Songwriter Jenna Andrews, Who's Written Hits for BTS, Talks 'Cathartic' Mental Health Web Series

Songwriter, producer and music executive Jenna Andrews still remembers the first song she ever wrote as a 14-year-old living in Calgary, Canada.

"It was called 'What Am I Gonna Do' and it was so bad," she tells PEOPLE with a laugh. "Literally horrible, like, so bad. But you gotta start somewhere, right?"

"What Am I Gonna Do" may not have smashed any Billboard records, but Andrews is right that you've got to start somewhere — and her teenage ditty just so happened to be the starting point for a blossoming career that so far includes collaborations with hitmakers like BTS and Noah Cyrus.

Andrews, 35, scored her first No. 1 hit co-writing "Butter" for BTS, and also co-wrote "Permission to Dance" with Ed Sheeran and vocal produced "Dynamite" for the superstar K-pop group.

"I did all of the vocal production over WhatsApp with the band," she explains of the process behind "Dynamite." "It would be like, 4 a.m. for me and 7 p.m. for them, and I'd send voice notes or guides of how I was hearing things, or harmonies, or parts of the arrangements. And then they would do it, send it back, and I would be like, 'Oh, what about this?' and send it back, and they'd be like, 'What about this?' I've never done it like that before, but it really worked out."

Andrews — who also co-wrote Benee's TikTok hit "Supalonely," which has been dubbed a pandemic anthem — credits BTS member RM with helping catapult "Butter" to success, noting that he contributed the song's rap part, which helped the track keep its distinctly BTS flavor.

While watching her songs top the charts has been "crazy," their successes are just the latest chapter of Andrews' time in the music industry, which started with an artist contract at Island Def Jam.

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Andrews was signed to the label for seven years, and upon reflection, is hoping that her experiences coming up through a male-dominated industry can be used to make it a better place for younger women.

"I think it's important to talk about because it's a real thing," she says. "I had to deal with all the things women have to deal with — being objectified, and feeling like you have to say yes to a man when you don't want to just because they're in power."

"I feel like I really have perspective on all sides, because I was an artist, I've been an executive, I'm a songwriter, I'm a vocal producer," she adds. "I've had all these experiences and I'm really able to share wisdom... As much as it may not be the best thing to go through, at least you have that experience to help somebody else."

Without very many women to turn to as a mentor in the early years of her career, Andrews says she was pushed to work "10 times harder" — something she actually is grateful for today.

"I appreciate that, because honestly, would I be in the place that I'm in today if I didn't think that way? It drives me, it makes me want to work harder because I'm like, 'No, I actually won't accept this. I don't care if you won't listen to me talk, I'll talk until you listen to me,'" she says. "In the beginning, it's scary. As a young woman, you think, 'I don't want my dreams to be taken away.' But now, with that experience, I'm like, 'No. I will not take this.'"

Such insight is part of the reason she launched her web series The Green Room over lockdown, a project of about 25 episodes that offers artists a space to discuss everything from mental health to personal success, and how that informs their songwriting.

She says she and her manager developed the idea for The Green Room just before quarantine, with the goal being to "expose certain things about songwriting that people aren't necessarily aware of" through candid conversation.

The Green Room is also produced in conjunction with The Jed Foundation, a nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide among teens and young adults, and She Is The Music, a nonprofit working to increase the number of women working in music.

"It's just very cathartic," she says. "Everybody has a story. And stories make songs. My dad is a psychologist, so I grew up with that, and I that songwriting is psychology and it is therapy, so I think it kind of checks all the boxes."

Andrews says The Green Room — whose guests have included Tegan and Sara, Lennon Stella and Rebecca Black — has opened her eyes to just how universal the human condition is, thanks to conversations on everything from coming out to getting sober.

"The things that people connect to the most are the things that are just said in conversation," she says. "If you say something that all of a sudden hits a chord, you're like, 'Wow, if that hits a chord with me, why would it not hit a chord with somebody else?'"