If you spent your teens and twenties floating around without any aim or purpose, let songwriter/producer Nija’s career trajectory make you feel even worse. By the age of 21, Union, New Jersey’s Nija Charles had already written songs for Meek Mill, Cardi B, Beyoncé and JAY-Z—a side gig she first took on to promote her primary hustle of selling her own beats. While Nija’s songs reflect her youthful perspective, she brings all kinds of emotional dynamism to some of hip-hop’s biggest tunes. “Something that I would like to see is more women in executive positions, as well as more female producers,” she tells Apple Music. “Women have a great ear for music, so as long as we have representation, it is more likely that it will increase the positions of women sitting as executives, as well as producers. Some steps that I've seen in recent history have been businesses creating more opportunities for women as well as women-led collectives. I’ve seen a lot of female engineers—at Paramount specifically—as well as women-led programs, such as She Is the Music and Fem It Forward, showing representation of women in the music business.”