Creative Minds Speaking

Ray Ahmed is a Business Development Lead at PopArabia. In this episode, Ray talks about his music industry journey, shares interesting insights regarding the music landscape in the MENA region, opens up about changing degrees and pursuing his dream, discusses the challenges of working in the developing market, and more.

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Ashley Hall is an Associate Director on the International Label Management at The Orchard. In this episode, Ashley talks about her journey in the music business, shares how she started as an intern and in only 5 years got promoted to the Associate Director role. We also talked about the ways of building good relationships with the labels and the artists, the challenges in the music marketing field, and more.

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Nick Kandelaki is a Tour Coordinator, Nik West’s Talent Manager, and a Producer of Live Events and Festivals. In this episode, Nick tells his story about working in the music industry, talks about working with Quincy Jones and Macy Gray and shares how he landed such opportunities. We also talked a lot about talent and tour management, the struggles of organizing big events in Georgia, moving countries and starting from zero, and more.

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Jem Aswad is a Senior Music Editor at Variety. In this episode, Jem talks about his journey in the music business, gives advice to the starting music journalists, shares some tips on how to create interesting and unique interviews and cover stories, and more.

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Mia Van Allen is an Executive Assistant at The Village Studios and a Founder of the Color of Music Collective, an organization that amplifies the voices of people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals working in the music industry. In this episode, Mia talks about her journey in the music business, emphasizes the lack of representation in the industry, and shares how COMC supports underrepresented talents. We also talked about the importance of company culture, unpaid internships, and more.

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Stephanie Hernández is a Marketing Manager at Rich Music. In this episode, Stephanie talks about her journey into the music business, shares why she chose storytelling as a career path, talks about challenges in the music marketing field, highlights the importance of seeing women in leadership roles, and more.

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Selected as Berklee College of Music's Berklee Today 30 Under 30 and SheSaid.So's Alternative Power 100, Michelle Golden has built a career firmly rooted in brand marketing, communications, and creating impactful partnerships through her time at The Orchard, Superfly, and the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. In this episode, Michelle talks about her experience, work/life balance, and pursuing a nonlinear path to success.

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Dani Balcells is a regional manager at BMAT Music innovators. In this episode, Dani talks about his journey in the music industry, shares his thoughts on the current state of music and tech, tells what his main responsibilities at the company are, speaks about Spanish and American cultural differences, and more.

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Massey is a CEO at gethr, a start-up that uses influencer marketing, data analytics, and machine learning to promote artists' music. In this episode, Massey shares what challenges of the music industry pushed him to start his own company, tells how beneficial this idea is both for artists and influencers, gives some advice to the starting professionals, and more.

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Alicia Caillier is a product manager at Facebook. In this episode, Alicia talks about her journey in music and tech, shares how she raised $53,000 for Covid-19 relief by hosting virtual parties. We also talked about advocacy, feeling burnt out, changing professions, and more.

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Sylvia Black is a Director of Events for Student Government at Harvard University, and a former Executive Assistant to the President/COO & General Manager at Parkwood Entertainment. In this episode, Sylvia talks about her journey in the fashion and music industry, tells what were her responsibilities at Parkwood, shares her thought on the current state of philanthropy in the music industry, and more.

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Shelby Chargin is a Founder of Girls Behind the Rock Show, and Brand Partnerships Assistant at the talent agency. In this episode, Shelby talks about her journey in the music industry, shares how GBTRS started and became a big supporting community for young women in music, talks about the importance of female representation, and more.

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Zoe Schneider is a Community Manager at Harmonix Music Systems. In this episode, Zoe talks about the importance of higher education, shares her experience with a video game company, talks about working with Solange, speaks on finding her path in the music industry, and more.

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Maria Jose Guzman Basilis is a product manager at Interscope Records. In this episode, MJ talks about her experience working for the major music label, tells how she started an artist management company Boombox Management, shares her thoughts on reggaeton, and more.

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Alex Edwards is a Content Protection Representative at UMG, based in New York City. In this episode, Alex shares how she landed a job at one of the most competitive cities, tells what it is like to work for a major music label, explains a little how online content regulations work, and more.

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Rea Shena is the founder of Rreash Entertainment, an artist and producer management company. In this episode, Rea talks about her passion for A&R, shares how she discovers up-and-coming talents and builds an artist-manager relationship with them, gives valuable pieces of advice to the aspiring professionals, and more.

You can learn more about our guests here: www.instagram.com/creativemindsspeaking/

Cristina Nadal is an Associate Digital Account Manager at Interscope Records. In this episode, Cristina shares what it is like to switch careers and go back to studies, how to successfully land a job in the music industry, talks about her current role, and more.

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Nicole Casino is the CEO of 92 Creatives, an LA-based artist development company. In this episode, Nicole talks about her journey in the music industry both as a musician and as a music business professional, shares why she decided to leave the corporate side of the industry behind and focus on her own business, tells how LA as a city creatively affected her growing up, and more.

You can learn more about our guests here: www.instagram.com/creativemindsspeaking/

JJ Connor is the founder of Faceless Management, an artist management company based in Los Angeles. In this episode, JJ talks about the pros and cons of being an independent manager, shares his experience of working for mtheory as Digital Marketing Associate, and explains that every opportunity, however small, can be an opportunity to learn and grow professionally.

You can learn more about our guests here: www.instagram.com/creativemindsspeaking/

Annelise Rivera Rivero is a paralegal at Rimas Entertainment and a Regional Vice Chair of Communications for Women in Music Puerto Rico. In this episode, Annelise talks about the importance of lawyers in the music industry, difficulties of getting a job and ending up at the dream company, slavery artist contracts, Women in Music community, and more. 

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Constanza Rivera is a Digital Account Specialist at Sony Music Mexico. In this episode, Connie tells what are the biggest struggles of starting a career in the music industry, talks about her passion for A&R and how she discovered the artist she is currently managing,  shares her thoughts on the Mexican music scene, and just gives a lot of useful pieces of advice throughout the conversation, so tune in!

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Nicole Otero is a Press and Digital assistant at Decca Records (UMG). In this episode, Nicole shares what it’s like to work at the major record label, what are her responsibilities in the current role, what skills and experience helped her to land a job in London after graduating from Berklee, and more.

You can learn more about our guests here: www.instagram.com/creativemindsspeaking/

Alejandro Jon Sabillón is a founder of Aigg, the world's first record label for robots, and a producer of Rey1, an AI artist that creates beautiful songs that you'd never think were made by a robot. In this episode, Jon talks about his journey in the music industry, tells about his DJing workshops, shares his thoughts on AI music, and much more. 

You can learn more about our guests here: www.instagram.com/creativemindsspeaking/

Creative Minds Speaking is a podcast where I have conversations with creative industry professionals about their journeys. Bringing into the spotlight those incredible people who are behind the scenes of art and entertainment is the main purpose of my podcast. Enjoy! :)