana has done several multidepartmental residencies at universities across the U.S., served as keynote speaker at conferences in Brazil, Europe, and the United States, and as faculty and director of the Smithsonian Folkways World Music Pedagogy course at University of Washington, University of Hartford, and West Virginia University since 2015. Recipient of the 2021 Elizabeth May (Slater) Award from the Society for Ethnomusicology, her work focuses on advocacy and access to music making, equity, and community, including collective songwriting projects for Indigenous language revitalization with Indigenous youth. Her publications explore community music, decolonial pedagogies, and feminist approaches to music education, extending into public scholarship as the co-host of the podcast Massa: Brazilian Music & Culture. She has served as co-chair of the Society for Ethnomusicology’s Education Section, reviewer for The Orff Echo journal, and currently sits on the boards of the Smithsonian Folkways Education Committee, Rain City Rock Camp, and the Alliance for Active Music Making, and the organizing committee of Seattle’s activist street band festival Honk! Fest West. As an active performer, she is the co-founder and director of the Afro-Brazilian ensemble Baque Maré, and records and performs with her two bands: Som da Massa and Cría….