Woman of the Month Archives

Woman of the Month: Kerri Edwards

September 23, 2021/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Stephanie Wagner and Erica Zisman

In Country Swag’s “Woman of the Month” series, we’re bringing you stories from women who are chasing their dreams and building a life that they love.

Each month, we highlight a different female pursuing her passions. Introducing you to women who are taking risks, working relentlessly, and turning their dreams into reality. These are empowering women of the country music community, and beyond, who serve as role models and should be celebrated.

“I think I’m most proud of not only the artists that are trusting me with their career and their livelihoods, but I’m proud of the artists that I’m getting to do that with because I truly believe in them.” – Kerri Edwards

This month, we celebrate Kerri Edwards, President, KP Entertainment as our September 2021 Woman of the Month.

Edwards is a woman and a business owner that we truly admire. She is authentic, passionate, and compassionate- a true pioneer in the music industry. In our conversation, Edwards shared her story, her love for country music and the artists she works with, as well as, tips for women hoping to break into the music industry.

Growing up in a small town in West Virginia, Edwards was always drawn to music. “I grew up a music fan,” she shared. “My music taste back in high school and even college, it was very broad. I liked the Pop, the hairbands, country.” She later added, “I really did just bounce around, it just kind of depended on the day.”

Despite an early love for music, Edwards shared “working in the music industry never even entered my mind like as a job.” It was not until she went to Lipscomb University in Nashville did the idea start to develop. As a communications major looking for an internship her senior year, Edwards found herself with an opportunity to intern at (then) Arista Records.

“At a [music] festival in West Virginia, I was introduced to a lady backstage named Denise Nichols. She worked at Arista Records at the time,” declares Edwards. “I went to intern there and worked in their radio promotions department.” Soon after Edwards realized she had stumbled upon something special. “I fell in love with it, I was just enamored by the whole deal, I was like I can’t believe this is a job.”

After her internship, she earned a job at the label, working as an assistant in the A&R department. “I didn’t know what I was diving into,” she began, adding later, “I couldn’t have planned it any better. It couldn’t have been a more perfect fit for myself.” During this role, Edwards found herself in a position where she would be a champion for the songs, something she was very passionate about.

“The fact that I got to hear songs on the front of them, worktapes, demos, be a part of selecting things that you think are a hit and you get to share it with your artist roster, it was just unbelievable. Just the fact that I was exposed to so many amazing, gifted, talented human beings was incredible.”

After a merger at the record label, Edwards, along with many others at the company, found herself unemployed. It was at this time that she decided to switch gears and enter the world of publishing. “My instinct was to go to publishing because it was still on the song side of things, so that’s kind of what I did.” Shortly after beginning at an independent publishing company, Edwards would meet a young songwriter and her career trajectory would take a major turn. That songwriter’s name was Luke Bryan.

“He had just gotten signed there as a writer, right before I got hired to pitch songs. He was a brand new writer, assigned to me,” she shared about her budding relationship with Bryan. Eventually, after seeing him play at a club in Georgia, she realized how special his talent truly was. “It just became a little passion project,” said Edwards, about her championing Bryan from his start.

Flash forward to today, Edwards owns her own management company called KP Entertainment. Her roster includes artists like Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell, Dylan Scott, and many others. Since managing the careers of these artists, Edwards has gotten the opportunity to watch them succeed both personally and professionally.

She recalls the night that both Bryan and Swindell won coveted awards at the ACM’s back in 2015. As Bryan took home Entertainer of the Year and Swindell was awarded Best New Artist, Edwards shared how proud she felt of them and her entire team in that moment. “That night the fact that legit Luke [who was also hosting the show] could not stop worrying about Cole was just so awesome in his own way,” she added.

Although she has had great success and many ‘wins’ in her career, the human side of her job is what always stands out the most. “I want them to be proud of who they represent,” she shared of her staff, adding “It’s about building a team and getting the right people.” Edwards continues to hire employees who have a passion first and come with positive energy over those who have the most experience for this exact reason.

At the end of our conversation, we of course had to ask Edwards one last question. When asked about the advice she would give to women trying to break into the country music industry, she shared simple, yet profound advice that we all can embody. “Find your passion and find something that you believe in that much and go get it,” adding, “If you believe in it, you keep pushing it, you keep going for it, you got this.”

To keep up with Kerri Edwards, follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

* Interview Conducted by: Stephanie Wagner // Written by: Erica Zisman for Country Swag

Woman of the Month: Lauren Black

April 27, 2021/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Stephanie Wagner and Erica Zisman

In New York Country Swag’s “Woman of the Month” series, we’re bringing you stories from women who are chasing their dreams and building a life that they love.

Each month, we highlight a different female pursuing her passions. Introducing you to women who are taking risks, working relentlessly, and turning their dreams into reality. These are empowering women of the country music community, and beyond, who serve as role models and should be celebrated.

April 2021 Woman of the Month: Lauren Black

“I feel like as long as I’m still feeling excited to go to these events and be included in that stuff, that’s when I know I’m doing something right” – Lauren Black

This month, we celebrate Lauren Black, Editor-In-Chief of Country Now as our April 2021 Woman of the Month.

Black is an absolute boss both in her professional and personal life. A mother of two, an entrepreneur, a content creator, and an editor, she is a force to be reckoned with. In our conversation, Black shared her tips for success, her love of country music, how she got her start, her role now, and everything in between.

Growing up in Florida, Black was a kid who was always into the creatives. From a young age, she was mesmerized by country music, finding herself listening to country radio with her parents as far back as she can remember. “I always tell this story, because it’s my first music memory,” she begins, “My parents always played country music and I remember listening to Trisha Yearwood’s “She’s In Love With The Boy” and it was my first favorite song that I ever had.” This set her on a trajectory to want to make country music a part of her everyday life.

During her adolescence, her dreams started to take shape. An early pioneer of vlogging, Black and her friend got a video camera one summer and began documenting everything. “We would go around town, I would interview people on this camera,” she shared, “With my love for country music, I thought, I want to interview country artists!”

Armed with a desire to be a journalist, Black attended college with her specific mission at hand. She learned very quickly that broadcast journalism just wasn’t for her. Continuing to pivot, she created her first-ever website with her best friend. “I started a website in 2008 when I was still in college,” she tells us, “I called it Country Music Is Love.” She also credited her then-boyfriend, now-husband for inspiring her to bring her love of country music to the world.

Four years after creating the website, which was geared towards providing all things country music to fans in the form of a blog, (i.e. covering shows, new music, country news, etc.) Black and her husband decided to move to Nashville from Florida. She had garnered many connections, since beginning her website over the years, and it was the right time to make the move to further grow her brand.

What Black did not plan for was a prominent group in Nashville wanting to buy her business from her. “In 2015, Universal Music Group approached me and was interested in buying ‘Country Music Is Love,’” she shared with us, adding, “It was an amazing opportunity, so I sold it to them, and it rebranded itself […]. Then I was there for 2.5 years as editor. Later, when my contract was over, we split ways.”

At the time, Black admits she was devastated and felt at a loss in her professional life. “At that moment in 2018, I hit rock bottom. I never felt like that in my life before,” adding later, “I honestly thought about leaving the music industry.” After a series of setbacks, the right opportunity finally fell into her lap. “I was approached later that year with the idea to start Country Now. Despite being a little hesitant, I was still initially really excited about it.”

Flash forward to today, Black is the content creator and editor-in-chief of a mega-successful country music entertainment website called Country Now. Although she worried at first if she could “do it again,” the website officially launched in 2019 and has survived and grown tremendously in spite of all the odds over the last couple of years.

While every day looks different for Black, as she juggles wearing many hats, she could not be more grateful for her life, career, and her family, including her two small children. “It’s kinda cheesy, but literally my dreams came true,” she tells us, “I just kinda found a lane that I wanted to be in. I just like that this [Country Now] is an outlet for music.”

As always, we wrapped up our conversation with the talented and inspiring professional by asking what advice she has for people hoping to break into the industry. Besides encouraging people to prioritize and figure out a work/life balance, something she admits is difficult for her, her advice is rather simple; “Just work hard. If someone asks you to do something, go above and beyond.” She also adds, “This industry is so much about who you know, let people know what you’re good at, and if opportunities come, they’ll come to you.”

To keep up with Lauren Black, follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

* Interview Conducted by: Stephanie Wagner // Written by: Erica Zisman for NYCountry Swag

Woman of the Month: Monta Vaden

March 24, 2021/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Stephanie Wagner and Erica Zisman

In New York Country Swag’s “Woman of the Month” series, we’re bringing you stories from women who are chasing their dreams and building a life that they love.

Each month, we highlight a different female pursuing her passions. Introducing you to women who are taking risks, working relentlessly, and turning their dreams into reality. These are empowering women of the country music community, and beyond, who serve as role models and should be celebrated.

March 2021 Woman of the Month: Monta Vaden

This month, we celebrate Monta Vaden, Senior Radio Editor of Country Aircheck as our March 2021 Woman of the Month.

Born and raised in Tennessee, Vaden has always believed in the power of women and pursuing your passions no matter what. She shared with us all about her journey to the country music industry, her advice for industry hopefuls, and of course, her favorite parts of her job as the Senior Radio Editor at Country Aircheck and her role on the Annual Country Radio Seminar (CRS) team.

“I always loved country radio. I was a radio P1 [listener] from an early age. I wanted to be Garth Brooks when I grew up,” she tells us. “I did not know that I wanted to be in the industry though, because I only knew that there were singers, which I am not, and there were DJs, which I am not.”

In a 4th Grade Hero Day presentation, Monta Vaden dressed as Garth Brooks. Years later, she unexpectedly met her hero in one of her favorite places on earth: The University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Despite growing up just outside of Nashville, Vaden was not aware of the bustling music industry that existed outside of radio personalities and performers. Instead, she took a different route, going to school for English and Business, and ultimately worked as a bridal consultant, serving women in Knoxville, Tennessee. After ten years in the bridal business, Vaden found herself at a crossroads in her career.

Over the years, she had developed some relationships with local DJs via Twitter, which led to her next big career move. “I had engaged with some local DJs, gotten to know them and one of them said we actually have some openings at the radio sation,” and I said “I don’t know anything about radio, I’m not an on-air person,” and they added, “No, we have sales, promotions, and marketing, things that kind of align with what you’ve been doing”. This put her on the trajectory of soaking up knowledge about an industry that she didn’t really know existed, as well as, reignited her passion for music.

“I was just very active in learning as much as I could about radio because once I got in I figured out how much I loved it,” she recalls, “It did align with growing up and loving music and country music specifically, and it did align with my marketing and sales background.” After a few years working in the industry in Knoxville, Vaden’s life took another turn, which led her to move to Nashville.

March Woman of the Month: Monta Vaden

Admittedly, Vaden thought that it would be easy to find a job in the country music capital of the world, but she would quickly learn that she was easily mistaken. “I was not an on-air personality, I didn’t have that background. I didn’t go to school for music business. I hadn’t interned at a record label,” she shared, adding that she even sent a little over 100 handwritten notes to different people all over the industry and ultimately only got one call back from someone, who could not offer her a job but admired her hustle.

Although she didn’t land a job right away in the industry, eventually Vaden found herself applying for a job at All Access as an editorial assistant. Needless to say, she got the job and her career in trade publication began.

Flash forward to today, Vaden works as the Senior Radio Editor at Country Aircheck. Her primary role is to handle all radio related-news and help connect people in the industry. “My favorite part of what I do every day is the people. I love the people that work in this industry, and I am so passionate about helping people, connecting people, and lifting people up,” she tells us.

The women of Country Aircheck at a career achievement celebration for owner Lon Helton in 2019. Pictured L-R: Shelby Farrer, April Johnson, Monta Vaden, Kelley Hampton, and Caitlin DeForest

Upon speaking about how important it was for her to figure out her passions, follow them, and do something she really loved, Vaden adds, “Even on my worst days in radio, when I was so stressed and I didn’t know what I was doing, I was still so happy and excited and energized by it.”

On top of her role at Country Aircheck, Vaden is part of the agenda committee for Country Radio Seminar (CRS). Despite the many challenges that 2020 threw their way, Vaden and her teammates were able to create a virtual version of the normally in-person annual industry event.

Monta Vaden with CRS Agenda Committee teammate Billy McKim (left) and CRS Agenda Committee Vice-Chair Joey Tack (back) at a previous, pre-COVID event

“There was now a clear path to execute it,” Vaden says regarding getting the news that the event would ultimately be virtual after many months of back and forth scenarios. “From there it was a lot of firsts. For the first time, no one on the agenda committee met in person […] A new digital platform was created specifically for CRS.” A positive, though, was that the team could get speakers for panels that maybe could not have committed to an in-person panel in the past.

Overall the 4-day event was a major success. Vaden even shared that more people participated and enjoyed the more educational parts of the seminar. “I thought for not being present in the physical sense, it felt very connected. I hope that’s what other people felt as well.”

In addition, many successful women also helped put on the event, which is a pretty impactful thing in this day and age. “For me, it’s always been about making everyone feel welcome and letting everyone know they have a place. If you’re a female or if you’re a male or if you identify as a them or a their, you have a place here,” she shared of her experience in the music industry. “You can do great things here, and your age, and your gender, and your sexual orientation, and your religion, none of that needs to come into a play. You absolutely can make a name here, and it’s all about finding your group, and finding your path.”

Monta Vaden with fellow mentors during the CRS 2019 Women’s Mentoring Breakfast

As always, we wrapped up our conversation with the talented and inspiring professional by asking what advice she has for people hoping to break into the industry. Simply put Vaden shared “be willing to do the work,” adding, “Do the work to get to know people, really get to know them.”

To keep up with Monta Vaden, follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

* Interview Conducted by: Stephanie Wagner // Written by: Erica Zisman for NYCountry Swag

Woman of the Month: Rakiyah Marshall

February 10, 2021/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Christina Bosch

We’re bringing you stories from women who are chasing their dreams and building a life that they love with New York Country Swag’s, “Woman of the Month”.

Each month, we highlight a different female pursuing her passions. Introducing you to women who are taking risks, working relentlessly, and turning their dreams into reality. These are empowering women who serve as role models and should be celebrated.

“I love music, I love songwriters, and I love that music makes the world go round”

Our first Woman of the Month for 2021 hails from the same hometown as our Managing Editor, Christina, on Long Island New York. Rakiyah Marshall now resides in Nashville but her inspiring story of finding her passion for music, moving to Nashville to pursue that passion, and taking a leap of faith to start her own business all started in New York.

Thinking back to her childhood, music was always playing in her home. Whether her mother was cleaning on a Sunday morning listening to gospel music, getting ready for a party and listening to reggae, or even listening to the country female powerhouses taking over the airwaves in the ’90s, the energy music brought to her household influenced her life. She attended Seton Hall in New Jersey for college and knew that she wanted to be involved in the entertainment world. She landed an internship at Republic Records at a crucial time for the label, when it was just beginning to expand and take off. She recalls watching major artists like Ariana Grande and Nelly walk through the office and seeing artists who weren’t huge yet, get their start with Republic. “I remember going back to my dorm and thinking to myself, ‘What world did I just walk in to and how do I stay in it’,” she recalls.

Marshall speaks so highly of her internship and what she learned there, explaining that after she graduated she asked if she can stay on, that she would help with whatever they needed at the time, and eventually that turned into a full-time job. She tells us that one summer a friend asked her to go to see Rascal Flatts at PNC Bank Arts Center in New Jersey and it was her very first time at a country concert. “I had never gone to a tailgate like that, so many people just in a parking lot out in a field, it felt like everyone was friends and family already, I never enjoyed a concert like I did that day.” She tells us after that show she really started digging into the newer country acts, learning to love the true storytelling aspect of the genre.

She made the move to Nashville and took a job working at BMG in publishing, helping to guide and work with songwriters like Lindsey Ell, Sean Stemaly, and Emily Landis. “The Music Row feeling, it’s one I don’t even know how to describe,” she tells us. “It’s a street filled with labels, publishers, PROS, and they are all located on one street, it’s magical and something that just does not exist in New York or Los Angeles, where it’s very corporate-driven and all high rises.” She quickly started to cherish the songwriter and the powerful energy that they brought to music city.

Like most people who work in the music industry, the COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone to pivot their strategies, sit down and figure out how they could use the slowed-down moments to their benefit. Marshall, who has always taken her own route in life decided that it was time for her to bet on herself, her talents, and confidently take a leap of faith and start her own company. After spending time watching cat videos on TikTok, she laughs, she tells us that she quickly realized that this new app was filled with untapped, unsigned yet very talented artists. After coming across Ashley Cooke, she knew she wanted to work with her. “My boyfriend, Seth England said ‘Why don’t you do it yourself? If you really believe in her, and she believes in you, you can start it together.’ It was scary to quit my corporate job in the middle of a pandemic, I had a lot of anxiety but I thought, there is no better time, I had time to think and strategize.”

England who is the CEO and partner at Big Loud Records also suggested the perfect name for her new venture and Back Blocks Music was born. “The term Back Blocks is because my dad and my family members say it a lot, when we are in traffic or trying to get somewhere fast, my dad will always say, “Take the back blocks”, and it’s basically his version of the dirt road”. Seth said to me, ‘Why don’t you call your company Back Blocks music? I have always found that you are a person that does really well at your job, you do it right, but you do it in your own way, you realize you can break artists too, but just in a different fashion’.”

Marshall also came across Lily Rose, on TikTok and she was instantly captivated by her. “I’ve never heard a voice like this, I’ve never heard a song written that way, she doesn’t look like anybody else, I am so curious and so I met her and I knew she was special, I gave her some strategies for TikTok and couple of weeks later, Villain was posted,” she tells us. The song skyrocketed, going viral and landing her a joint venture record deal with Back Blocks Music, Big Loud Records, and Republic Records.

With an exciting future ahead of her and her new company, we close out our conversation discussing the advice she would give to young girls looking to find their path in the music industry. “Internships are key. It changed my life, but also, the time you put into what you want to learn in those positions will change the rest. It’s ok not to know what you want to do, but there is no way to find out if you don’t try or work hard at it,” she explained. “I was always willing to do everything and anything to move to that next level and I think it really shows everyone above you, that you are ready to work. So that when it comes time for you to start your own company or work for someone else, that you feel you can bet on yourself and do it correctly because you had those tools before.”

In closing, she says, “As a female, confidence is key. We can do whatever we want and how we want to do it and be great at it. There is nothing that can stop us, not a man, not a corporation, nothing we are powerful and we are amazing.”

To keep up with Rakiyah Marshall follow her on Instagram and be sure to follow Back Blocks Music as well.

NYCS Woman of the Month: Catherine Powell

January 24, 2020/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Christina Bosch

We’re bringing you stories from women who are chasing their dreams and building a life that they love with New York Country Swag’s, “Woman of the Month”.

Each month, we highlight a different female pursuing her passions. Introducing you to women who are taking risks, working relentlessly and turning their dreams into reality. These are empowering women who serve as role models and should be celebrated.

Photo Credit: Jordan Simpson

“When I was two years old, we were at the Jersey Shore on the beach and I was trying to build sandcastles and the tide kept knocking them down and I apparently stood up on my chubby little legs and yelled at the ocean saying, ‘STOP I’m not done yet’. She says I’ve spent my entire life yelling at the world to conform to me.”

Catherine Powell, our first Woman of the Month for 2020 gave incredible insight to her career as the touring photographer with artists such as Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris, and Dan + Shay as well as how she got her start running her own magazine. She also was open and honest about how being a fan has given her the driving force and inspiration to pursue her career. Like many of us, she grew up being influenced by the music her parents would play, her mom being a huge country fan of artists like Vince Gill, Faith Hill, and all of the greats of the 90s. In middle school, however, she rebelled a bit and became a huge fan of the Warped Tour scene, bands like Jimmie Eat World, Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco, All Time Low, and May Day Parade. “My parents, God bless them, were like sure, wear this weird neon hoodie and straighten your bands and put on 7 pounds of eyeliner every day, live your life,” she laughs.

Throughout her childhood, Powell quickly learned that failing at one thing meant she would find another to way to make it work, for example, she knew from a very early age that she wanted to be a part of the music world so she took three years of guitar lessons, which she said went terribly. Her parents sat her down to discuss what kind of extracurriculars she would focus on while in high school to prepare her for college and helped guide her to pursue a career that she would thrive in, even being brutally honest about her ability to play sports, “My Dad, looked me square in the eye and said ‘You are not going to make the team, you are just going to embarrass yourself, find something else’.” she laughs but realizing once again, that those roadblocks eventually opened up to the right path.

Photo Credit: John Shearer

Her father, who collected cameras, always encouraged her to take photos, she would wait in line for 6 hours before concerts to be up front with her point and shoot camera to get the best pictures of her favorite bands. At 14 years old, her father bought her a professional camera and told her to just ‘go wild’ and taking the initiative she went to the local venue and told them she wanted to take pictures there. Although she wasn’t making any money, she took that time to build up her portfolio and connections in the industry. Around this time, as she started photographing bigger artists, Powell made the decision to start NKD Magazine with one of her friends. “I wasn’t learning as much as I wanted to about these artists that I cared so deeply about and I knew, other people cared so deeply about them too, and so that was the stepping off point. Our goal was for our interviews to go really deep and ask the questions that fans really want to know,” she explains. “We didn’t want to box in a genre, if we like all of these things, there are probably other people who like all of these things as well, why limit ourselves.”

The magazine which was available in both print and digital found a niche with two very different demographics of fans, country music and ‘nerd culture’. She was giving artists and actors that wouldn’t normally be featured in major magazines or publications a chance to really dig deep and tell their story, something that was unique to her brand. She quickly tapped into what she calls ‘the driving force of the entire world’, teenage girls. Proving that their interests and how passionate they are is what drives artists to have a single go number one on radio, to having them sell out an arena tour.

Photo Credit: Catherine Powell

While in college in New York, Powell dug into the country scene before it became as popular as it is now, making connections with publicists and managers when artists would come through to play small shows. She photographed Kacey Musgraves and Dan + Shay at their very first New York City shows, obviously making a lasting impression on their teams. While her magazine was thriving, she always longed to be on tour with an artist and to move to Nashville. While visiting a friend in London, Powell got an email that Kacey Musgraves needed a photographer for C2C and this was only a few weeks before Golden Hour, the album that went on to win Grammy Album of the Year was released. Being a long time fan of her music, she was thrilled she got this opportunity and was then hired for a few more shows and that set the stage for a life-changing 2019 for both Musgraves as an artist and Powell as her photographer. “To be with someone who is going through all of those things, there were so many times when we looked at each other and we were like, ‘This is crazy! What are we doing?!’,” she recalls. “I had been a huge fan of Kacey since “Merry Go Round”, I was a super fan, so to be able to shoot that first show, I was stoked, but, to be able to build this relationship and have it at the right point in time was so serendipitous.”

As they say, the rest is history, winning Grammy awards, being included on the biggest lineups for summer festivals and touring the world, Catherine’s childhood dreams were coming true right alongside Kacey’s. As she continues to explain this huge part of her life, she laughs recalling a professor in college who took one look at her live work in her portfolio and said: “‘Okay, this is great, but where is your real work?” and I said this is my real work and he said, “Alright well this isn’t going to get you into museums or galleries, so I need you to think a little more creatively, commercial photography is not photography.’ That was my first impression at college. I want to contact him now and be like ‘Hey, head over to the Country Music Hall of Fame, that is a museum and my photos are in it.”

Photo Credit Catherine Powell

As her touring career with major artists was taking off, she had made the decision to have NKD Magazine’s 100th issue be their last. Having one dream come to an end, she was then asked to shoot a campaign for Dan + Shay with none other than pop sensation, Justin Bieber as they readied their collaboration, “10,000 Hours” which is currently sitting atop of the country charts. She also toured with Maren Morris on her GIRL The World Tour and was there to capture the vulnerability that comes along with finding out you are pregnant and having to keep it a secret from not only your fans that you are performing for but the world. “I think it’s just a really exciting privilege and honor to be allowed to be there,” she says. “I grew up being obsessed with artists and music and my whole reason for picking up a camera at the end of the day was wanting to be in the room.”

Of course, when we discuss her favorite parts of her job, its taking photos and getting to see her favorite music live but she has also discovered that connecting with fans, taking photos of them, and handing out guitar picks to the audience is so fulfilling as well. “I know what it’s like to be the kid who is hanging on the balcony, trying to express how much the song means to me and feeling like nobody is noticing how much you are pouring into this, and finding a way to show fans that we all see you and we are grateful for you, that’s what I love.”

As always, we end our conversation on her advice for anyone looking to break into the music industry and follow their dreams. She honestly said “I really think that just be a fan, be vocal about being a fan. At the end of the day, the music industry is so weird, they want to be prepared for a job but you can’t like, say that you are prepared for that job. If you go into an interview for a job where you are going to be asked specific questions where you have to know specific things, you have to prove in that interview that you know those things, that you know how to talk about them and know how to work with that world but in the music industry the second that you say you are a huge fan, people immediately think ‘Oh, is that why you want to work here?’ Like yeah, it is, why wouldn’t I?”

“If you are a fan of someone you root for them, you work harder for them and I think that’s how lives change in this world.”

To keep up with Catherine Powell follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

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Women of the Month 2019 Advice Round-Up

December 17, 2019/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Christina Bosch

In 2019 we have featured interviews with some of country music and Nashville’s biggest names in the industry in our “Woman of the Month” feature. Each month we chatted with another powerful woman in the business whether they worked in publishing, publicity, record labels or digital marketing. At the end of each interview, we were sure to ask if they had any advice for young girls who wanted to pursue their dreams in the music industry and the best practices to put in motion to make that dream a reality. Here are some of our favorite quotes from our Women of the Month in 2019.

“Don’t care too much about the name of the company you intern for or work for, it’s about where you will get the opportunity to work, learn and grow. If you are at a smaller company, you learn so much so quickly. If it wasn’t for my internship I would have fallen on my face when I got my first job. If you have an opportunity to work, get paid, do what you love and be around good people, take the opportunity.” – Kristen Ashley, Artist Manager & Founder of 11/10 Management

“Follow your passion and find your champions! You are offering a service that can help mentor artists and industry professionals, which is such important work. Sometimes all it takes is a little encouragement!” – Leslie Fram, Senior VP of Music Strategy for CMT

“Figure out who you are at your core and stay true to that, and certainly, don’t let this industry change who you are. Trust and know at this moment you are exactly where you are supposed to be and if you continue to work with integrity and honesty, stay true to who you are, stand up for yourself and be good to people – there is nothing you can’t do.” – Ashley Eicher, Creator, Host, and Producer

“Don’t fuck anybody, that’s the first thing I’ll say. Don’t get involved with anybody romantically or sexually that you are in business with, its a huge mistake.” She also is heartfelt when she says to not lose your love for the music, for the reason you are in this business in the first place. “No matter what else happens and keep listening and keep looking for new stars.” – Susan Nadler, Shady Ladies of Music City

“My feeling is, you almost have to carve out your own space which is one of the reasons I always had my own company. Just be strong, don’t take the shit from anybody. People always said they were afraid of me or intimated by me because I always told the truth, why is that so scary? I think you just have to stand up for what you believe and if you do that, that will change the conversation.” – Evelyn Shriver, Shady Ladies of Music City

“Our industry is so small, networking is huge. The more you are around and people can see you and see what you do, I feel like that goes a long way, every opportunity I’ve gotten in Nashville has come from someone I’ve networked with.” She also highlights the importance of accepting that you won’t know everything and not being afraid to ask questions or to learn from others around you. – Jessica Valiyi, Digital Strategy for Sony Music Nashville

“That’s what I would tell young female creatives. If there is something that you have a little bit of an ego about, don’t be ashamed of that. That might be your self’s way of telling you what you should be putting your time and effort into. Your ego, if handled responsibly, can be your compass to what you should be doing with your time and creativity.” – Nicolle Galyon, Songwriter & President of Songs & Daughters

“I have had a really beautiful career because I’ve always followed the music and not the money. I can’t stress that enough if you follow great music, I think the money will come…I have joy in my life, I love my job and I work with incredible talent and the people that I work with are going to be the ones that my kids read about in the country music history books and I am proud of that.” – Brooke Antonakos VP of Red Creative Group

“Doing what you do, me and Cassie are good examples of that because before entering the workforce we were fangirls, being able to take that passion and understand that we were not just fans but consumers. There were plenty of other people just like us, people who we could also turn into consumers, and taking that understanding of why we were purchasing things and making a company out of it, we continue to be fans and we utilize that in our understanding. Studying your own habits led us into this company essentially.” – Cassie Petrey & Jade Driver Owners of Crowd Surf

“Figuring out what your talents are and finding a way to do that for good, finding what your passions are, find a place where you can use your heart and bring good no matter where you end up working, I think that was key for finding my career path,” – Jessica Turri St. Jude Country Cares

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SHOP THE HERO COLLECTION

The Hero Collection by NYCountry Swag is inspired by the men and women of the Fire, Police and Military Departments across the country. A portion of sales from each purchase is donated to different foundations that support our heroes. We are dedicated to honoring their service and remembering their sacrifice.

—————————-

Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here
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NYCS Woman of the Month Jessica Turri St. Jude Country Cares

November 19, 2019/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Christina Bosch

We’re bringing you stories from women who are chasing their dreams and building a life that they love with New York Country Swag’s, “Woman of the Month”.

Each month, we highlight a different female pursuing her passions. Introducing you to women who are taking risks, working relentlessly and turning their dreams into reality. These are empowering women who serve as role models and should be celebrated.

“We’ve come a long way but St. Jude has vowed to keep going until no family hears those words, “you have cancer”. We are all trying to work ourselves out of a job, that would be the best-case scenario is have to figure something else out to do.”

Over the past two years, we have interviewed so many inspiring women for this feature, but Jessica Turri has touched our lives and our hearts in a special way. To tell her story, we must go back to when she was nine years old and after a bunch of tests, she heard the dreaded words, “you have cancer” and was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. “I remember the moment when I heard it was cancer, I asked that stupid question, ‘Why Me?’ I remember laying on my bathroom floor and everything as I knew it was gone forever,” Turri explains. Her neighbor came over that night, who had struggled through childhood cancer herself, said “Why not you?” and that changed her outlook. “That was really monumental for me, so we started the next day, positive and I knew I had no choice but to make it through in the best way possible.”

125 weeks of chemotherapy absolutely put Turri and her entire family through ups and downs but St. Jude truly became a home, providing the best care and never sending her family, or any family for that matter a bill. She tells us about one special memory, about two years into her treatment during Country Cares, an event where Nashville’s biggest artists travel to Memphis to meet with patients and their families. “I was really sick, spending time by myself in the corner and this sweet little lady came to sit down with me and asked what where I was from and what I liked to do and she told me she was from Kansas, and long story short it ended up being Martina McBride.” After that day, she asked her dad if they could go to the library and check out her music, her favorite song being “Happy Girl”, a track that became her mantra and got her through those dark days. “St. Jude was the best thing that has ever happened to me, it’s strange to say that but the doctors and nurses became my family and we are still close to this day. It became a part of me and everything that I am,” she explains.

After finishing chemotherapy in 2000, Turri has gone on to live a full, amazing life she says. She went to school for broadcast journalism and after graduating college was a producer at the NBC affiliate in Nashville. She loved her job but felt there was a part of her that wasn’t being fulfilled, she was missing a big calling in her life. After participating in a benefit for St. Jude the CEO asked if she would ever consider “coming home” to work at St. Jude, twelve years after she was a patient there. “The opportunity became available to be able to give back, work for St. Jude and to do it in this city that I am so crazy about,” she tells us. “My dream job, basically.”

Currently, Turri works on the Country Cares Team for St. Jude, she works closely with the radio partners who run events benefitting the hospital and their research. She was a main component in the “This Shirt Saves Lives” campaign which is about to kick off its 3rd year. The Country Cares initiative came about 30 years ago when Randy Owen of Alabama stood up during Country Radio Seminar and rallied the country music community to come together and support the children of St. Jude and the mission they hold so dear.

Turri tells us that one of the best parts of her job is experiencing the beautiful moments between patients and artists behind the curtain, seeing how big the hearts are in this industry. “I get to see Luke Bryan go sit with a patient and invite him to a special experience, just to make that kids day,” she emotes. “It’s a full-circle moment for sure because that did change me because that happened to me as a child and it is really cool to get to witness that and see what it does to just bring bright spots to these families who are going through the darkest of times.”

Artist Russell Dickerson poses for photos in Nashville, Tenn, on Tuesday, November 12, 2019.

As usual, we ended our incredible conversation with any advice she has, for working towards a dream job or how to remain inspired in times of darkness. “Figuring out what your talents are and finding a way to do that for good, finding what your passions are, find a place where you can use your heart and bring good no matter where you end up working, I think that was key for finding my career path,” she explained.

Along with the wonderful team at St. Jude, Jessica Turri is working to change patient’s lives, the way her life was once changed. The money that is raised for St. Jude doesn’t only directly support the current patients and their families but also research labs that are constantly looking to not only cure cancer but other deadly diseases affecting our world. St. Jude shares their research freely with hospitals all over the country and has become a true resource for doctors who have run out of options and need extra help supporting children.

You can join the #ThisShirtSavesLives movement and get your own shirt at thisshirtsaveslives.org

To keep up with Jessica Turri follow along on Instagram.

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SHOP THE HERO COLLECTION

The Hero Collection by NYCountry Swag is inspired by the men and women of the Fire, Police and Military Departments across the country. A portion of sales from each purchase is donated to different foundations that support our heroes. We are dedicated to honoring their service and remembering their sacrifice.

—————————-

Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!

+ Follow our country music adventures on Instagram, Twitter & Facebook:

NYCS Woman of the Month: Cassie Petrey & Jade Driver Owners of Crowd Surf

October 16, 2019/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Christina Bosch

We’re bringing you stories from women who are chasing their dreams and building a life that they love with New York Country Swag’s, “Woman of the Month”.

Each month, we highlight a different female pursuing her passions. Introducing you to women who are taking risks, working relentlessly and turning their dreams into reality. These are empowering women who serve as role models and should be celebrated.

Cassie Petrey and Jade Driver

This month we are shining a spotlight on Cassie Petrey and Jade Driver, co-founders/owners of digital marketing, publicity, and management company Crowd Surf. “Crowd Surf is an artist marketing and management company that is focused on problem-solving and helping our clients accomplish their goals,” they tell us. “Our company is all about helping talent solve their problems, at first it was digital because nobody knew how to deal with digital, but over time we’ve evolved into so many different services and solving different problems, creating solutions that were realistic and in line with what our clients needed.”

Driver, who grew up in Richmond, Virginia was introduced to music at an early age, her parents would play music that was “clean” she explains, like The Monkees, The Partridge Family, and The Beatles. She laughs when explaining that she loved The Chipmunks, they were the first boyband that she became a big fan of. As she got older and her tastes evolved, she started listening to Debbie Gibson, New Kids On the Block and eventually, the Backstreet Boys. “I went to my guidance counselor in high school and told her I want to work for the Backstreet Boys and she told me that wasn’t possible but I told her I would figure it out, it took me a long time but I did,” she proudly states. She started running fan street teams from her bedroom, participating in show choir and eventually ended up at Middle Tennessee State University where she met Cassie Petrey.

Petrey, from Louisville, Kentucky wasn’t exposed to music until she was eleven or twelve years old. After her softball team in high school won the championship they all went to see the Backstreet Boys in concert and it’s safe to say from there she became a superfan. She worked at local radio stations, ran message boards and fansites, promoted local shows and even worked at management firms or local record labels. After a family member mentioned that she could major in music business, she became obsessed with the idea and applied to and got into Belmont University in Nashville, TN. Unfortunately, the reality of finances kicked in, and Petrey made the decision to go to the University of Lousiville instead. On her drive to the school for orientation, she pulled over, started to cry and realized that wasn’t the right decision for her. “I drove home and in the mail, that day had come to my house a letter about MTSU (Middle Tennessee State University) and it was a school I hadn’t even heard of at that point,” Petrey explains. “I changed where I was going to school and moved to Nashville to follow that path and that journey, and I am really grateful for that piece of mail if I didn’t get that I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Talking about fate and the universe leading you in the right direction, Driver and Petrey lived in the same dorm at college and after a trip to get tacos, a shared love for singing Backstreet Boys deep tracks, and a Wyoming cowboy love interest, they decided to become friends and eventually partners in business. While completing their degrees at MTSU, Driver was working for Radio Disney and Petrey was a Warner Music College Rep where she had the brilliant yet unheard of idea, to run MySpace pages for a living.

Social media and the general notion of artists having a social fan base and digital marketing was still super new at the time, but Petrey and Driver almost saw the future when creating their business. “The initial motivation for the company was, how do we get free tickets and hang out with boy bands,” Driver laughs. “We learned a lot being fans but then also trying to work for them, there was never a point where we said we wanted to start a business, we just sort of did it.”

Their first official retainer was with Capitol Nashville where they helped set up and run MySpace pages for artists such as Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Darius Rucker, Luke Bryan, Eric Church and more. Helping the record labels and the artists understand the social space, they were able to continue their little company and move on to pop acts such as Britney Spears and eventually, end up managing AJ McLean from Backstreet Boys, for sure a full circle moment for both women.

Now 12 years after officially starting their business they have a team of 50+ that work in conjunction via four offices nationwide (LA, Nashville, NYC) and they continue to evolve to help connect artists with their fans, managing artist’s careers, graphic design, video production and however they can artist’s help achieve their goals.

When we discuss what advice they have for people who are looking to fulfill either an entrepreneurial dream or just be in the music business, the two women actually explained their podcast, ‘How I Got Backstage’ where they feature influencers, artists, and executives, that join them to discuss the ins and outs of music industry. “Each guest develops their story, each story is so different, to get into the music or entertainment industry, there is no right or wrong path, it’s all different, it depends on your story and how much you want it and how much you want to work for it,” they tell us.

They also tell us two great pieces of advice. “Do what you do and always ask”.

“Doing what you do, me and Cassie are good examples of that because before entering the workforce we were fangirls, being able to take that passion and understand that we were not just fans but consumers,” they explain. “There were plenty of other people just like us, people who we could also turn into consumers, and taking that understanding of why we were purchasing things and making a company out of it, we continue to be fans and we utilize that in our understanding. Studying your own habits led us into this company essentially.”

“My boss at Radio Disney told me if you don’t ask you’re not going to get it but if you do ask, you might,” Driver tells us. “I was asking for tickets to Nick Carter’s concert and because I asked, I met and interviewed him, and in 2003 it was a huge deal and it proved to me that I could do things, I could meet and work with people that I admire and that was a big catalyst for me in understanding something that looked impossible and making it possible.”

Be sure to listen to their podcast, ‘How I Got Backstage’ and follow Crowd Surf on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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SHOP THE HERO COLLECTION

The Hero Collection by NYCountry Swag is inspired by the men and women of the Fire, Police and Military Departments across the country. A portion of sales from each purchase is donated to different foundations that support our heroes. We are dedicated to honoring their service and remembering their sacrifice.

—————————-

Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!

+ Follow our country music adventures on Instagram, Twitter & Facebook:

NYCS Woman of the Month: Brooke Antonakos VP of Red Creative Group

September 11, 2019/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Christina Bosch

We’re bringing you stories from women who are chasing their dreams and building a life that they love with New York Country Swag’s, “Woman of the Month”.

Each month, we highlight a different female pursuing her passions. Introducing you to women who are taking risks, working relentlessly and turning their dreams into reality. These are empowering women who serve as role models and should be celebrated.

Diving deeper to learn more about the country music industry, our next Woman of the Month is Vice President of RED Creative Group, Brooke Antonakos. Rainbow, Alabama native, she began her career in music as a performer at theme parks when she was 16 years old, continuing that each summer before college. Knowing she wanted to pursue a career in the industry, she headed to MTSU right outside of Nashville, originally looking to work on the A&R side of the business. One of her sorority sisters just happened to be Taylor Corlew, daughter of David Corlew, the longtime manager for Country Music Hall of Famer, Charlie Daniels. “I remember driving around with Taylor one night and I knew she wanted to be in the music industry too, so I asked her what she wanted to be and she told me ‘I want to be a song plugger’ and that was the first time that I had ever heard that term. She told me what it was, I was like well dang, I kind of want to be a song plugger too,” Antonakos tells us. After that conversation, her direction shifted from wanting to work on the label side of things to the publishing world.

While still in college she took an internship with GRAMMY U, a community of college students looking to work in the industry after they graduate. “I remember, the job paid 6 dollars an hour and I said ‘You can pay me 6 dollars an hour or I’ll pay you 6 dollars an hour, I want this job’,” she recalls. During her time as the Nashville recruiter for the Recording Academy, she worked closely with the who’s who in Nashville, coordinating events with artists and working behind the scenes. Once she graduated, she received a call from Carla Wallace of Big Yellow Dog, an independent music publishing and artist development company, explaining that there was a front desk job open and after nine months was promoted to Creative Director, officially starting her career and dreams of being a ‘song plugger’.

For those wondering a little bit about publishing and Antonakos’ specific job, essentially she signs songwriters to a deal where they get a salary to write music and the publishing house controls the copyright of the songs they write. She explains, “It’s our job to connect them with writers who a lot of times, do what they don’t do. If I have a lyricist or vocalist like Baker [Grissom], I would set him up with a track guy or producer to bring another element to what he does. I set up cowrites for our writers and then I take those songs and pitch them to producers, artists, and A&R people and heck sometimes someone’s hairdresser, any way you can get the song cut, you can do it,” she laughs. Eventually, when a song gets cut by an artist, the publisher gets a royalty off that song.

All of this is just a small part of the process of what goes into a song before it is released for listeners to hear across their speakers. In 2016, Antonakos joined award-winning producer/songwriter Jeremy Stover at RED Creative Group and they now have a team of eight writers/artists including Swag Spotlight alum, Travis Denning, Capitol Records Nashville recording artist, Adam Hambrick and one of our favorite new artist songwriters, Baker Grissom. She tells us how she is so proud of their team and how they get to celebrate each win together as a family. “I’m just so proud, the whole team feels the pride of the little engine that could, we always knew what we had but now the rest of the world is catching on and it’s fun,” she tells us.

When discussing her favorite parts of her job, Antonakos looks back at burning CDs when she was younger, something we laugh about, picking our favorite songs, adding them to the mixtape and writing with rainbow sharpies the titles. “I found a job that is making mixtapes and I think that is probably the most fun, putting together songs that I love, and taking them to people that have never heard them and then watching them react, it gets me high. I think sharing music is why we all got into this industry, to begin with.”

As usual, we end our conversation with her advice for anyone looking to break into the music industry. “My biggest thing that I’ve learned, over and over again, that is only more clear to me as the years go by is, leave no room for doubt, not an ounce. If you believe in something, choose that you are going to believe in that with all of your heart, don’t doubt yourself,” she says. “I’ve had confidence in rooms where I probably, shouldn’t have and at times when I was wrong, but confidence opened doors for me, even when I wasn’t 100% right. I think confidence goes so far in this business.” She also tells us: “I have had a really beautiful career because I’ve always followed the music and not the money. I can’t stress that enough, if you follow great music, I think the money will come…I have joy in my life, I love my job and I work with incredible talent and the people that I work with are going to be the ones that my kids read about in the country music history books and I am proud of that.” She helps songwriters and artists create their best work, songs that end up healing people all over the world. In encouraging others to live out their dreams, she is living out hers, their wins are her wins.

To follow along follow Brooke Antonakos on Instagram and to find out more about RED Creative Group click here.

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SHOP THE HERO COLLECTION

The Hero Collection by NYCountry Swag is inspired by the men and women of the Fire, Police and Military Departments across the country. A portion of sales from each purchase is donated to different foundations that support our heroes. We are dedicated to honoring their service and remembering their sacrifice.

—————————-

Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!

+ Follow our country music adventures on Instagram, Twitter & Facebook:

NYCS Woman Of The Month: Nicolle Galyon, Songwriter & President of Songs & Daughters

August 15, 2019/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Christina Bosch

We’re bringing you stories from women who are chasing their dreams and building a life that they love with New York Country Swag’s, “Woman of the Month”.

Each month, we highlight a different female pursuing her passions. Introducing you to women who are taking risks, working relentlessly and turning their dreams into reality. These are empowering women who serve as role models and should be celebrated.

Nicolle Galyon, small-town Sterling, Kansas native started off as a bonafide country superfan, driving 6 hours with her mother to catch The Dixie Chicks in concert and joining fan clubs in order to secure that coveted artist autograph. Today, she is not only a mega-hit songwriter, producer, and president of a brand new all-female label, Songs & Daughters, but she works day in and day out to remain authentic to and impress that little girl who used her fandom to follow her dreams.

Understanding how much time and dedication goes into being a superfan for a specific artist, or for a genre, really lit a fire under Galyon to make her way to Nashville for college. Attending Belmont University, she told family and friends back home that she wanted to work at a record label or manage an artist. In addition to majoring in Music Business, she gave piano lessons to kids, something she learned from an early age, which ultimately led her to work as an assistant. Before long, Galyon found herself sitting in the middle of Nashville guitar pulls filled with songwriters and artists who had publishing and record deals.

“I always knew who Hillary Lindsey, Brett James, and Craig Wiseman were, but it wasn’t until I sat in on a guitar pull that I really understood what that job was,” Galyon explains.

Once she started writing songs, she found herself terrified to perform them in front of anyone, something you must do in order to give your words any traction. After years of writing and honing in on her craft, she realized that writing something that she thought an artist would like or emulating what she heard on the radio was keeping her creativity in a box. It was three or four years into pursuing songwriting before she truly started writing songs for her, and those songs that showcased her honesty were some of the very first songs recorded by artists.

Since then, she’s written many hit songs including “Automatic” for Miranda Lambert, “Boy” for Lee Brice and “All The Pretty Girls” for Kenny Chesney. Most notably, Galyon contributed to co-writing the chart-topping song “Tequila” for Dan + Shay, which has gone on to win not only a Grammy award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance, but also both Single and Song of the Year at the 54th Academy of Country Music Awards.

Just last week, Galyon joined Dan + Shay on tour when they played in Chicago and for the very first time got to hear “Tequila” performed live by the duo. For the incredible highlights, and to see a glimpse of that fangirl moment, click here for her Instagram Stories.

Galyon tells us about that moment saying, “I am by no means too cool to be that superfan. When being a superfan is no longer fun for me, then I probably need to find another job because why go through all of this trouble, why endure all of the failure and all of the no’s if the yes isn’t going to be truly enjoyed as if you were still 17.”

Looking back, we asked Galyon if she could go back to her first few days being a songwriter what would she tell herself and she poetically says: “To trust myself more. I think that’s exclusive for me, but there is a time to listen and learn and that never ends. Whoever I am writing with tomorrow, I will learn something from them, whether they are a veteran songwriter or they are 19-fresh-off-the-bus, if you quit learning from people you quit evolving and you take yourself out of the game because you have to change and evolve.”

We discuss how her roles are now changing as she steps into a new position as label head and president of Songs & Daughters, an all-female label in partnership with Big Loud Records. She says it’s a little like being a senior in high school again, in the best way, “I was the girl that would go play volleyball but right after the game I would grab my yearbook camera and take pictures of the football team, then I would go play saxophone in the pep band and I thrived when I had that much going on,” she laughs.

“Now that I am at this part in my career it’s very natural for me to be in a writing room, but then step out and approve a music video in a bathroom then jump back in, finish a song, then do an interview in the pick up line while I am getting my kids and to me that’s thriving, it makes me feel alive and always a little bit nervous and that makes me feel good.”

Her success as a songwriter has brought her to this next phase of her career, but one thing remains certain, she is a creative and will always be a songwriter first. Her flagship artist is Madison Kozak, a rising female singer-songwriter that we have loved for the past few months with her songs “Graduation Day” and her first single to radio, “First Last Name”.

Galyon explains that she is excited to help develop Kozak’s career, “I want to know what it feels like to stand back and really propel someone else because there is only so much of that gratification that I can get by bringing attention to my self and my own achievements. It really feels like there is a whole pool of goodness that I get to dive into when I extend it to other people.” She hopes to guide Kozak in wanting to push herself and bet on herself, always remaining true to the person and artist that she is.

One of the things Galyon claims has guided her through this career in the music business is her way of decision making. She has learned to ask herself what would she tell her daughter to do or ask for if she was brave enough to want something. Charlie, who is now six years old plays an active role in the music industry, attending number one parties and standing side stage taking it all in. She gets to see the glitz and glamour as well as the hard work that her mother puts in to create the life she always dreamed of.

“I feel like I always want all of the parts of my life, that I love, to feed into each other. It’s too hard to compartmentalize,” she explains. “It’s beautiful for Charlie to get to listen to new mixes in the backseat and her to tell me what her favorite song of Madison’s is. It’s really cool to be at a Madison show and Madison dancing in a corner with Charlie. I like it when the lines are blurred between personal life and work a little bit, because I can’t turn my heart on and off, that way I don’t have to, I just keep my heart on in every room I go in.”

As usual, we finish our conversation by asking what advice our Woman of the Month would give to any young people looking to pursue a career in the music industry and boy did she deliver some prolific enlightenment. “My advice is to trust yourself and trust your taste, I think that’s really what creativity is. One thing that I would tell Charlie is that, if there is something you have a little bit of an ego or an opinion about, follow that, that’s how I got here as a songwriter. I always had an opinion about what song I wanted to come out as the next single. I always had an opinion about what the cover of a record should look like, even at a very young age,” Galyon says.

“That’s what I would tell young female creatives. If there is something that you have a little bit of an ego about, don’t be ashamed of that. That might be your self’s way of telling you what you should be putting your time and effort into. Your ego, if handled responsibly, can be your compass to what you should be doing with your time and creativity.”

To keep up with Nicolle Galyon follow her on Instagram. For everything about her new record label follow ‘Songs & Daughters’ on Instagram and Facebook.

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Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!

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