Young Entertainment Professionals

We were lucky enough to get an hour with two of the busiest, most hard working young songwriters in town - Mary Kutter & Brian Alexander! Together, this team is navigating the TikTok world, sync opportunities, and potential publishing deals. And they really figured it out! Sometimes all it takes is a little slide into the dm’s…

We're kicking off our 5th season with an amazing content creator, comedian, author, actress, and entrepreneur - Kierra Lewis! In this episode we talk about what it's like making new friends in Nashville, getting banned from TikTok, and being "delusional." 

This episode was pre-recorded earlier this month at one of our live YEP Edu Panels, which took place at HOME: Nashville’s first and only 24/7 community for music and media production. They were generous enough to host some of our educational panels this year and we were immensely impressed by the space. Part 2 of our live recording features Libby O, who is our host of the YEP podcast and her own podcast The Libby O Show. We’ve also got our YEP Director of Events Zak Kuhn on the mic, you may know him from the Nashville Briefing and of course The Zak Kuhn Show. This panel also features Matt Burrill from In The Round a podcast and weekly show series at Live Oak, and Tamone Bacon from The State of Black Music which is tied to the new Museum of African American Music on 5th and Broadway. Special thanks to Caroline Hodson for moderating this live recording!

This episode was pre-recorded earlier this month at one of our live YEP Edu Panels, which took place at HOME: Nashville’s first and only 24/7 community for music and media production. They were generous enough to host some of our educational panels this year and we were immensely impressed by the space. Part 1 of our live recording features Libby O, who is our host of the YEP podcast and her own podcast The Libby O Show. We’ve also got our YEP Director of Events Zak Kuhn on the mic, you may know him from the Nashville Briefing and of course The Zak Kuhn Show. This panel also features Matt Burrill from In The Round a podcast and weekly show series at Live Oak, and Tamone Bacon from The State of Black Music which is tied to the new Museum of African American Music on 5th and Broadway. Special thanks to Caroline Hodson for moderating this live recording! 

Celebrity Makeup Artist Katrina Brooks may have grown up in a small town in New Hampshire, but she knew she was meant to work in the glamorous world of film and entertainment. She moved across country to Los Angeles to attend the Makeup Designory in 2010 and has been working as a freelance makeup artist for the last decade in both Los Angeles and Nashville. Whether she is getting a Presidential Candidate ready for live television or a Country Music star for the red carpet, she brings her positive, energetic spirit to every job. Although she mainly works in beauty and grooming, she has extensive training in Special Effects and loves to get her hands dirty for film and television. She excels with period piece hair and makeup and enjoys working with other creatives to bring every team’s vision to life.

Lexy Burke is a TikTok personality known for giving back to the Nashville community through her viral account, The Serial Tipper. She is also the CEO of Ranch Hands Nashville’s Original Cowboylesque and the Nashville Original Bachelorette House along with her husband and artist Austin Burke. She began her career as a videographer and award-winning filmmaker straight out of college. She has been seen on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Ellen, Dr Oz, GMA, and NBC Nightly News.

Nora Collins brings a confident and youthful originality to country music – a style she describes as “fun, flirty, relatable and honest.”  The Wisconsin native has been performing since she was a teenager, playing over 200 self booked shows a year and picking up multiple Best of Milwaukee awards as female vocalist and best acoustic musician. She moved to Nashville in 2016 after securing a songwriting and artist development deal with MV2 Entertainment. She released her new EP in November 2018 with producer Marshall Altman (Natasha Bedingfield, Amy Grant, Frankie Ballard, Eric Paslay). The first single from that project, “Who Knows Who,” gained attention from CMT and Radio Disney. Her current single “Plain Jane” features backing vocals by Vince Gill. Her music has already gained the attention of Billboard, Rolling Stone Country, CMT, Radio Disney, Taste of Country & more. ] Nora has opened many shows for acts such as Tim McGraw, Dustin Lynch, Kelsea Ballerini, Ashley McBryde, & Jon Pardi, just to name a few. She recently released her latest single “Vegas” and had her first billboard advertisement in Nashville. She is currently in the studio with Forest Glenn Whitehood( K. Ballerini) working on her next project!

Cooper Smith is a director and videographer based in Nashville, TN! In this episode we chat about his work with Sam Hunt, Connor Smith, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, and more! Cooper shares his best advice on building relationships in the industry, how YEP influenced his career thus far, and why taking every opportunity is grow your craft is so important. 

Matt Zahn is the Director of Digital Marketing at Morris Higham Management. Matt shares his background in marketing within the live production industry, how to bounce back from career changes and what he enjoys most about the country music community!