Drummer and composer Adela Green has been closely connected with music since she was a child. She started playing drums when she was 8 years old and is currently expanding her training by studying piano, harmony and voice. Adela was recently selected a a winner of the Third Nacional Chema Fombona Contest in Spain. 

Born in the Czech Republic, Markéta Dietzova has been playing violin since she was 5 years old. She graduated from Prague Conservatory as a violin major and later she obtained a masters degree in Music Management from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

Markéta has been teaching music for 12 years and has taught over 100 students. Currently she is a 1st violin for the Bahrain Philharmonic Orchestra and also works in Bahrain as a managing director and violin teacher at the Bahrain Music Institute.

With a rich experience as an orchestra member from the North Czech Philharmonic orchestra in Teplice (CZ), Markéta has organised many charity concerts to help people in need around the world. She also writes poetry, paints and draw.

Born in India, Antony Varghese has been playing drums since he was 8 years old. He later earned his Diploma in Teaching from Trinity College of London for Music Educators. 

He is currently working in the Bahrain Philharmonic Orchestra as a Principal Percussionist, with the Bahrain Police band and as a Drum Teacher at Bahrain Music Institute. 

He currently holds the Asian and Indian Record for most drum strokes played in a minute. He has won 2 national championships for drums in India ande also participated in the Drum-off Global contest— winning the regional contest 2 times. In 2020 Antony won a special edition snare drum from Dixon Company and, in 2021, was part of the prestigious Dubai Expo. 

Veronica Momi is the founder of Batteriste Italiane, the one and only Italian community dedicated to female drummers. She started to play bass guitar at the age of 10 and went on to study double bass at conservatory. At the age of 23, she went to live in the UK for a few years. When she came back to Italy, she moved from her hometown of Brescia to Rome.

At the age of 46, she managed to fulfill one of her biggest dreams…play drums. It was something that she always wanted to do but never actually tried because she thought it was so out of her reach.

Playing drums completely changed her life. Every spare minute she has, she spends it on the drums. She is totally in love with it. The love she feels for it and the need and desire to share it with others led Veronica to create Batteriste Italiane: the first private group and social club for female drummers in Italy. It’s a place where every woman can freely express herself without being judged. There are drummers of every age and level, and there is a fantastic feeling of true community.

Batteriste Italiane stems from Veronica’s desire to help other females know that they’re not alone, there’s a place where they can support each other and a place where women can feel part of one big family with the same great passion for drums without regards to age or skill level.

Soon after having created Batteriste Italiane, Veronica thought it would be a good idea to give more visibility to the women in the group, so she started to organize clinics, masterclasses, drum days, factory tours and drum camps in Italy. The first Batteriste Italiane drum camp took place near Rome in July
2022. It has now become a yearly event.

Francesca Di Rienzo was born in Italy in 1996. She began playing drums at the age of 12 and later began thinking about turning her passion into a profession. As a result, she decided to study at the conservatory in Rome.

Currently, she works hard as a drum instructor and enjoys studying various styles and techniques in order to become the best drummer and educator she possibly can. Her dream is to work as session drummer for studio and live performances.

When she’s not working or studying, she’s playing with pop/rock bands on the Italian music scene. Her dream of becoming a session drummer for live and studio performances is becoming real one day at time. She’s really excited to be part of “Hit Like a Girl”.

Southeast Asia sub-Ambassador for Thailand, Little, called “Little Things Drum”, is a young, female, drum artist whose Thai full name is Thanapa Nateekulcharoen. She’s been passionate about playing drumset since she was 8 years old. She studied and graduated with a Drum Set Major at College of Music, Mahidol University, and currently works as an educator in college, a private musical instructor, a drummer and a composer.

Little and her family established a home studio named “Little Things Family” Drum and Japanese language school in Nonthaburi, Thailand.

In 2020 to 2022, she has participated in Domestic and Global drum contests. She won Overdrive Live ROCK DREAM TEAM The Battle, the biggest drum contest in Thailand, livestreaming on 7HD TV Program, and was also a finalist in several local drum solo contests. HLAG, Little joined the 2022 Hit Like A Girl contest and was selected as the International Champion and Week 6 Winner in Drumset (18-39 age group), 1^st Place of LP Mini-Contest (18+) and 1^st place of SE Asia regional (18+).

Instagram: @littlethingsdrum

I am Saori Sugimoto. I live in Japan. I started playing the drums when I was 14 years old.

In 2022 I was selected as the the 3rd place winner in the 40+ age group of the Hit Like A Girl International contest and the 3rd place winner in the 18+ group of the Hit Like A Girl Japan contest.

Júlia Baats is a drummer born and raised in Sorocaba-Sao Paulo, Brasil. She took her first drum lesson in 2012 and, over the years, she has studied with some of the greatest drummers in Brasil.

In 2016, she recorded a commercial for Chevrolet as the drummer in a rock band. In 2019, she entered the Guinness World Records in the category “Crescendo.” This year she performed at the Girls on Drums Festival 2022.

Júlia has played with several bands and is currently the drummer and backing vocalist for the hard rock band Khris ‘N’ Rocks. Júlia is also the publicist and production assistant for the Girls on Drums Festival, a popular live stream interview show hosted by Joel, Jr.

Working as a professional musician in Brazil since 1985, at the age of 13, Joel Jr. has performed in various styles and situations throughout his career. He studied and took courses with Duda Neves, Vera Figueiredo, Dámaso Cerruti, Guilherme Gonçalves, Gary Chaffee (USA) and many more.

As a columnist and contributor, he has contributed to several websites and publications, including Studio Música & Tecnologia, Revista Batera, DRUM! Magazine -USA, Drum Study and Modern Drummer Brasil. Joel is the Director and owner of Drum Time Escola de Bateria e Percussion since 1990 and he has taught more than 1500 students. He is committed to the education and training of young musicians.

As an event producer, in addition to having collaborated with top international drummers such as Virgil Donati, Dave Lombardo, Rod Morgenstein, Vera Figueiredo and many others. In 2010 he became the creator and main producer of the GIRLS ON DRUMS FESTIVAL, which is the largest female only drum and percussion festival in Latin America. During the COVID pandemic GIRLS ON DRUM moved to social media and has live streamed more than 150 shows, featuring many sensational drummers from around the world.

Originally from Mexico, Migdalia Van Der Hoven received a degree from @berkleecollege and currently lives in England where she is the drummer for the UK touring cast of SIX The Musical. In addition, her Jazz Quartet and all-female Big Band are active throughout Great Britain and the rest of Europe. She also teaches and, along with her husband, is raising 2 young daughters.

A drummer and a dreamer, Niri believes that life is what you make it, and you better make it fun.

She plays guitar, sings, and together with the music in her life, she is also a content manager and writer, a lecturer and a travel blogger.

Drumming has completely changed her life, and from the first second on the drum set, it felt very natural to her, like it was just waiting to come out. She says it’s one of the things that fills her with great happiness, that sometimes cannot be explained in words.

For the past few years, she’s been playing in a band, and all the time continues to learn, improve, and develop her creativity in drumming.

After the experience of participating in the HLAG contest she began to research the female drumming scene in Israel, which is relatively small but super cool, and not appreciated enough, and her goal is to encourage more and more female drummers and young girls from Israel to participate in the contest, and be aware of the movement, so that eventually there will be more and more women playing in major concerts with known artists and in TV shows regularly.

Drummer, educator and electronic engineer Adriana Graciela Pinaya Johannessen (Gata Pinaya) was born in La Paz, Bolivia. She is a Versatile drummer and plays many different styles, including rock, blues, Jazz, Metal, etc. She studied with master drummers from Bolivia, Chile (Pedro Barahona) and Brazil (Vera Figueredo) and also has degrees in Electronic Engineering (UPSA ) and Music (UPEA). 

She was a finalist and representative of Bolivia in the first version of the Hit Like a Girl 2012 contest in 2012 and she was invited to participate the Aruba Musicians Convention and the Andes Percussion Festival. She has played in many independent bands as well as projects with world-renowned musicians and organizations. Her Progressive Metal project, “Catharma,” recorded an album called “Catharsys” and participated in festivals throughout South America. 

Gata is currently the drummer of “Corporal Jigsore” with whom she has toured Europe and South America and, since 2017, she has been the percussionist for the jazz project “Ptrodixie.” In addition, she is the director of the “Campamento Gata Pinaya” Music Academy in La Paz— combining nearly 20 years of musical experience with 10 years of Holistic teaching in order to provide advanced musical training for new generations. 

These days, Gata is in the studio working on her solo project, which will be released in 2022. 

Drummer • Yoga instructor • founder of “Beats de Roots” • Committee Member of Women In Music Japan • Organiser of “Okaeri Projekt”

Born in Hiroshima, Japan, Aine Fujioka moved to the United States at the age of nineteen to study drums and jazz composition at the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston. Since her graduation, she has been actively playing worldwide.

With her well-known steady and deep groove, Aine goes across different genres and continents.

She is one of the very few Japanese or female drummers who played regularly on the legendary Boston music scene. As a long-time member of the Boston-based indie rock band The Grownup Noise, she went on US tours and performed at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas. She has played with soul vocalist Iyeoka whom she now tours with worldwide since 2008 until before the corona pandemic.

After moving to New York in 2011, Aine quickly became one of the most popular drummers on the city’s Blues scene. There she has played with Grammy Winners and nominees such as Bill Sims Jr. and Vasti Jackson.

Since 2015, her music career continues in Berlin, where she re-gains and re-assures her passion and love for music. Her current projects include Tellavision, Carlos Dalelane Band, and Ben Barritt, among other singer-songwriters.

Aine is also actively engaging in developing workshops `Beats de Roots´ for artists to develop physical and mental strength, and American NPO Women in Music Japan to support women in the music industry as a communication committee chair.

T-shirt: Jacquard@aureliapaumelle
Photo: @Louisfernandezphotography

“From behind the drum set, Vera Figueiredo takes her audience from the Brazilian rainforest into the clubs and concert halls of the world. Jaws dropped at her unique presence, approach, and distinctive licks.” (T. Bruce Wittet, Modern Drummer Magazine).

Nominated by Rhythm Magazine as the “Queen of Samba”, Vera has been a leading ambassador for Brazilian Music by performing at festivals, clinics and masterclasses around the world— appearing at Percfest Memorial Naco, Drum Ladies Fest and Percussive Art Society (Italy), Frankfurt Musik Messe (Germany), The Ultimate Drummers Weekend (Australia), Mendoza International Drum Fest (Argentina), PercuSonidos Festival Internacional de Percusiones (Mexico), AGP Drum Event (Luxembourg), Days of Percussion (Sweden), Drum Fest – Primer Festival Internacional de Batería y Percusión (Chile), Cape Breton International Drum Fest and KOSA (Canada) and PASIC (USA) as well as Brazilian festivals including PAS, Salão da Bateria, I Encontro Percussivo REC-PEC, Girls On Drums and the recents Sesc Brasil’s Instrumental with her Trio, PercuFest Latinoamérica and Aquiles Priester Drum Festival.

In 1990, Vera founded the IBVF – Instituto de Bateria Vera Figueiredo, which became one of the most important drum and percussion schools in Brazil. A couple of years later, Vera and IBVF created one of the world’s most remarkable drum and percussion festivals: Batuka! Brasil. Held in São Paulo city since 1996, Batuka! Brasil brings together the top drummers on the planet and has had fifteen festivals and two album releases. Vera’s popular play-along book Vera Cruz Island – Brazilian Rhythms for Drumset was released by Hudson Music.

She endorses Mapex Drums, Sabian Cymbals, Vic Firth Drumsticks, Evans Drumheads, Audix Microphones, Xtreme Ears, Baffles Drums and Gope Brazilian Percussion.