Taking The Stage: Aly Palmer and BETTY Leading Loudly With Courage To Make Change
Aly Palmer (center) performing recently with the trio she co-founder, BETTY, with Elizabeth Ziff and Amy Ziff. (Photo by Marnie Joyce)
The speech class Aly Palmer took her junior year at the University of Maryland where she was studying liberal arts, shifted her life completely.
The award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, performer, artist, activist, philanthropist and founder known globally for her work in the musical trio, BETTY, says, “That feeling of being on stage, feeling something important was happening, is when my entire life changed.”
Read more in Take The Lead about BETTY
Growing up the daughter of a U.S. State Department official, Palmer says she was shy and introverted. She moved every two years with her family to a different country in South Asia and Europe, before returning to Washington, D.C. because of her father’s diplomatic work.
Read more from Gloria Feldt on Power Up Concert 2025
Her switch to take classes in the Theater Department, led her to join a band, The Stilettos, “a 50s cover band, where it was great to learn the basics,” says Palmer. She will again be performing this year at the Take The Lead Power Up Concert & Conference, Courage To Lead, on Women’s Equality Day in Washington, D.C..
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“Music can fill your spirit in ways nothing else can,” says Palmer, who is a member of the ERA coalition and an Arts Envoy with the U.S. State Department.
“Music can fill your spirit in ways nothing else can,” Aly Palmer of BETTY, performing @takeleadwomen #PowerUp 2025 #CourageToLead https://www.thepowerupconference.com ”
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With an eye towards a career of performing, Palmer says she returned home after college graduation and heard a DJ on the local radio station saying the all-girl punk band, Lickety Split, was looking for a bass player. She applied, met sisters Elizabeth Ziff and Amy Ziff and they formed the vocal trio, BETTY. The band then moved to New York City.
Read more in Take The Lead on Power Up Conference 2023
“That was 40 years ago. What’s interesting is it was just random chance; their father was in the military, and it made the three of us bond immediately,” says Palmer, who with BETTY has been featured in award-winning films, television series, ads, off-Broadway musical, and musical collaborations including “The L Word,” “Ugly Betty,” Love Bites,” and scores more.
Read more in Take The Lead on women in music
Still performing frequently for live audiences, Palmer says, “The feeling of doing something challenging and the audience responding positively—there is no other feeling like that in the world.”
Mother of an 18-year-old son and 21-year-old daughter, Palmer says, she teaches math and music to students from pre-kindergarten to second grade. “When they light up when they are in front of people, it is the most beautiful feeling.”
Read more in Take The Lead on women in music
Palmer and her bandmates in 2014 created the BETTY Effect, a non-profit with the mission of communication, self-advocacy of women, girls and groups striving for equal rights worldwide. The organization was at the suggestion of Palmer’s friend, Gloria Steinem, feminist icon, advocate, author and founder. Palmer, who with the band has the BETYY: Girlband The Podcast, says, “The mission is to help people find their voices.”
““The mission is to help people find their voices,” Aly Palmer, co-founder of BETTY, @takeleadwomen #PowerUp2025 conference #CourageToLead ”
This is how Take The Lead’s mission aligns so well with Palmer and BETTY. Also a friend of Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead, Palmer, who with BETTY has released 11 EPs and singles, says, “Singing, speaking, whatever the action, there are practical tools we can give you to make it reverberate farther. What we do musically, Take The Lead does digitally,” and across trainings, events and more, she says.
“It is very important for those of us with values of being leaders to show ways to lead without diminishing others. As women, sisters, mothers, it is important to embody leaders with action that is compassionate and good for everyone,” says Palmer, whose films with BETTY include “Life With Mikey,” “The ,-of-Towners,” and “First We Take Manhattan.” She adds “We have to find the beauty in everyone.”
“As women, sisters, mothers, it is important to embody leaders with action that is compassionate and good for everyone,” @takeleadwomen #PowerUp 2025 #WomensEqualityDay #genderparity #leadership ”
In 2024, Take The Lead awarded Palmer the Power Tool Award, Wear The Shirt, on behalf of the trio, BETTY, after they performed at the concert. Kathleen Turner, actor, philanthropist and previous winner of the same award said, “I have the honor to present this award to an individual and to an extraordinary trio that exemplifies those who wear the shirt of their convictions. That is what we call ‘The BETTY effect.’ Palmer, Elizabeth Ziff, and Amy Ziff are members of the band who create music celebrating joy, love, longing, and humanity.”
Read more in Take The Lead on Power Up Concert 2024
Palmer founded 1@1 Productions 10 years ago to “create effective arts actions for social justice, including the global 1@1 Minute for Women’s Equality and Women Take the Stage, a multi-performer virtual concert & rally on the anniversary of the 19th Amendment to increase voting by and for women.”
A creative force engaging audiences across generations, Palmer and BETTY have done theme songs for multiple TV series including, “Ms. Adventure” on Animal Planet, “Fashionably Late” on TLC, “Encyclopedia” on HBO, and “Out on The Edge” for Comedy Central.
In this tumultuous political and cultural environment that is divisive and silencing, Palmer says, “Now more than ever we need bravery.” This is why, she says, the Power Up Conference’s theme of “Courage to Lead” is crucial, she says. In an era that is demanding shifts in education and defunding DEI efforts, programs and initiatives, Palmer says, “I am not following orders.”
Read more in Take The Lead on Power Up Concert 2024
At the close of the Power Up Conference this year on August 26, Palmer says, “We are doing something different.” What will happen is participants are encouraged to share in writing on a wall in the conference room their commitment to their leadership actions as a result of learnings and inspirations from the conference sessions “that resonated or encapsulated their experiences.”
Read more in Take The Lead on Power Up Concert and Marina Arsenijevic
Palmer and BETTY will then put together a theme song about the courage to lead and “pull everybody’s experience together. We will put that as part of our final dance song,” Palmer says.
Read more in Take The Lead on music’s healing energy
“I believe creative energy is the most healing energy we have—creating buildings, life experiences, synthesizing something out of disparate pieces,” Palmer says.
“I truly believe that music is most healing when we have a moment for all of us to come together. Each one of us has a thrilling story to tell each other,” Aly Palmer of BETTY, @takeleadwomen #PowerUp2025 #CourageToLead #storytelling #power. ”
“I truly believe that music is most healing when we have a moment for all of us to come together. Each one of us has a thrilling story to tell each other. So we will end the day with that.”
