Media Industry Guru

Here we have a bonus episode. We are with Ava Della Pietra. Ava Della Pietra, a 19-year-old singer/songwriter and former Broadway performer, has swiftly emerged as a standout talent in the pop music landscape, amassing over 3.2 million streams and 450K social media followers. With a diverse musical arsenal including piano, guitar, bass, violin, and ukulele, she's penned over 130 songs to date,...

Here we are with music industry analytics professional Shannon Landers-Booker. Shannon talks about her first time ever seeing the Foo Fighters. This is what sparked a passion for working in the music business. Shannon worked at Endeavor on the analytics team. There she mostly supported the WME agency teams with insights on talent and other properties. She worked very closely with the music team th...

Here we are with Jo Mcakenzie from Kansas who moved to LA to pursue a career in music. Jo MacKenzie first discovered her love for music when her dad played Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” in her childhood home in the suburbs of Kansas. Immediately inspired, she began writing music at age 7. Quickly enamored by production, she began teaching herself how to produce at age 11. Her indie-pop sound has m...

Here we are with Cody Doss, Chief Mixing Engineer at Stereogram Sound. He is one of 3 co-founders of Stereogram Sound. Cody is "fluent" in Dolby Atmos mixing. He is also the in-house Dolby mixer for Midcitizen Ent., as well as in-house mixer for Symphonic Distribution. Here, we will learn more about the audio producing side of the music industry and what it is like to also network out on the golf...

Here we are with indie rock band Powers and The People based in Nashville. Here, we will get to learn about each of the band member's unique stories and how they got to form this collective band. We will get to hear more about their experiences creating songs including If It Ain't Broke, Big Man, and Places We Go. Finally, we will get to learn about their upcoming endeavors and goals in Na...

Here we are with Sandra Dib Biochemist turned to Artist Manager. She has always had an interest for working in the music industry and decided to take a leep of faith and fly out from Chicago to Los Angeles to pursue a career. That is where she stumbled into Artist Management and currently represents Lea The Leox. We are going to talk about her unique career path and her story of living life now ou...

Here we are with the Pinktastic Plastixx. Here we will get to learn more about how they formed the band and we'll be chatting with two of the band members including lead singer Kitten Kay Sara and guitarist Celinda. We will get to learn about some of their favorite Hollywood venues experiences and they will share their career advice if you want to form a band.

Here we are with Lea Kraft. She has a very unique story to tell with her industry background. She did an internship at Atlantic Records in A&R. Then upon graduating college she landed a job in the Business Development department for Disney doing strategy for mergers and acquisitions. Afterwards, she landed a role at Spotify in the Artist Research department. However, one of her biggest patterns wi...

Here we are with the Brooklyn-based band Boys Go To Jupiter. Here we will get to learn how the band met on a dating app. The band members will talk about each of their roles and how they contribute to the band collectively and will share some of their experience creating their biggest hits including: Last Last Time, Overconfident, and Wall St. We will get to learn about their upcoming 13 gigs and...

Here we are with Andrew Adams, producer, mixer, and live sound engineer. Here, we will get to learn about his experience growing up in Ohio and then moving to Queens to work in NY. He has worked almost 30 years in this space and he will give us a day in the life of what's it like and some great resources for aspiring mixers.

Here is Katelyn Richards. Singing has always been a passion of hers and she finds fulfillment in the creative and the business aspect of music. She is the sole proprietor of her independent music entertainment business as an artist. She has a bachelors degree in liberal arts but that plays little into her music profession. She is a self employed gigging musician, also a recording artist with an in...

Here we are with music industry professional Jake Diamond. He grew up playing in garage bands with my friends and just always wanted to do something in entertainment. He is the Marketing Director for Union Stage Presents in Washington D.C. Union Stage Presents is a concert promotions and venue management company overseeing a portfolio of 5 venues and promoting 850+ events a year in the Washington,...

Here we will learn from Chad Gobar, independent filmmaker. We will get to hear about his upcoming latest projects for the new year and what it's like to move from the east coast to the west coast. Chad will also talk about his goals getting his works into indie film festivals.

Here we are with Courtney Cloud, licensed music industry attorney and artist manager. She grew up playing clarinet and with my dad playing music. She always knew she wanted to do something in music, but she tried a few different avenues. She started in music education, then business, then law, and then she interned with a music publisher and the rest is history. Currently, Courtney is the Director...

Joseph has always had a passion for filmmaking. It started very young watching a VHS copy of Jurassic Park over and over growing up. He is a Freelance Director of Photography with experience in documentary, unscripted television and narrative. Most of his career has been in Reality TV working my way from a PA to a DOP for an the HGTV series Inside Out. I have a degree in film/tv from DeSales Unive...

Bronx-born, Brooklyn-based conscious rapper Rich Vysion’s story is one of triumph: How a braggadocious rapper overcame mental health struggles, and, along the way, created a platform that bridges the gap between music and mental health. His tracks are cinematically musical—often crafted from orchestral pieces, haunting piano motifs, and ominously entrancing basslines. His thought-provoking artistr...

Here we will get to hear from Hugh Ballou conductor and founder. Hugh Ballou is a Transformational Leadership StrategistTM and Corporate Culture ArchitectTM, leveraging 40 years of experience as a musical conductor to teach leaders in various fields how to cultivate purpose-driven, high-performance cultures. He focuses on enhancing productivity, profits, and job satisfaction while reducing confusi...

Here we will get to learn from Willy Kuo. Growing up in Taiwan he learned English before he started his passion for singing and songwriting. He looks up to artists including John Mayer and here we will get to learn what it is like to travel to the states and perform his own songs and covers.

Here we are with indie and alt jazz artist Sari Jordan. Here, she just released a new EP where she has an eclectic array of great hits. We will get to her more about her artist career and especially learning more about jazz during her time at Tulane. Finally, to wrap up the episode as always, we will get to her Sari's advice and her upcoming goals including relaxation. Credits: Artist: Sari Jo...

Here we are with podcaster and Fluency Consulting Founder Norah Jones. With degrees in Cultural Studies, Linguistics, and Education, she has been fortunate over four decades to teach multiple languages both modern and ancient to young people in grades K-16; to advance the role of and advocacy for world languages through leadership in various state, regional, and national organizations; and to writ...

Here we are with Rem Scobell who is a writer and director. We will get to hear about his unique experience learning more about what it's like to be on the writing side of the short film world and learn more about marketing and branding within the film and digital content spaces.

Here we are with Jordan K. Paul. Here he is going to talk about his unique background on what made him passionate about the film industry and how he got into this business. He is going to talk about his experience being a PA then a writer/director for numerous short films. We will get to hear more about his upcoming projects. For more information on Jordan K. Paul's work, take a look on IG: ht...

Here we are with pop, folk, and R&B artist Brett Altman. He has had a lot of great performances in the NY area and has been recently been completing a residency at The Delancey in the East Village. We are going to learn more about his latest hits My Way Out and Abundance and what his advice is to aspiring pop artists. For more information on Brett Altman's Tour you can get tickets at: http...

Here we are with the jack of all trades, Jarryd Elias. He has worked on numerous projects within the film scoring space and here we will get to learn more about his eclectic experience within the music space starting at Eastman School of Music in Boston and then getting his masters degree in Seattle. Also, we'll get to take a listen to one of his songs called "Sonya's Theme / End Cred...

Here we are with filmmaker, Diego Ramirez. Here he talks about his eclectic experience creating U.S. Citizen, majored in a B.A. of film and media studies. Here, he chats about his scriptwriting process and shooting artist music videos. We'll also get hear some career pointers from him and what it was like to be featured in VoyageLA. His goal is to finish three script by 2023. For more informat...