HOLLYWOOD – Hard Rock International (HRI) used Women’s History Month in March as a launching pad to celebrate women musicians and to raise awareness and funds for women’s health initiatives.

A “Rock Women’s Health” kickoff event was held at the Hard Rock Cafe inside the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood on Feb. 28. The event featured a performance by Jordin Sparks, a multiplatinum recording artist who was the youngest contestant to win American Idol in 2007 at age 17.

Hard Rock Cafes were expected to host 120 performances by female artists throughout March at its locations across the globe. As part of the initiative, HRI joined forces with its own Hard Rock Heals Foundation, Women Who Rock and Gibson Gives to raise funds for the Magee-Women’s Research Institute & Foundation.

“Historically, women’s health has been ignored, it is understudied and underfunded,” Stephanie Piimauna, senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer for Seminole Hard Rock, said in her remarks at the event. “It wasn’t until the 1990s that women were even included in medical research, which exposed the disparities between sex and gender differences. We must do better.”

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Magee is one of the country’s largest organizations dedicated to women’s health research. It studies reproductive biology, breast and gynecologic cancers, infectious diseases, Covid-19 therapies, HIV prevention, obstetric care for those with substance abuse disorders, and postpartum depression.

Piimauna added that for musicians, female representation could also use a boost.

“As an organization whose core is music, we must keep in mind that only 19% of [music] festival lineups are made up of women. Again, we must do better,” she said.

Throughout the month, Hard Rock said it would donate a portion of its proceeds from limited edition merchandise, specialty food and beverage items, and concerts to Magee.

‘Women in Leadership’

At an event focused on women, Tracy Bradford, the president of Seminole Hard Rock Support Services and cofounder of the “Women in Leadership” program, used the occasion to announce an international expansion of the program.

“Women in Leadership” is an education and career mentorship program that takes place between junior and senior executives at HRI and Seminole Gaming. It began in 2016 and 1,000 employees have participated so far. Bradford said the program would launch sometime this year at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa (Canada) property and at Hard Rock Cafe locations throughout Europe.

She said Seminole Hard Rock already exceeds the industry standard of 22% for women’s representation in leadership roles.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida is the parent entity of HRI and Seminole Gaming. More is at hardrock.com and theseminolecasinos.com.