Woman of the Month Archives

NYCS Woman of the Month Jessica Valiyi, Digital Strategy for Sony Music Nashville

July 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.

For this month we celebrate Jessica Valiyi, Associate Director, Digital Strategy for Sony Music Nashville. Growing up in Carmel, Indiana, she recalls all of her extracurricular activities outside of school revolved around music. She learned to play the drums when she was 10 years old and said she was a music fanatic in high school, although, she wasn’t a huge fan of country music until college. “I’m the oldest child, I didn’t have a big sibling or anyone to talk to but I felt like music was always there for me,” she says. While attending college at Indiana University in Bloomington, Valiyi’s friends she met on her dorm room floor freshman year introduced her to modern country and she instantly fell in love with the lyrics and storytelling. Some of her first favorite artists were Rascal Flatts, Taylor Swift, and the Dixie Chicks. “I remember listening to the lyrics, and that is what drew me in, they have substance and meaning compared to anyone else I was listening to at the time,” she recalls. After college, she took a job in biotech and medical device company and worked part-time at the local country radio station doing promotions and marketing and helped with their social media. “I feel like there are two types of people in this world, you are either motivated by money or you are motivated by passion and I am the passionate one,” she states. Finding herself looking forward more and more to her side gig at the radio station, she happened to meet Alex Valentine who at the time worked the Northeast promotions for Big Machine Label Group. After talking to him about how she could ‘do what he does’ in the industry, she took that information and chance meeting to heart and a year later made the move to Nashville. Valentine gave her words of advice that she carries with her today, “You have to be present to win”.

Mitchell Tenpenny at Wal Mart on the night of his debut album release

Just two months after moving, she took her dream job, a part-time gig with Big Machine Label Group, home to Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts, the two artists that helped to cultivate her love for the genre. One of her mains jobs was to help the digital team and assist in keeping Swift’s music off the internet and mainly off of YouTube. She laughs talking about all of the tweets she saved from fans who would try to find her music and couldn’t without buying the actual album, something that proved she was successful in that task.

In December of 2017, she made the move over to Sony Music Nashville and during our conversation, recalls a moment that really has come full circle since moving over to her new position. “The first week I lived in Nashville I went Belcourt Taps. It was Heather Morgan, Jimmy Robbins, Laura Veltz, and Maren Morris and it was my first writers round and I remember thinking ‘Why isn’t this girl an artist?’ I went up to her after and told her how incredible her voice and songs were. Most off her EP and one other song called ‘Loose Change’” Valiyi recalls “I was following Maren’s career when I was at Big Machine and I remember being so bummed that she went to Sony but now it’s just full circle.” The moment becomes even more poignant this week that the Sony Music Nashville team gets to celebrate Morris’ second number one song, “GIRL”.

Maren Morris and Sony Music Nashville Team

Her day to day jobs as the Associate Director of Digital Strategy for Sony Music Nashville include helping her artists on fan engagement, email marketing, websites, digital advertising, coming up with creative content, collaborating with digital partners and essentially anything directly related to helping grow the fan base. Her clients at Sony include Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert, Luke Combs, Old Dominion, Mitchell Tenpenny, Pistol Annies, Tenille Townes, Jameson Rodgers, The Sisterhood Band, and Ryan Hurd. “One thing that drew me to digital is the space is constantly changing. You really have to be one step ahead of everyone, finding out what the newest, coolest, greatest thing is,” Valiyi says. “You don’t just use specific things because everyone uses it, it has to make sense for your individual clients. It’s trying to keep up with the trends and how to incorporate them with our artists.”

Team Sony Music Nashville at Luke Combs’ Grand Ole Opry Induction

She passionately talks about the fans and how there would be no country music industry without them and how she loves that the digital space is the department that is closest to the fan. One artist she highlights in our interview is Luke Combs. “Luke Combs is so dialed in, everything he does is for the fans, he says ‘They are the ones who are providing me this life and this career’, that’s why I love working for him. Yes, my job is social media, yes my job is in the digital space and content but it’s also listening to fans.” An example of how Combs continues to give the fans exactly what they want by uploading unedited videos of unreleased songs.

When we talk about what advice she would give to young people in the industry she says, “Our industry is so small, networking is huge. The more you are around and people can see you and see what you do, I feel like that goes a long way, every opportunity I’ve gotten in Nashville has come from someone I’ve networked with.” She also highlights the importance of accepting that you won’t know everything and not being afraid to ask questions or to learn from others around you. She quotes Steve Jobs saying “I don’t care about being right. I care about success and doing the right thing.” as something she refers to often. She hopes to empower the people who work with her but when she is in a leadership role, she is the first one to also listen and learn from them as well.

We are so grateful for all of the women who not only take time out of their busy schedules to chat with us but also teach us their stories and share advice with us. We want to thank Jess Valiyi for her guidance and friendship to NYCountry Swag over the past few years and we look forward to continue to champion her and her incredible artists.

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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.”

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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Woman of the Month Ashley Eicher

April 15, 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.”

Photo Credit Cameron Powell

Our Woman of the Month for April is Ashley Eicher creates, hosts and produces content for several major outlets, always remembering you can be a kind and a strong woman in this industry. Growing up in Louisville, KY, Eicher always loved music and recalls hearing a variety of types of music around her house including Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Trisha Yearwood, Lionel Richie, and Wynonna Judd. She was on stage performing from a very young age, feeling natural, not nervous when the lights came up. She moved to Tennessee to pursue a career as an artist but decided to attend MTSU and study music business first.

Although throughout her college career she interned for ASCAP, MCA Records and Scott Hendricks her very first job out of college was working in artist management for Wynonna Judd.“I learned so much working for Wynonna and Kerry Hansen Zaidy (Wynonna’s then manager). Because we were a small management company dedicated solely to Wynonna, I was able to have my hands in a multitude of things from marketing to touring, A&R and the process of recording an album, to television appearances as Wynonna was on the Oprah show regularly at that time. I am so grateful for that time in my life,” Eicher tells us.

She went on to compete in several pageants across the state, eventually becoming Miss Tennesee and competing in Miss America. Her time as Miss Tennessee allowed her to become the spokesperson for Governor Bredesen and the Department of Education for Tennessee and to help champion their character education initiatives. “I was speaking in different schools across the state about respecting yourself and respecting others,” she recalls.“The experience allowed me to make a difference in a way that I hadn’t been able to before. Eventually, it opened the door to television.”

She worked as an agent trainee at Creative Artists Agency and for her first on-air job, ABC hired her to host a digital series and a three-hour live special from the red carpet of the CMA Awards and back in 2007, Luke Bryan just happened to be her co-host. She then helped to launch AXS TV as the host and producer of all of their Nashville based content, and also hosted the Ram Report for Rolling Stone Country.

More recently, Eicher produces all of the video content for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival which takes place right outside of Nashville in Franklin, Tennessee, hosts “Tailgate Hour”, an hour-long live show from each of Garth Brooks stadium tour dates which is broadcast on his channel on Sirius XM and started a podcast with Hunter Kelly Kelly. Her podcast, All Our Favorite People launched about a year ago and highlights long-form stories of people who are doing incredible things. They kicked off their first episode telling Jackie Lee’s story of battling cancer and grieving the death of his mother. “The fact that Jackie trusted us with some of the most deeply personal, beautiful and painful moments of his life and to be able to share his story in hopes of helping someone else, it was an honor to be a part of and one the greatest gifts for both of us,” she says. Other guests have included country music artists like Kassi Ashton, Lauren Alaina, and Jake Owen as well as Annie Downs, the best selling author, celebrity fitness trainer Erin Oprea and the CEO of St. Jude’s Children Hospital among many other inspiring guests.

Ashley Eicher

“We launched the podcast because (in 15 years of friendship) we have always wanted to do something together. The podcast allows us to have in-depth conversations with our guests about the beauty, pain, and hilarity that is life and connect with our audience in a meaningful way. Life is messy. It is beautiful but it is messy. And in the Instagram perfectly filtered world we live in, it can be really easy to fall into the lies of comparison and not enough. I think it is something we all struggle with to some degree,” Eicher says of the podcast. “So we talk about those things. We talk about the things we love, the stories, experiences, and people that have shaped us. And we laugh A LOT. Let’s be honest Hunter is hilarious and you never know what he is going to say. I love being able to go from belly laughing to talking about the really deep, life stuff. And hopefully, it’ll help somebody. We hope that when people listen to the podcast if they feel alone, I hope they realize that they aren’t alone.” For more information and to listen to all of the podcasts head to https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-our-favorite-people.

She goes on to speak passionately about The Dollar Club which is run by her church Cross Point, which brings the community together to prove that if every one donates just one dollar, the impact we can make when we all do good together can have a major change in the world. “They pool all of that money together, find a need in the community that needs to be filled and go fill it. When a community comes together to help someone else, the possibilities are endless. It has a ripple effect. When someone sees how their generosity – even something as simple as a dollar – helps someone else, it makes them want to do more. And God has used the stories from Dollar Club to change my life. With every story we tell, I’m reminded of what is really important – Loving God, loving people, taking care of each other and using our gifts and talents to do good in the world.”

While the Dollar Club has helped people, families, and organizations in Nashville, they’ve also told stories and helped organizations throughout the US and most recently in Kolkata, India. “It is only through the generosity of a whole lot of people that the Dollar Club is able to help as many people as it does. And I’m just grateful that we get to be a part of telling their stories,” says Eicher. “We spent a week in Kolkata, India last fall in the boys home and girls home that SEED built and in the slums of Kolkata where most of these kids grew up. I left a piece of my heart in Kolkata.” The money donated from the Dollar Club to the SEED organization helped to finish building out the boys’ home giving the boys, who mostly grew up in the slums, a safe place to live, eat, go to school and prosper. Locally the Dollar Club benefits organizations like Rest Stop Ministries, a not-for-profit 501-(c)3 faith-based organization in the Nashville, TN area dedicated to comprehensively restoring female survivors of domestic sex trafficking.

One of our favorite questions to ask these inspiring women is what advice they would give to young females looking to work in the music industry. Eicher says to figure out who you are at your core and stay true to that, and certainly, don’t let this industry change who you are.“Trust and know at this moment you are exactly where you are supposed to be and if you continue to work with integrity and honesty, stay true to who you are, stand up for yourself and be good to people – there is nothing you can’t do.”

Follow Ashley Eicher on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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NYCS Woman of the Month: Leslie Fram

March 28, 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.”

Leslie Fram

For our March Woman of the Month, we wanted to feature a female in the industry who not only has an incredible story but also works daily to champion other female artists and women in general who are working tirelessly to make their dreams of working in the music industry come true. Leslie Fram is currently the Senior VP of Music Strategy for CMT (Country Music Television) in Nashville, but this small town Alabama native didn’t always didn’t only listen to country music growing up. She tells us in a recent interview that thanks to her older brother, her musical influences ranged a few different genres including artists like Led Zeppelin and Heart to Jackson Browne and The Eagles. “I listened to the radio late at night and picked up stations across the country in all different genres, which is how my passion for radio was born,” she recalls.

Before moving to Nashville, Fram pursued a career in radio, first in Top 40 radio in Mobile, Alabama then, an Alternative Rock station in Atlanta and most recently, right here in the Big Apple rocker 1019RXP as Program Director and Morning Show co-host. Before her move into country music, Fram had already racked up a ton of recognition in music, being named the first woman to receive the TJ Martell Award in recognition of outstanding performance in the music industry in 2000 and in 2009 she was honored as a Lifetime Achievement Inductee in the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame.

We discussed how the transition in 2011 into country music from rock music and out of radio into television affected her. “The first year at CMT was a whirlwind, getting to know a whole new set of industry folks and learning the job. The team (which is more like a family) at CMT made the transition so smooth,” she explains. She made sure to take meetings in town to meet more of the industry and at night to attend shows, so that she could learn all about what the country music genre had to offer.

Now, a typical day in the life of the Senior VP of Music Strategy includes getting to the office early, most weeks she takes breakfast meetings before her day even officially begins. Some of her days are back to back until 5:00 or 6:00 PM, filled with meetings about all things CMT including label calls, meetings about all CMT events, catching up with artist’s teams and even a weekly meeting where she watches all of the videos that come in and will be played on the platform. Once her busy day ends, her and her team divide and conquer all of the incredible music related events or concerts that go on on a nightly basis including industry showcases, #1 parties and heading to see new acts or shows. “Because of my hectic lifestyle, I try to remain healthy and get as much sleep as possible (when I can!) in order to keep up,” she tells us. “I love working on a project from beginning to end and strategizing with our team. We are truly thankful for what we all get to do and that we get to do it in Music City!”

Leslie Fram and Karen Fairchild with the Class of 2019 CMT Next Women of Country / Photo Courtesy of CMT.com

One of the main initiatives Fram has been a part of since her start at CMT is championing women in the genre. We were so interested to hear her take on the situation and what made her decide to work to bring equality to the genre. “It was shocking to see the lack of support for all of these amazing female artists when I moved to Nashville. When I starting actually speaking with them and hearing stories of what they were going through, I knew we had to do something.” And so they did, creating CMT Next Women of Country which has now introduced countless female artists to fans all over the country. Now, the franchise has expanded from simply a yearly event to 5 years of annual tours, a digital music series and more. They even just announced that for the first time, this year’s class will be going international, and to USO bases overseas. “I am so proud that we have helped launch the careers of amazing women like Kelsea Ballerini, Maren Morris, Lauren Alaina, and RaeLynn,” Fram says. “CMT has given its full support to this franchise, including last year’s unprecedented ‘Artists Of The Year’ awards show, which honored all women for the first time ever.”

NYCountry Swag Managing Editor, Christina Bosch, and Founder, Stephanie Wagner with 2019 CMT Next Women of Country Artist, Stephanie Quayle

New York Country Swag’s 2o18 Babes, Booze & Brunch event featured Hannah Ellis who is now currently on the 2019 CMT Next Woman of Country tour with Cassadee Pope and Clare Dunn and we can’t wait to catch the show next month at Gramercy Theatre. We were also honored to have Stephanie Quayle, a member of the 2019 class, perform at our Babes, Booze & Brunch event earlier this month.

We couldn’t let such an icon in the country music industry go without asking about advice that she has for women trying to follow their country music dreams and specifically for our company. Fram said, “Follow your passion and find your champions! You are offering a service that can help mentor artists and industry professionals, which is such important work. Sometimes all it takes is a little encouragement!”

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Woman of the Month: Kristen Ashley

February 26, 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 will 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.

For February, we chose Kristen Ashley who hails from Trussville, Alabama, currently working with one of our 2019 Artists to Watch, Mitchell Tenpenny. Ashley tells us during our recent phone interview that music was always very important to her, she was always the friend who would burn CDs and loved discovering new artists. “Country was definitely my heart but I also loved rap and sometimes I liked listening to Christian music, it was about the way the songs made me feel,” she tells us. “I loved listening to album cuts, I started learning the songwriter’s names, I was more inspired about Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey, Shane McAnally, and Luke Laird. I was so excited about that part of it, it wasn’t just the artist.”

Just like many of us, growing up she wasn’t aware that there is an entire industry behind the music we hear on the radio or we see at concerts. That all changed on her 15th birthday when her mother surprised her with an opportunity to be in one of Brantley Gilbert’s music videos. Once she arrived on set, she met another Woman of the Month, JoJamie Hahr, and Leah Rhodes who’s husband was at the time, Manager of A&R at Warner/Chappell Nashville.

Opening her eyes to a brand new world, Ashley started to fall in love with the idea of working in the music industry, specifically publishing. Those connections with Leah and Blain Rhodes quickly turned into networking opportunities and when she moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University, she already had an upper hand, knowing people who were successful in the industry.

While attending Belmont University, she landed an internship at SB21, an independent music publishing company in Nashville where she learned about the details of a publishing company. By chance at CMAFest the following year, she was introduced to Jennifer Johnson at The Song Factory and her dream of working in publishing came to fruition. During her time there, she worked with Jon Pardi, Dillon Carmichael, and Ashley McBryde.

She explains that one of her favorite moments of her career so far was arranging Ashley McBryde to come to town and write with Jeremy Bussey. “She didn’t know anyone in my circle, and I just knew that she and Jeremy Bussey would hit it off and the very first time they wrote together they wrote “Girl Goin’ Nowhere” so that is my claim to fame,” she says of the Grammy-nominated song.

Then in November of 2015, she met a new singer-songwriter, a Nashville native named Mitchell Tenpenny. She started booking Tenpenny writes and working to help nurture his career, and then her boss at The Song Factory, Jennifer Johnson decided to start her own record label, Riser House and Tenpenny was the flagship artist. “I was working closely with Mitchell, I knew who to call for different aspects of his career. We formed a mutual respect for each other and I started doing the management stuff but without those intentions. Fast forward another year, I started booking shows for Mitchell, I ended up being Mitchell’s point person,” Ashley explains.

Eventually, Ashley made the decision to form 11/10 Management signing Mitchell Tenpenny as her first client. She works closely with JT Pratt, RLM’s Coran Capshaw, and Enzo DeVincenzo and Haley McLemore of 377 Management. She tells us that she is so happy to have an experienced team around her to turn to.

Haley McLemore, Kristen Ashley, Mitchell Tenpenny, Coran Capshaw

Tenpenny released his debut studio album, Telling All My Secrets last December, and is currently on tour with Old Dominion on their ‘Make It Sweet’ Tour. He landed his very first number one song in December as well with “Drunk Me”.

Part of the day to day job of being his manager includes handling every aspect of his career. “There are a million different things going on in one time, getting ready for the Old Dominion Tour, ordering a new backdrop, designing new merch, getting a trailer made, meeting with his business manager, meetings with Sony to talk strategy for this year, meeting with his booking agents to confirm shows,” she tells us. “My day is never the same, it’s always different which I love.”

We asked what advice she would give to young people looking to work in the music industry, she says “Don’t care too much about the name of the company you intern for or work for, it’s about where you will get the opportunity to work, learn and grow,” Ashley says. “If you are at a smaller company, you learn so much so quickly. If it wasn’t for my internship I would have fallen on my face when I got my first job. If you have an opportunity to work, get paid, do what you love and be around good people, take the opportunity.”

She worked hard from the minute she knew what she wanted to do with her life. “I think the reason I did get to where I am, I wasn’t expecting anything, if I see that something is missing or something needs to be done, I am someone who does it,” she says. “I knew Mitchell was talented, I knew he needed to have his shows booked and his travel booked and I did it, without expecting anything in return. If you believe in someone, help people and in return, you will be taken care of.”

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Women of the Month Advice Round-Up

February 1, 2019/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Christina Bosch

Over the past year, we have featured interviews with some of country music and Nashville’s biggest names in the industry in our “Woman of the Month” feature. Each month we chatted with another powerful woman in the business whether they worked in radio, publicity, marketing or management. At the end of each interview, we were sure to ask if they had any advice for young girls who wanted to pursue their dreams in the music industry and the best practices to put in motion to make that dream a reality. Here are some of our favorite quotes from our Women of the Month.

“Lean in to working as hard as you can, as soon as you get out of college or in your early twenties, that first season of life as a young adult should really be about being ambitious and excited and hungry,” – Olivia Hanceri, Director of PR, SMACKSongs – January, Woman of the Month

“I think it so important to be true to yourself and remember, not everyone is going to like you which is always hard, that’s ok, it is important to figure out who you are and what you want to do and what you want to put out in the world and sometimes it’ll work and sometimes it won’t, but at the end of the day when you are rooted in who you are it’ll all be okay.” – Betsy Spina, On-Air Personality for Radio Disney Country – October, Woman of the Month

“Do it with passion, integrity, heart and be prepared for some long days (often away from home) and sleepless nights. Be resilient, work hard, have fun along the way but also recognize when you need to make time for yourself and really shut it down on off days.” – Diane Monk, Warner Music Nashville – September Woman of the Month

“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.” – Basak Kizilisk, Vice President of Marketing for Morris Higham Management, August Woman of the Month

“Just be open to everything. Be open to any opportunity that is there, being a female in country radio and country music, there are very few spots and it is very intimidating. Find your path to get there, your story is how you become who you are.” – Elaina D. Smith, On-Air Radio Personality, Nash Nights Live – July Woman of the Month

“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.” – JoJamie Hahr, Vice President of Marketing for BBR Music Group – June Woman of the Month

“Good women on a like-minded mission are unstoppable, honestly. We have to make a statement by showing up every day and doing the best job we can do and that’s in everything, relationships, in motherhood, at work and everything. Your best one day may not be your best the next day, but keep your head up, keep your word.” – Kelly Ford, Mornings with Kelly Ford NASHFM 94.7 – May Woman of the Month

“We are so fortunate we get to do amazing things with our careers but there is the side that you have to roll up your sleeves and work, there are those days where it’s twenty-hour days, and you are up until 2 am writing a press release. I love what I am doing so much, we are so fortunate but it’s a lot of hard work and there is a lot of ups and down through that process.” – Jensen Sussman, President and Owner, Sweet Talk Publicity – April Woman of the Month

“Being a woman in today’s climate is an exciting time, it’s not an easy time but I am so lucky to work with a team of men who have been so supportive.” – Katie Neal, On-Air Radio Personality, NASHFM 94.7 – March Woman of the Month

We look forward to featuring a different woman each month in 2019 and giving amazing advice to those who want to break into the industry.

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NYCS Woman of the Month: Olivia Hanceri

January 23, 2019/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Christina Bosch

Our first Woman of the Month for 2019 is Olivia Hanceri, Director of Public Relations for SMACK, a unique company based out of Nashville. More on SMACK later but first, in our recent interview, Hanceri told us about her non-conventional journey to Music City and the musical influences in her life.

Growing up in Mobile, Alabama, she was not raised on country music or whatever music was popular at the time, rather she grew up listening to classical music. “I could tell you any classical composer but as far as things that were on the radio, I don’t remember that being influential in my life,” she explains. Her father played the cello, her mother owned a dance studio and she played piano competitively, that being her entry point into music. She immersed herself in the classical world until she reached college. She double majored at the University of Alabama in political science and public relations and originally thought she would go into lobbying in DC.

“In a series of random events I got connected with Ebie McFarland and interned for her and fell in love with her company,” Hanceri explains. “I landed a job right out of college with her and worked with her for four years.” She worked as a day to day publicist in Nashville, eventually learning to love the country music scene, specifically the songwriters who were behind the curtain. During her four years with Essential Broadcast Media (EBMediaPR) she assisted on some of the larger accounts but recalls two major moments that were very special to her. One working with Old Dominion from the very early days, eventually seeing them get signed to Sony and release two albums and then more recently, watching Caitlyn Smith’s career blossom in a format that isn’t country.

She also worked closely with Walker Hayes, Shane McAnally, and other songwriters, “I kept being drawn to songwriters as clients, the common thread was SMACKSongs and that’s what is interesting, they were all a part of SMACK so at Ebie’s I learned first hand about publishing and songwriting, it was a world within a world and that to me is where the real magic happens. I was fortunate enough to transition from EBMediaPR to SMACK,” she tells us.

Now she works with a roster of fourteen songwriters and within that roster, four of them are artists as well as songwriters, Kylie Morgan, Walker Hayes, one of our Swag Spotlight’s Renee Blair and one of our 2019 Artists to Watch, Teddy Robb. Along with handling media relations for the individual songwriters, she is also responsible for PR for the company itself, strategizing for awards and recognition. “We are unique because we have a publishing arm, a management arm, an artist development arm and a production arm,” she explains. The work with their roster in different capacities, allowing Hanceri’s day to day to evolve and change. “It’s been fun to lean into marketing or lean into merchandise, if it has to do with your brand, I am fortunate enough to touch it,” she tells us. “We all get to shift and figure out what is needed so my days never look the same.”

SMACK not only has some of the biggest writers in the industry, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne but they also have a band of new writers, each raising the bar to write and create incredible songs. She explains two things she is most excited about working on currently are Shane McAnally’s new show Songland which was just greenlit for season one on NBC as well as helping to launch artist Kylie Morgan‘s career.

As a passion project, Hanceri also manages ‘Girls of Nashville’, a seasonal showcase that highlights female songwriters who are looking to make a positive change in the community. “There is something really fulfilling about nights like that, where you get to walk away with such a full heart,” she says of the event.

As we close out our conversation, Hanceri gives advice to any young women just starting out, looking to find their dream job. “Lean in to working as hard as you can, as soon as you get out of college or in your early twenties, that first season of life as a young adult should really be about being ambitious and excited and hungry,” she offers. She also says that getting to Nashville and having boots on the ground to show what you can do in person is half the battle of landing a job in the music industry. Looking ahead, Hanceri is excited to see the evolution of SMACK who received SESAC Writer of the Year, SESAC Song of the Year, Publisher of the Year, ASCAP Song of the Year, and several BMI Radio Airplay Awards in 2018. Keep up with Olivia on Instagram.

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NYCS October Woman of the Month: Betsy Spina

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

“Truly, we are all here to encourage each other and lift each other up, and help whenever we can in whatever way we can,” our Woman of the Month for October states in a recent phone chat and if you know Betsy Spina, you understand that she lives out this mantra every day. The native New Yorker who now lives in LA as an on-air personality for Radio Disney Country inspires our New York Country Swag team as a positive light and a woman paving the way for others following their dreams.

Growing up about an hour north of New York City, Spina had the opportunity to have the best of both worlds, living in a small, quaint town on the Hudson River and being able to travel into the Big Apple and experience all it has to offer. She started singing and dancing lessons when she was only five years old and continued performing all through high school, singing in choirs and taking part in musicals. “Musical theatre was my first music love, which is so nerdy,” she laughed. “I loved musicals, I remember listening to the Cats soundtrack and Phantom of the Opera, then as I got older I got into pop and country music.” Although all types of music were considered influences, once she got to college she really focused on classical music and singing opera. At the end of her senior year, just as she was about to audition for graduate school programs, she hemorrhaged her vocal chords in rehearsal, therefore changing her path and forcing her to focus on a different career. “I totally believe in God’s plan for life and everything always happens the way it is meant to even when we can’t understand that or see that at the time,” Spina says when discussing how that affected her.

Living in Los Angeles at the time, she went on a casting call for a show that aired on ABC Family (now Freeform) called Greek. An unfortunate writer’s strike led her to the Radio Disney street team, where she eventually was offered a chance to become an on-air personality. Although a career in radio was never something she thought she would pursue, it has now been ten years and she realizes how willing to try something has turned out to be a major career switch for her.

She moved back to New York and after working on the soap opera One Life to Live she got a job working at a Christian radio station which eventually led her to work full time for four years at Sirius XM The Highway. She tells us that although those were her major career changes, she definitely worked plenty of jobs to pay the bills in between including working at a gym, as a waitress, as a secretary and even a personal assistant, and she never underestimated the learning that one can do while waiting for their big break. “It is crazy the places that you are taken when you are willing to learn and try and be positive about things.”

When her former boss at Radio Disney reached out regarding a new station, Radio Disney Country, Spina jumped at the opportunity, eventually making her way back to the West Coast where she now resides with her husband and her adorable dog Teddy. She works for the radio station during the day, interviewing artists and playing the hottest country music. She recently became a team member of Musicians On Call, an organization that brings live music to the bedside of patients all around the country. “I am a guide, I go into the room first, explain what is going on, tell them that we have a musician here and ask them if they are interested in hearing the music,” she explains. “It is so amazing to see the way that just the thought of music lights up people, and it is so powerful and so moving, I love getting to do that.” Musicians On Call is not the only way that Spina is a light in this world, if you follow her on social media, she uses her platform to inspire others, to bring joy and laughter on a daily basis to her followers. Whether it is something silly that she did or her “CarSpriation” Instagram stories, she has the ability to make others smile and that is one of the main reasons we chose her as our Woman of the Month.

We ask what advice she has for young girls wanting to pursue their dreams and she tells us: “Just always be positive and be willing to try things”. Although she loves networking, she explains that making a genuine connection or a new friendship is what is most important to her and if that leads to a new work opportunity then that’s great but real relationships is what creates magic. “I think it so important to be true to yourself and remember, not everyone is going to like you which is always hard, that’s ok, it is important to figure out who you are and what you want to do and what you want to put out in the world and sometimes it’ll work and sometimes it won’t, but at the end of the day when you are rooted in who you are it’ll all be okay.”

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NYCS September Woman of the Month: Diane Monk

September 14, 2018/in Blog, Woman of the Month /by Christina Bosch

It isn’t often that a member of the Nashville music industry community is also a fellow New Yorker. Our Woman of the Month for September, Diane Monk-Harrison, is just that. She is at the forefront of promotions for Warner Music Nashville based in New York City, working closely with their roster to help cultivate radio and streaming promotion as it pertains to the North & South East region. Monk has worked with countless artists over her career spanning from BB King & Elton John to Lyle Lovett and Carrie Underwood. In a recent phone interview, Monk explained how she got into the business and how her passion has truly kept her at the top of her game.

“No two people have the same path getting where we are in this business. For me, I didn’t know the music business existed behind the scenes, I didn’t know about the business in general, I was a hairdresser out of high school before going to college,” she tells us. Growing up right outside of Boston, her brother-in-law was in a band that was signed to a major record label and it opened her eyes to a whole new world that was out there, the business behind the music industry. “I love music and live shows, and quickly realized you can work doing this as a job,” Monk explains. “Prior to that I never thought of a career in music, I don’t know how they let me in the school chorus because I seriously cannot carry a note to save my life, but I’ll tell you what, I recognize a hit song when I hear one.”

While in school full time she took the advice of an A&R representative that worked closely with her brother-in-law’s band and found an internship in the industry. With Boston being such a rich town full of music, she took a job working for a jazz promoter, then nightclub/concert venue receptionist and finally landed herself an internship at a radio station. Explaining to us that each job she took introduced her to new faces, new positions and really set her up for a career in this industry. “One bit of advice I had gotten was, take whatever job you are given, then max out at it, learn everything you can about that job and then some, make the people around you dependent on you in that position.”

Her hard work paid off, working for MCA Records in regional promotion for over a decade in all formats including Pop, Rock, R&B, Alternative and Adult Contemporary. “One week you are out working with Lyle Lovett and Mary J Blige and the next week you are at a Tom Petty or Elton John concert or the next week you are with a brand-new band (Blink 182) on the road visiting radio stations. “It’s a lot of steps and a lot going on at the same time. You have to keep your eyes open while juggling all of the other aspects of the job, the business and things that are going on around you in general,” Monk explains.

NYCountry Swag Founder, Stephanie Wagner (left) Diane Monk, NYCS Managing Editor Christina Bosch (right)

She took a National promotion, transitioned to working Adult Contemporary for Columbia Records and loved having one format that she could focus all her energy on. At the time her artists included John Mayer, Train, and Five for Fighting to name a few. From there, she was offered a job working the country music format for Sony’s sister company in Nashville. Just prior to making the move over to the country format, Monk’s husband turned her on to two albums, Kenny Chesney’s Lucky Old Sun and Eric Church’s Carolina that she listened to incessantly all summer. “I was hooked,” she said. Making the transition into the country music world was exciting and she eventually ended up at Warner Music Nashville where she has been for the past four years.

Over the years she has seen the industry and the way music is discovered and consumed change drastically. The days of going to a retail store and buying an album off a shelf has changed into purchasing music online to now streaming music through Spotify or Pandora. When we discuss the changes, she explains how streaming has changed the game for artists and for the industry but now there are just new ways to discover and promote artists. “At Warner, we’re an artist-driven company, data-driven and lean on terrestrial radio coupled with streaming and satellite to break new and established artists; you don’t lose any of the creativity of the job and promoting artists, you just have more outlets and more measurable metrics,” she says.

Although her everyday schedule changes from day to day, a typical day in the life includes attending shows, visiting radio stations and keeping tabs on her artist’s music on the airplay charts. It could mean arranging artist travel or radio interviews, waking up on a tour bus or driving around the country on radio tour. Her main roster now includes High Valley, Devin Dawson, Michael Ray, Morgan Evans and most recently Kenny Chesney. She spent this summer having the ride of a lifetime attending Chesney’s Trip Around the Sun Tour eleven times throughout her region and promoting his latest album Songs for the Saints. Her energy and passion for the music is evident when you see her attending music events, she knows every word to their songs and supports the artist in a way their biggest fans would. “I am living my dream, a dream at one time I never knew existed, but when it comes to working with the artists, I’m very passionate about them and their music because this is their livelihood and their dream,” Monk humbly tells us.

As far as advice goes for maintaining a job in the industry Monk tells us “I’m highly competitive and always striving to outperform those around me but know it’s teamwork that gets the job done. Do it with passion, integrity, heart and be prepared for some long days (often away from home) and sleepless nights. Be resilient, work hard, have fun along the way but also recognize when you need to make time for yourself and really shut it down on off days” She has excelled in this industry, always working towards a common goal and hoping to help each artist live out their dreams.

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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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