We are going to learn from Amanda Mester, PR and journalism professional. She is an entrepreneur, an academic, a writer, and a scholar. She has worked with a plethora of musicians in the NOLA music industry community especially the hip hop space. Amanda also went from living in NYC to discovering the music culture in NOLA. She is going to provide great advice and we will quiz her on hip hop trivia and we will learn more about music industry journalism. Right now, she is also pursuing her PHD in the creative arts at the University of New Orleans. Amanda is the founder of Under The Sun, a creative agency, The Gentilly Agency and co-founder of Jazz Crawl, a live event and digital media company.

Welcome back Media Industry Guru Fanatics on another epic episode. Today we are going to learn all things about film. Here I am with Yolanda Macias and she is the chief content officer and head of sales and marketing for Cinedigm. Cinedigm is an entertainment film company that specializes in digital cinema, streaming channels, content marketing, and distribution. She grew up in sunny Los Angeles from a bilingual and bicultural family, went to public school, and received her MBA from Northwestern University. Yolanda is also on the Board of Directors for Sketchers. We will talk about her greatest achievements both personally and professionally and the advice that she gives to 20-year-olds navigating the entertainment business. We will hear all this from a C-Suite executive. We will also get to learn about her philanthropic work, her goals, and her advice that she gives to aspiring media professionals who want to be entrepreneurial like herself. 

Today I have an MBA graduate who prior to pursuing his MBA he started working at CAA, then went into artist management and then into booking and touring at APA. He started his MBA in fall of 2020 due to COVID and has been very open minded and inquisitive. He is also an artist on the side and grew up on an island. Here, Gabriel Berenson will describe what it's like going to business school, his tips and advice on being a generalist and his experience working in the agency world and transferring his skills in tech.

In this episode, I’m here with a music industry professional who works in the events operation space at festivals including Buku and EDC the Electric Daisy Carnival in Vegas, venues such as the Republic while even interning at Lib Management. He is an extreme formula 1 race car fan, is “type five”, alert, and curious to learn. One of his inspirational artists is G-Space. Here, Devyn will explain his background growing up in Louisiana studying the music business and then going from festival to festival working on event production and learning every single part about the operation side of a festival. 

Have you heard the artist Sara Bareilles' most iconic song Love Song. I’m not gonna sing it since I haven’t warmed up my vocal cords and I’m not a professional singer but I’m here with an artist whose inspiration is Sara Barellies. She also looks up to Carly Pearce and Carole King. She is an independent singer/songwriter and we went to the same high school (Go Chargers!) She has performed at one of the most well-known venues called the Canyon Club in the sunny Agoura Hills area where even artists such as Pat Benatar, Smash Mouth, Linkin Park have performed there. Some of her songs have over 100,000 streams on Spotify and 34,000 monthly listeners and is very proactive as an artist. Let’s welcome Sami Siteman where we will hear about her songwriting process and we'll get to the opportunity to listen to one of her popular songs, Body Heat.

Credits:

Body Heat:

Artist, Management, and Lyrics: Sami Siteman

Production: Vittorio Iuè, Sami Siteman

Label: Self-released

Here is Aaron Raus. He just started his career as a music professional in the music industry but is a creator and founder of the non-profit called THE FAM, a music industry platform. He started this as a class project and then he took the idea and made it into a club. Now THE FAM has 501c3 status. He is also a Junior Account Manager at Top Drawer Merch, working in a multitude of hats within the music industry and held 4 internships while at USC (including at Live Nation). We are going to hear his college experience, his creation of THE FAM, and his inspiration for being entrepreneurial and the tools and tips that he has given to members of his organization to be creators, leaders, and pioneers in the music industry.

Here he is, the brother of Bruce B Godorn (Season 2, Episode 8 –https://bit.ly/3PV8ve7). He has been involved in the creative side of the music industry, as a music producer, singer, songwriter, saxophonist and entertainment executive. He has worked at Sony/BMG and also played on 4 Gold records with Ray Parker Jr. & Raydio on Arista). He was born in Detroit & mentored by an NBA Hall of Famer, Dave Bing before moving to L.A. This is where Andrew Woolfolk of Earth Wind and Fire & Ray Parker Jr. mentored him. He also appeared in Prince’s Partyman video. Now, we will get more insight about his day-to-day life, what he says about the DSP (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) side of the music industry, and his eclectic experience working with some iconic artists. We will also hear two of his songs that he co-produced and sang including Every Day & Night & A Woman.

Everyday & Night

Artist: Horatio Gordon

Management: Horatio Gordon

Production & Songwriters: Darryl Rainey, Bruce B. Gordon, & Horatio H. Gordon

Label: Unreleased

A Woman

Artist: Horatio Gordon feat. Kacey the Songbird

Management: Horatio Gordon

Production & Songwriters: Horatio H. Gordon and Bruce B. Gordon

Label: Unreleased

Hello, hello, hello. Are you looking for career resources ways to break into the entertainment industry and especially the music industry? Here I have a guest with me who has had her CNA license for over 7 years and has worked in a Pediatric Oncology Unit. She has transitioned to the music industry and has landed a job through her creating a career platform and building a community of like-minded individuals called Music Industry Entryway. She is a 2020 graduate from Florida Golf Coast and was formerly the Assistant to the CEO at Degy. Here, she will provide wisdom and a plethora of resources to others about the music industry. She been featured on numerous industry panels and podcasts sharing tips on how to break into the industry. 

AND...another great episode of finding your path within the Media Industry hosted by Forbs West. Today we are going to chat about the non-profit side of the music business especially in New Orleans. I have an entrepreneur on the line who connects creatives with resources to pursue their dreams in music. She has secured 501c3 status for her business and received a major grant from both the Jazz and Heritage Foundation and the State of Louisiana to help local musicians rebound professionally from COVID-19 setbacks. By the way, she has not one, not two, but three incredible businesses entitled Love Notes Music Group, Love Notes Music & Arts Foundation, and The Little Brown Basket, a customized gift baskets business for her music clients. We are going to hear about how to get grants for non-profits within the music industry, her educational background, and the advice that she gives to people in their early careers who want to work in the entrepreneurial non-profit side of the music industry.

BONUS EPISODE! Want to learn more about the live events space? Here is Gabriel Tejada and he has been working in the live events arena for over 7 years. He is working full-time as a Back of House Operations Manager at Insomniac Events. Here, he deals with everything the fan does not see. Staffing Relations, Load in/out operations, credential operations, Staff Catering Operations and as well as dealing with our entire Artist World Operations (Artist Relations, Artist Hospitality, Artist Transportation). Prior to working full-time at Insomniac, he has worked at numerous festivals including: Rolling Loud, Dirtybird, Vibra Urbana, Imagine Music Festival, Baja Beach Festival, and insomniac events. We are going to learn about his experience working in the live events space, the pros/cons, and his advice that he can give to college students or people in their early 20s wanting to find their craft within the entertainment industry.