Kenya Autie
Producer / Songwriter
Kenya Autie is a producer, a songwriter, a studio owner, the head of the record label El Cerrito Records, a leader in the music community, and an advocate for women rights and diversity. She is a GRAMMY® Award Winning and a Multi-Latin GRAMMY® Award Winning Producer. Kenya Autie is an active member of the music community in the San Francisco Bay Area working with local artists and with many artists across the United States and globally.
Kenya has been a producer in more than 40 albums across different genres, including: Children’s, Classical, Traditional Cuban Music, Tango, Flamenco, Rock, Latin Rock, Jazz, Instrumental, and Spoken Word. In 2022, she received a GRAMMY Award as a producer of the children’s album “A Colorful World” by Falu, where she also co-wrote three of the songs. In 2021, she received a Latin GRAMMY Award as a producer of the Latin Traditional Tropical Album “CHA CHA CHA: Homenaje a lo tradicional by Alain Perez, Issac Delgado, and Orchesta Aragon; a collaboration with the largest Record Label in Cuba, EGREM. In 2020, she received two Latin GRAMMYs as a producer of two albums: the Best Flamenco Album “Flamenco sin fronteras” by Antonio Rey, and the Best Children's Album “Canta y Juega” by Tina Kids. Also in 2020, she received a nomination in the Hollywood Music in Media Awards with a song she co-wrote, "You Can't Stop the Music." In 2018, Kenya Autie received a Latin GRAMMY as a producer for the Best Tango Album “Vigor Tanguero” by Pedro Giraudo. Kenya has participated as a Producer and Associate Producer in many other GRAMMY-Winning and Nominated Albums: “Sin Salsa No Hay Paraiso” by Aymee Nuviola, Nominated for a GRAMMY in Best Tropical Latin Album in 2022; “Festejo” by Yamandu Acosta, nominated for a Latin GRAMMY for Best Instrumental Album in 2020; “Paseo Lunar” by The Lucky Band, Nominated for a Latin Grammy for Best Children’s Album in 2020; “American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom” by John Daversa, Three-Time GRAMMY Winning Album for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, Best Arrangement Instrumental, and Best Improvised Solo in 2018;
“Three Revolutions” by Arturo O'Farrill & Chucho Valdéz, GRAMMY Winning for Best Instrumental Composition in 2017; “Spoken At Midnight” Grammy Winning Composition by Ted Nash Big Band in Best Instrumental Composition, in 2016; “Presidential Suite: Eight Variations of Freedom” by Ted Nash Big Band, GRAMMY-Winning album in Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 2016; and “Los Animales” by Mister G., a Latin GRAMMY winning album for Best Children's Album in 2015.
Kenya runs a recording studio that she co-owns with her husband, where he records, mixes and/or masters between 15 and 20 projects every year. She has signed some of these projects to their own record label: El Cerrito Records. Kenya Autie collaborates with other recording studios in different parts of the United States and in the world and works with a team of professional composers, arrangers, and musicians.
Currently, Kenya Autie serves on the Recording Academy's San Francisco Chapter Board of Governors, where she has volunteered in the areas of membership, advocacy, and mentorship. She hosted several San Francisco Chapter Latin Music mixers, was a panelist in a Women 101 San Francisco Chapter mixer, hosted a studio tour of her studio in the Producers & Engineering Win, and has been the district Captain for Advocacy Day in district 11 in California for four consecutive years. Additionally, Kenya Autie has been a GRAMMY-U mentor for a singer/songwriter who later became the head of the GRAMMY-U program in 2021. She was also a mentor to an incoming San Francisco Chapter board member, who now works for the Recording Academy. In 2020, when the Pandemic started, Kenya Autie together with other two co-writers and producers, created and produced a song “All in This Together” and a video to accompany the song. All income received for this video/song was donated to the Recording Academy MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund, a benefit for musicians. This song served to raise awareness for the organization and the MusiCares program, which has donated millions of dollars to musicians in need.
Every year, Kenya Autie helps produce the graduation songs for the Latina Center in Richmond, where young Latina women get trained to become strong leaders in our community. Kenya Autie is a voting member of the Recording Academy and a voting member of the Latin Recording Academy, and she is also a member of the Women in Music, Women in Entertainment, and the Asociación Iberoamericana de Productoras e Ingenieras de Audio.
Kenya Autie studied guitar at the Guillermo Tomas Conservatory in Guanabacoa, Havana, Cuba, and was the first woman to play electric guitar in a rock band in Havana, Cuba when the government lift the ban on rock music in the 90's. Kenya is known for her enthusiasm, hard work, and passion for helping others.