JoJamie Hahr, VP Marketing, BBRMG
JoJamie Hahr, Vice President of Marketing for BBR Music Group is our June Woman of the Month. She is a sparkling light in this world, always encouraging women to be true to themselves and proving that the hustle and always working hard pays off.
Growing up in a tiny town outside of Orlando, Hahr recalls music always being a part of her life in one aspect or another. She sang in chorus all throughout school, even singing in a band in high school, and somehow knew that she would end up working in the industry in some capacity. “I never thought I was going to be an artist, but I just knew I loved music. I was really just a huge country music fan, we weren’t allowed to change the station in my dad’s truck, it was always country,” she tells us.
Graduating high school early with college credits in tow, Hahr attended the University of Central Florida, jumping right into her major courses which included public relations and advertising. She started interning for a country music radio station in Orlando, K92 FM and learning that side of the business. “I didn’t realize at first there was a business behind the music. I just knew I was a fan and I loved the music and the artists,” Hahr says. “So from there I interned and went to school, I worked part-time at the radio station, 30 hours a week, and then worked two other jobs just to pay all of my bills and get through school.” Her hustle and determination were evident early on, proving she was going to do whatever it took to make her dreams come true.
Making the move to Nashville when she was twenty-three years old, with six years of marketing and promotions already under her belt, she worked for WSIX Big 98 running their promotions department. Jimmy Harnen, the Executive Vice President of Big Machine Label Group and President of Big Machine Records, became an important mentor to Hahr early on in her career giving her some crucial advice. “I had decided I wanted to work at a record label and I wanted to be a regional promotion rep, so he told me in your spare time, you need to think about what you would do if you were a regional for a specific label, come up with ideas as if you were already in the job and then send them to the labels,” she tells us. The fear of rejection and being told her ideas were not good enough did not stop her from sending a new idea for each major label every Friday for eight months. This eventually landed her a job as a promotion coordinator for MCA Records.
Working hard, networking, and making connections through the industry ultimately helped her reach her goal of working alongside artists and fans at Broken Bow Records as their Vice President of Marketing. Today, she manages marketing for the four imprints that are under Broken Bow Music Group including Red Bow Records, Broken Bow Records, Stoney Creek Records, and Wheelhouse Records. With twenty-four artists on those rosters, her days are filled with meetings and she travels quite a bit with the artists helping to promote their brand and their new music. The labels are home to stars such as Jason Aldean, Dustin Lynch, Granger Smith, Chase Rice, Jimmie Allen, Lindsey Ell and more.
One of the most cherished parts of her job is watching an artists’ rise to fame, being there with them and their fans from the ground up. “I have become great friends with some of the loyal fans that have come out to all of our shows and knowing that the music has changed their lives,” she tells us. “I think something I love most about my job is I might be the closest a fan will get to an artist, maybe they’ll never get to meet an artist, I just love interacting with the fans, because if it wasn’t for the fans, I wouldn’t have a job. I wouldn’t get to do what I get to do.”
Photo Courtesy of @JoJamie on Instagram
Becoming close with the fans is an important part of the job for many reasons, learning to see what makes them tick, what they want to see and hear from an artist helps to make the job of marketing run smoother. When we discuss what a day in the life of JoJamie Hahr looks like she explains she splits her career into two aspects, being on the road or being in the office. Being on the road with an artist could mean taking them on a radio tour, or working an album release week. “I think it’s funny when people think our job is glamorous, that is not a word I would ever use to describe our job, I would say fun, inspiring, cool, but glamorous it is not,” she laughs. You can often find her relishing in her trips to New York City, a town that she loves almost as much as Nashville. When she is in the office, her door is almost never closed, working closely with the work-family she has at BBR to help the artists’ dreams come true. This year alone, her label will have sixteen brand new records being released, something that she will have a hand in every creative aspect of.
JoJamie Hahr with Shazam’s Debra Herman and NYCountry Swag’s Christina Bosch & Stephanie Wagner
When we discuss any lessons that she might have for young people just getting their start in this industry she imparts three exceptional pieces of advice. 1. Be Fearless. Don’t be afraid to be shot down, ignored or told you aren’t good enough, because those things will happen, but you must push passed the failure. 2. Outwork Everyone In The Room. Always be the person who is willing to stay late, you make yourself valuable with how hard you work. “If you want to be in this business you better love, sleep, eat and breathe it because there is no downtime, it’s constant,” she explains. 3. Be Yourself. Being authentic and putting yourself out there is so important. “It’s very hard in this business to feel like you can’t be yourself, because you are going to be judged harshly. I have found through my career especially with social media, people are going to love you or not and it’s okay if they don’t, they don’t have to like you, but the people that love you are going to stick around and they will love you for who you are.” Being able to express yourself and find a tribe of people that accept you for you is something Hahr cherishes in her life.
“I encourage girls growing up in this business to be able to express themselves however they want because what really matters is how hard you work, how kind you are to people, how honest you are and not about what you are wearing or how you portray yourself.”
Follow JoJamie’s adventures on her Instagram account, @JoJamie.
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