How to Fail Successfully

Jamie Floyd

Artist, Songwriter

In this session of How To Fail Successfully, I have a conversation with singer-songwriter, Jamie Floyd as she discusses how she went from losing her first record deal as a teenager to eventually working her way back up to the top with many bumps and bruises along the way.

Who is Jamie?

Jamie grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida, surrounded by a family full of professional musicians from New York. The collision of the two worlds made for an interesting array of musical influences that naturally show up in her songs, unique style of guitar playing, and her singing. Her parents, Tom & JoAnn Floyd (two full-time musicians who have had a successful band based in South Florida for the last 35 years), introduced her to an eclectic collection of legendary musicians in country, jazz, and blues, including George Strait, George Benson, James Taylor, Trisha Yearwood, Linda Ronstadt, and Bonnie Raitt. To this day Jamie’s roots are anchored in the traditions founded by these legendary songwriters, guitarists, and interpreters.

Jamie began singing and performing regularly with her parents, playing society gigs in Palm Beach, starting at the age of 2. At 11 years old she began recording, which soon led to the negotiation of her first record and publishing deal with Ric Wake and Epic Records in New York. She spent her teenage years co-writing and performing with Nashville’s most sought-after songwriters and musicians. At 18, she made the move to Nashville. While pursuing her artist career, Jamie has been a successful staff songwriter for several independent and major Nashville and California-based publishers. In 2013, she started writing exclusively for her own publishing company, Jamie Floyd Music. Most recently, she penned the title track to Warner Brothers Nashville recording artist Ashley Monroe’s brand new 2016 Grammy-nominated album: “The Blade” (co-written with legendary songwriters Allen Shamblin and Marc Beeson). Ashley’s heartfelt version was named, “one of the top songs of 2015” by NPR Music and The New York Times. The track also features country superstar Miranda Lambert and was produced by Vince Gill and Justin Neibank. Jamie also co-wrote, “Mississippi Flood” which was featured on Season 3 & 4 of ABC’s NASHVILLE. The song is performed by Hayden Panettiere’s character (“Juliette Barnes”) and is available on the NASHVILLE Season 3 Vol. 2 Soundtrack.

Jamie has written songs for many artists in both Pop and Country Music over the years, including Ronnie Dunn of the legendary duo Brooks & Dunn, R&B superstar Brian McKnight, and upcoming country and pop acts Kellie Pickler, Natalie Stovall & The Drive, Lucie Silvas and Australian country music superstars Jasmine Rae, The McClymonts & Kristy Cox. Her songwriting success has also translated to film and television, where her work has appeared in hit shows Finding Carter (MTV), NASHVILLE (ABC), The Client List (Lifetime), and Beauty & The Beast (CW Network). She also penned original music for the TV movie Manson’s Lost Girls (Lifetime) and the finale and additional music performed by Brian McKnight in Dolly Parton’s Christmas movie, A Country Christmas Story.

Jamie is currently writing and recording the soundtrack for an upcoming major motion picture, in which she also appears. In addition, she will be featured in THE LAST SONGWRITER an upcoming documentary that chronicles the dire challenges songwriters face in the age of streaming alongside some of the industry’s most legendary songwriters, including Garth Brooks, Jason Isbell, Emmylou Harris, Matraca Berg, Tony Arata, Allen Shamblin, Lee Thomas Miller, Jim Lauderdale and Tom Douglas.

Devine Evans

The creative programmer and sound designer behind the biggest touring acts like Justin Timberlake, The Chainsmokers, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Rhianna and so many more.

In this session of How To Fail Successfully, I have a conversation with multi-talented musician Devine Evans as he discusses how he went from leaving his career in the medical field to working his way into his first big break with Mary J. Blige.

Who is Devine?

Devine Evans has been a dominant figure in the music industry for over 20 years.  Starting in Atlanta under the watchful eye of Left Eye Productions, Evans is now a 5x Grammy Award-winning producer, Songwriter/engineer, Emmy Nominated Composer (The New Edition Story)  who has worked with many of the world’s biggest recording artists and musicians including The Chain Smokers, Janet Jackson, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Pharrell Williams, Lady Gaga, Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nico & Vinz, Hans Zimmer, and Selena Gomez.  Evans received his most recent Grammy for his work on Pharrell Williams’ live version of the Billboard hit song “Happy”.

Over the past 10 years, Evans has worked on some of the biggest tours in music.  Recently, working with The Chain Smokers, Bebe Rexha, Charlie Puth, The Roots (2017 NBA Allstar performance), Tim McGraw and Faith Hills Soul 2 Soul tour, Janet Jackson’s Unbreakable World Tour, Rihanna’s Diamonds World Tour, Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience Tour (Now available on Netflix), and Pharrell Williams’ Dear Girl Tour.

Evans’ work in televised performances includes programming and sound design for Beyoncé’s 2013 Super Bowl Halftime performance.  He is set to break into the film industry with his work on the upcoming film as a composer for BET’s Emmy Nominated Mini-Series The New Edition Story as well as Lycan, starring Dania Ramirez (Entourage, Devious Maids, X-Men), for which he scored and provided original sound design.

Outside of music, Evans focuses on positively impacting the music industry as well as his community by way of creative projects like his first book Sheet Music: The Diary of a Songwriter, which aims to shed light on the sexual injustices female artists can encounter while chasing their dream of a career in the music industry.  In an effort to empower these women, Sheet Music shares the stories of a variety of female artists’ personal experiences as well as general advice on how to cope with and safeguard themselves against such abuse and injustice.

Robbie Daymond

The voice of Spider-Man, Tuxedo Mask, and many many others.

In this session of How To Fail Successfully, I have a conversation with actor Robbie Daymond as he discusses how he went from failing speech and acting in college to ultimately winning the job as Peter Parker in Marvel’s Spider-Man.

Who is Robbie?

Robbie is an actor mostly known for providing voices for cartoons, Japanese anime, audiobooks, and video games. He voices lead character SwaySway in the Nickelodeon cartoon Breadwinners, Blake Myers in the Nick cartoon Get Blake!. He also voices the title character in Marvel’s Spider-Man, which aired on Disney XD in 2017.[2] In anime and video games he voices Tuxedo Mask in the Viz re-dub of Sailor Moon, Mumen Rider in One-Punch Man, Sorey in Tales of Zestiria, Joe Kido in Digimon Adventure tri. and Prompto Argentum in Final Fantasy XV.

Corey Conrad

The “Ari Gold” of Sales and Strategic Alliance for Caruso.

In this session of How To Fail Successfully, I have a conversation with Corey Conrad as he discusses how he failed through several areas in his life but each time pivoted and eventually found success once he stumbled into the world of sales.

With more than 10 years of experience in luxury sales, partnerships, branding, sponsorships, marketing, and experiential activations, Corey Conrad offers a solutions-based management style that has propelled his career. He has had the privilege of working with a multitude of high-profile clients including Hublot, LVMH, Bentley, Pandora, GQ, American Express, Danone, Pernod Ricard, Morgan Stanley, Alessi, Assouline, VanDutch Yachts, Audi, Tom Ford, Aston Martin, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, and BMW, among many others.

Corey’s Favorite Quote 

“Every man dies, not every man truly lives”

Books

The FIRST book Corey read as a child helped shaped his life.

Danny the Champion of the World

Tom Massmann

Body double, stunt double, and actor on CBS’s show Scorpion.

In this session of How To Fail Successfully, I have a conversation with actor Tom Massmann as he discusses how he went from making local commercials in Colorado to jumping through windows on a hit TV show. Tom walks us through two of his darkest moments and how he was able to fight through them.

Tom Massmann is an actor, stuntman, writer, producer, and director, who has worked in the film and television industry for well over 3 decades.  He was the founder of Reel Focus Productions in the early 2000s where he produced and directed award-winning television commercials, long-form videos, and even an Emmy nominated TV special.

He is now a stunt double, body double, and actor on the CBS show Scorpion.

Books

If anyone is struggling with the loss of a loved one, Tom recommends this book below.

The Year of Magical Thinking

When I first started the podcast, I was bad. The people weren't bad, I was not as polished as an interviewer. To save everyone some time, I edited some of my highlights into this one episode. 

I hope you enjoy!