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 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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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!

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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:

Woman of the Month: Susan Nadler

May 30, 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.

Photo By: Anna Webber/Getty Images for 2017 ACM Honors

This month we interviewed an icon in the music business in Nashville, Susan Nadler. Nadler who is 72 years young is one of the Shady Ladies of Music City, a new podcast premiering next week. Along with Evelyn Shriver, the two women infiltrated the music business in the 1980s and 1990s, becoming the first women to ever run a music label, Asylum Records. In our hilarious phone call, Nadler is honest about her life, being a woman in the industry and gives some of the best advice to young girls who are following this dream.

Nadler took us back to the days growing up in Pittsburgh, to her journey to Israel, running a popcorn stand in Key West, and eventually making her way to Music City to further her love and respect for the music business. As a child, she recalls playing the flute, her sisters playing the piano and the violin and there always being music in the house. She loved R&B, listening under the covers at night to a tiny transistor radio that her father gifted her. “It was a great way to grow up, music was a huge part of my life,” she says.

She recalls going to see Bob Dylan and Joan Baez in concert, “Bob Dylan and Joan Baez were two of the first that I ever heard that made me fall in love with folk music, I still loved R&B but I got to hear so many different kinds of music, I was pretty lucky,” she tells us. “I used to go to the record store on Fridays, there was a place called the National Record Mart, and I would buy 45s every Friday.” Still, to this day, she explains that she is the only person she knows who still goes on Amazon to buy CDs from artists that she loves.

To say her life before Nashville was unconventional is quite the understatement, over the years between growing up in Pittsburgh and marrying a songwriter in Tennesee, Nadler lived in Israel, was busted for smuggling drugs, spent time in a jail in Mexico and owned a popcorn stand outside of a bar in Key West, Florida that was popular for its drag shows.

After marrying her second husband who had written the popular song for Glen Campbell, “Dreams of the Everyday Housewife” she started writing for The Tennessean, and sort of fell into public relations in the music industry. “I met all of these incredible songwriters, they all got along great and they all played their music together, they weren’t so competitive, they were really friendly,” she tells us. She worked closely with Tammy Wynette, stating she was the most generous person she had ever met in Nashville. “She was just unbelievable when I first started working for her, I didn’t have a dime, Tammy and her husband offered me money if I needed help to get into the music business,” she recalls. She managed Lorrie Morgan before meeting Evelyn in 1988 and the two of them teamed up to run Asylum Records, making them the first females to ever run a major Nashville label. They went on to sign George Jones and help him release his Grammy-winning album Cold Hard Truth. She explains how it was tough being women in that industry because the men who were running everything weren’t thrilled with them being in that position.

We discussed what a day in the life looked like during those years and she explained: “Every day there was stuff going on, there were number one parties all of the time, people coming to pitch us songs, where you don’t want to take the time out to listen to it, but you never know who you’ll hear,” Nadler says. “Every day was very busy, it was really fast-paced, we were hard-pressed to keep up with it all.”

As two women who were pioneering the way for others over the past four decades, Nadler and Shriver have seen many changes in the music business over the years but Nadler says one thing that hasn’t really changed “the boys run the city and they run the business”. Explaining she feels there are a few women who have broken in but that most of the time, women are too nervous to fight for what they want.

As far as advice, she simply laughs and says “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.”

Nadler still resides in Nashville and is getting ready for the release of the podcast Shady Ladies of Music City. She also loved poetry as she was growing up, and always thought that she would become a writer, which eventually she did, becoming a published author of three books, all available here on Amazon.com.

The first episode of Shady Ladies of Music City will be released on June 4th but you can listen to minisodes now about Evelyn and Susan below. Check back next month when we will feature Evelyn as our June Woman of the Month.

Follow the Shady Ladies of Music City on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here
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and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!

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NYCS Woman of the Month: Basak Kizilisik

August 22, 2018/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Christina Bosch

“The music is the reason I am in this business, music changes lives, one song can alter the course of a life and I believe that wholeheartedly.”

Each month we focus on one woman working in the music industry to highlight her journey, ask for advice and to showcase the difference women are making in the music business. For August we turn our attention to Basak Kizilisik, Vice President of Marketing for Morris Higham Management, a boutique management firm in Nashville, representing Kenny Chesney, Old Dominion, Michael Ray, Ryan Griffin, Walker County, and Brandon Lay. In a recent interview with New York Country Swag, Kizilisik explains how her untraditional, round about upbringing landed her in Nashville.

Born in Turkey and spending her childhood there until she was four years old, she recalls her grandmother telling her stories about how she knew from an early age that she was going to grow up to have an intimate relationship with music. “She found me glued to the TV and the local symphony was on, I was standing three feet away from the TV swaying to the sound of the symphony and that is how she would calm me down,” she tells us. Her father was a surgeon and they traveled during her childhood, living in Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Memphis, ultimately moving to Nashville where she finished high school. She attended college in Orlando but her love for Nashville had already seeped in. “I fell in love with Nashville, as most people nowadays do, I fell in love with the town, the culture the people and the music I fell in love with all of it,” Kizilisik explains.

After graduating college she worked for Shaun Silva, a prominent director, and video music producer who asked her on her very first day to drop off tapes to Kenny Chesney’s home. She remembers how genuine Chesney treated her, even though he didn’t have to. After her internship with Silvas ended, she worked for a publishing company, a startup label, and the digital marketing world. “I made it my goal to learn about every single facet of the business, knowing that eventually I would want to take those skill sets and apply them in management with my own artists and that is what I did, I couldn’t have planned my path, I don’t think I could have planned it, it’s extremely difficult to do in this business.”

Working for clients such as Lady Antebellum, Eric Church, Dierks Bentley for Capitol Records and then eventually UMG working closely on George Strait’s 60 for 60 Campaign, she dove head first into the digital marketing strategy including working towards the Entertainer of the Year win for Strait in 2014. After that accomplishment, she got a call from Morris Higham, a boutique management firm, offering her an incredible position to oversee the digital marketing department and growing their team’s reach. “I am so grateful to be in a position where I can truly mold the marketing of this company and of our roster into whatever it needs,” Kizilisik tells us.

When listing for us her day to day responsibilities, there is almost no part of the music industry that she isn’t involved in when it comes to her roster. From managing digital strategy and social media content to collaborating with the streaming sites to album planning and marketing to touring and album launches, she has the chance to oversee every aspect of an artist’s career and work very closely with the artists and their teams. One of her biggest full circle moments came when accepting the job with Morris Higham, she had the ability to work with Kenny Chesney so many years after first meeting him on her first day on the job right out of college. “It is honestly one of the biggest honors of my life,” she says of the country megastar. “I can hand on heart say Kenny Chesney is everything that you’d hope that he is, and then some, all of it is completely authentic and genuine. There is a reason that he is where he is in his career and there is a reason that he has been able to accomplish what he has accomplished, the man leads with his heart in everything that he does and it’s just evident in all of it.”

Her advice to young women wanting to pursue a career in the music industry is: “Surround yourself with the people that fire you up, that lift you up, that fuel you and that build you up in every sense of the term.” She makes it a point to meet with young people that reach out to her to help guide them in this industry. “This business can be the wild west in a lot of ways and my advice is to work as hard as you can and lift people up whenever you can.

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Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here
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NYCountry Swag Woman of the Month: JoJamie Hahr

June 18, 2018/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Christina Bosch

JoJamie Hahr, VP Marketing, BBR Music Group

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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Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
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