#NEXTGEN_U Virtual Summit
Speaker Bios

Alessandra Alegre
Manager, Special Services & Royalty Compliance at Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group

Alessandra Alegre is the Manager of Special Services & Royalty Compliance for Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group, an entertainment business management firm based in Nashville and Los Angeles. In this role, Alegre oversees the deliverables of the Royalty Department, including income tracking, contract review, royalty reporting, and new client onboarding for the artists, songwriters, producers, models, and actors that the firm represents. She is also heavily involved in the community and is currently Chair of Professional Development for Conexion Next, a member of the Women’s Music Business Association, an alumni of Society of Leaders in Development, and a MusiCares Ambassador. She previously served on the Junior Board of the YWCA of Nashville & Middle Tennessee.

Marcie Allen
President, MAC Presents

Marcie Allen is President of award-winning music sponsorship & experiential agency MAC Presents, leveraging her 25 years of music industry experience to negotiate high-profile partnerships between the world’s leading brands and artists. Allen has brokered and executed multi-faceted programs on behalf of brands including: Sony, Southwest Airlines, YouTube, Microsoft, Verizon, Citi, Samsung, Capital One, Delta, Adidas, Hollister, AT&T; and artists including Chance the Rapper, Rolling Stones, Khalid, John Mayer, Lady Antebellum, Billy Joel, Kelsea Ballerini, John Legend, Imagine Dragons, Travis Scott, and Keith Urban. Allen is also currently an adjunct professor at NYU Steinhardt and Clive Davis Music Institute of Recorded Music, sits on the board of directors for The Country Music Association, and serves on the advisory board for Berklee College of Music.

Perry Bashkoff
Head of Music, Instagram

Perry Bashkoff is the Head of Music at Instagram, where he leads a strategy and partnerships team responsible for creating first-ever opportunities and solutions for artists, record labels, and users. The team’s aim is to let users best utilize recorded music in enhancing their story-telling experiences and leverage products & platforms to connect with fans in authentic and unique ways. Prior to joining Instagram, Bashkoff spent 19 years at Warner Music Group leading the Global Digital Account Management growth strategy and execution for several digital businesses including downloads, mobile ringtones, streaming subscriptions, and digital ad-sales. Bashkoff was named one of Billboard’s “Top Mobile Music Executives” in 2007, one of Billboard’s “30 Under 30” in 2008, and one of Billboard’s Digital Power Players in 2018 and 2019.

Tara Bendler
College Marketing Manager, Sony Music Entertainment

Tara Bendler is a College Marketing Manager at Sony Music Entertainment, where she is focused on creating strategic marketing plans for Sony’s artists, and managing a team of 75 College Marketing Reps. Prior to this role, she worked in HR supporting employees for various record labels under the Sony Music umbrella. Bendler also serves as the Global Vice Chair of Communications for Women in Music, which sees her managing the digital strategy of the organization and running their social media accounts. She began working in the music industry as the Executive Director of Movin’ On, a music festival operating as a university tradition since 1975.

Linda Bloss-Baum
Senior Director for Artist and Industry Relations, SoundExchange

Linda Bloss-Baum is the Senior Director for Artist and Industry Relations at SoundExchange. In this role, she drives awareness and visibility for SoundExchange across multiple channels related to performance and music entertainment. Before joining SoundExchange full-time, Bloss-Baum served as an independent consultant for SoundExchange and recording artists through her agency, LBB Creative Strategies. The mission of LBB Creative Strategies was to increase the volume of artists’ voices in multiple arenas. Prior to establishing LBB Creative Strategies, she ran the Warner Music Group office in Washington, D.C. for six years. She also served as VP of Public Policy/Government Relations at Universal Music Group/NBC Universal and Time Warner, Inc. She is an adjunct professor at the KOGOD School of Business at her undergrad alma mater, American University, where she teaches a class on “Protecting the Creative Class in the Digital Age.”

Dae Bogan
Head of Third Party Partnerships, The MLC

Dae Bogan serves as Head of Third Party Partnerships for The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC), where he leads strategy for engaging third-party entities to support initiatives in rights administration, data management, operations, and membership services. Bogan is also an adjunct lecturer at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where he develops and teaches the music industry entrepreneurship course for which he was recognized in Billboard’s “The 15 Best Music Business Schools In 2017.” Prior to his roles with The MLC and at UCLA, Bogan’s passion for innovation at the intersection of music and technology led him to found three companies which have since been acquired: music rights administration technology company TuneRegistry, unclaimed music royalties and licenses search engine RoyaltyClaim, and in-store music video network Maven Promo. 

Tonya Butler
Chair of Music Business, Berklee College of Music

Professor Tonya Butler, J.D., LL.M. is the newly appointed Chair of Music Business/Management at Berklee College of Music. She is not only the first woman, but the first person of color to lead the department in its 30-year history. Butler has more than 14 years of expertise as an entertainment attorney and record label executive, as well as 16 years of undergraduate and graduate level teaching experience. She hosts a weekly podcast on the business and legal aspects of the music industry, entitled the B.O.M.B. (Business of Music Bootcamp) Podcast. Butler is also an award-winning motivational speaker, Toastmaster and author of the self-published career guide, “The Music Business is Corrupt or Maybe You Just Can’t Sing?”

Whitney Byerly
Head of Client Services at FlyteVu

Whitney Byerly is Head of Client Services at FlyteVu, an entertainment marketing agency based in Nashville that connects brands to consumers through compelling storytelling, unparalleled experiences, and the power of pop culture. In this role, Whitney oversees creative and entertainment development for the agency. Over the past five years, she has led the accounts team to develop innovative campaigns for clients including Bumble, Norwegian Cruise Line, Tennessee Tourism, Cracker Barrel, and the American Red Cross. FlyteVu’s campaigns have collectively earned multiple awards including two Gold and two Bronze CLIO Awards for “Best in Music,” an Emmy, a GRAMMY, two Davey Awards for “Best in Content and Social Marketing,” and multiple Addy Awards. Prior to joining FlyteVu, Byerly was part of the music sponsorship team at Creative Artists Agency and worked in marketing at Universal Music Group Nashville.

Tracy Chan
Head of Music Product and Engineering, Twitch

Tracy Chan is the Head of Music Product and Engineering at Twitch, where he focuses on evolving the Twitch experience specifically for live music and helping artists and fans better connect in real-time. Chan joins Twitch from Spotify where he was the Director of Product Management, primarily focused on leading product strategy and development for Creator platforms and developing analytics tools for artists and labels, including Spotify for Artists and Spotify Analytics. Chan’s startup CrowdAlbum, a social, photo, and video aggregator that created a “visual history” of musical events from around the world, was acquired by Spotify in 2016. Prior to founding CrowdAlbum, Chan was a product manager at YouTube, where he designed and launched YouTube Insight, the company’s flagship analytics platform for Creators.

Jamil Davis
CEO (Chief Experience Officer), The Revels Group

Jamil ‘Big Juice’ Davis is Co-CEO of artist and tour management firm The Revels Group. A 15-year industry veteran, Davis was recognized this past year as a member of Billboard’s esteemed 40 Under 40 top young music industry power players list. He has grown The Revels Group roster to handle management clients including G-Eazy, Anthony Russo, Dounia, Carly Rose, Gibson Hazard, Julia Lewis and Nik Dean. Davis began his career by managing tours for artists such as Lil Wayne and Drake, while still attending Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was during his time in college that Davis met business partner and fellow Co-CEO Matt Bauerschmidt, as well as their flagship client, Gerald Gillum (G-Eazy). Developing Gillum into a now global sensation, Davis and The Revels Group have shown no sign of slowing down.

Mehmet Dede
Assistant Professor of Music Industry, University of Hartford

Mehmet Dede is Assistant Professor of Music Industry at The Hartt School, University of Hartford, in addition to serving as a talent buyer and tour producer. Since 2005, he has produced and booked hundreds of local and nationwide concerts, including collaborations with Lincoln Center and Central Park SummerStage. He also currently serves as Director of Programming at Drom, a 300 people-capacity club in downtown Manhattan and is the curator of the NY Gypsy Festival. Previously, Dede worked at concert promoter Giant Step and Universal Music Group.

Deanna DeVivo
Talent Acquisition and Retention Manager, Downtown Music Holdings

Deanna DeVivo is the Talent Acquisition and Retention Manager at Downtown Music Holdings (Downtown), a global music company that owns, manages, and develops businesses with a vision for a more equitable and innovative music ecosystem. The company owns and operates Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust, AVL Digital Group, and Downtown Music Studios. Based in NYC, DeVivo expands the portfolio’s global footprint through recruitment, hiring, talent development and retention. In addition, she is responsible for ensuring employee development and growth towards their professional goals and aspirations at Downtown. DeVivo combines her passions for the music industry and people by creating an environment where employees can grow, develop, and successfully reach their professional goals.

James Donio
Advisor, Music Business Association; Adjunct Professor, Monmouth University & Temple University

James Donio is an Advisor to the Music Business Association (Music Biz), the US-based music industry trade association of which he was President for 15 years. He is also an adjunct professor in the Music Industry programs at both Monmouth University in Long Branch, NJ and Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. During his tenure as Music Biz’s President, Donio facilitated the organization’s evolution from one primarily focused on physical product retailers to a more inclusive trade association representing the full breadth of the modern music business, including digital distribution, mobile, games, video, applications, and other entities that monetize music. This expanding membership vision also included the introduction of membership levels for individual industry professionals and students, and led to the formation of Music Biz’s Academic Partnership program.

Seth England
Partner, Big Loud

Seth England is a co-founding partner at Big Loud Records, an independent, Nashville-based music company which houses Big Loud Records, Big Loud Music Publishing, Big Loud Capital and Maverick Management. With England’s leadership, Big Loud has become one of the top-ranked independent music companies in Nashville. England is an active member of the Country Music Association (CMA) and Academy of Country Music (ACM), and has been recognized by Billboard’s “Nashville Power Players” and “40 Under 40” features.

Rebekah Espinosa
Director of °1824, Universal Music Group

Rebekah Espinosa (known to many as Rebe) is the Director of Universal Music Group’s °1824 division providing opportunities for all of UMG’s developing artists. She is an entertainment professional offering over a decade of experience across the industry specializing in R&B, Hip-Hop and Latin, specializing in experiential marketing and strategy. Espinosa works with both Label A&Rs and Publishing A&Rs developing marketing strategies from the very early stages of an artist’s career.

Virginia Faddy
Director of Special Projects,  Recording Academy

Virginia Faddy is Director, Special Projects at the Recording Academy. Based in Nashville, she oversees GRAMMY U, the Academy’s membership program for college/university students pursuing careers in music. She produces mentorship, networking, and professional development programs for students with music professionals, creatives, and GRAMMY-winning artists. Faddy also serves as the artist relations liaison between the Membership & Industry Relations department, consisting of 12 Chapters across the country, and the Talent Relations team in Santa Monica.

Britnee Foreman
Senior Data Analytics Manager at Tempo Music

Britnee Foreman is Senior Data Analytics Manager at Tempo Music Investments she uses data to leverage insights and advocate for songwriters’ catalogs. She is passionate about data literacy among music makers and advancing more women in music and tech. A Music Data strategist with more than a decade in the Music Industry, she knows what drives an artists career forward and has made a career helping artists make a living doing what they love. Foreman has been a sound engineer, artist manager, spoken at numerous conferences, written for blogs, and even appeared in some magazines. 

Todd Goodwin
SVP and Head of °1824, Universal Music Group

Todd Goodwin built and runs °1824, an in-house creative solutions team at Universal Music Group focused on content creation, creator partnerships, experiences, ideation and career development. 1824 is a first-of-its-kind network of young creatives focused on content, unique experiences, ideation, and the connection of artists and brands directly to fans. With 100 employees, °1824 serves as an internal solution for UMG’s creative needs while preserving UMG’s mission to have a first-in-class youth marketing and career development platform. Goodwin joined Universal Music Group in April 2015 as VP of College & Lifestyle Marketing, overseeing marketing strategy for the 18-24 demographic and created a national network of college representatives charged with maximizing awareness of priority and developing artists. Under Goodwin’s guidance, UMG launched the UMUSIC Experience college events brand which brought some of Universal’s top developing artists to college campuses. UMUSIC Experience folded into °1824 in 2019 under Goodwin’s direction.

Mike Heyliger
Director of National Sales, The Orchard

Mike Heyliger is the Director of National Sales at The Orchard, a leading music distribution and artist and label services company operating in over 40 markets worldwide. He brings 25 years of music industry experience to his role, where he has managed the physical sales for artists such as BTS, Jason Isbell and Kelsea Ballerini. In addition to his work at The Orchard, Heyliger heads the initiative Mindful Vinyl, which works to support mental health awareness by raising money and partnering with labels to provide limited-edition green vinyl music releases of their hits to benefit the JED Foundation, a mental health and resource organization. The foundation honored Heyliger and The Orchard in 2018 with the Media Award for Leadership in Mental Health, because of Mindful Vinyl’s work in raising mental health awareness. Aside from his social impact work, he uses his voice through his podcast Detoxicity, which looks to amplify conversations with men around toxic masculinity, and through his journalism having written for Popmatters, Ultimate Classic Rock and The Boombox.

LaShanti Jenkins
Global Head of Campus & Diversity Recruiting, Spotify

LaShanti Jenkins is the Global Head of Campus and Diversity Recruiting at Spotify. In this role, she is committed to seeing that diverse, transformative talent is amongst candidate pipelines to ultimately increase representation of all groups at Spotify. Throughout her career, Jenkins has hired hundreds of candidates for various roles from Intern to Vice President all while keeping diversity at the forefront. Developing programs that create opportunities for underserved talent has been the most fulfilling part of her work.

Kate Kaltenbach
Manager of Membership Engagement, Country Music Association

As Manager of Membership Engagement, Kate Kaltenbach is responsible for developing and implementing strategies to support CMA membership goals. This includes championing a culture of exemplary member service and the growth, retention, and engagement of members through multi-channel outreach. In this role, she also oversees operations for CMA EDU, CMA’s collegiate professional development program that supports and empowers college students to step into their careers with confidence. Growing up in and around the entertainment industry, she spent the early part of her career working as an agent and social media consultant for her family’s 90-year-old talent buying agency, Klein’s Entertainment.

Lucia Kaminski
Head of Digital, Sandbox Entertainment

As Head of Digital for Sandbox Entertainment, Lucia oversees the digital department at Sandbox Entertainment where she advocates on behalf of the roster for programs with partners such as Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Her role is to optimize digital strategy, fan engagement, and content. Sandbox artists include Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town, Kelsea Ballerini, Dan + Shay, Faith Hill, Midland, and Devin Dawson among others.

Michael Kauffman
Director, Clio Music

Michael Kauffman is the Director of Clio Music, a global advertising and market awards created in partnership with Billboard. Clio Music honors advertising and marketing spanning artist promotion, brand collaborations, and the use of music in ads, trailers, and video content. Prior to this role, Kauffman held marketing and corporate communications roles at YouTube, Google, and RightsFlow, a licensing and rights-management start-up acquired by Google. He also held senior sales roles with Universal Music Group’s Verve label and at BMG’s Windham Hill. Kaufmann also serves on the advisory board of Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication in Philadelphia.

Karlie Keaveney
Manager, Warner Music U

Karlie Keaveney grew up on Long Island, New York, where she was always surrounded by Pop Punk, 80’s Hair Metal, and Bubblegum Pop music. Her life changed when she was 12 years old and saw Green Day for the first time in concert — it was from there on that she knew that she wanted to work in the music industry. Once in college, she landed an internship at Atlantic Records, and soon after became a Warner Music U Rep at Pace University. Keaveney now oversees the entire Warner Music U team, and loves getting to work with all of the school reps every day.

Karen Kieves
Associate Director, College Marketing, Sony Music Entertainment

Karen Kieves is the Associate Director, College Marketing for Sony Music where she spearheads artist campaigns focused on hip hop and RnB. She has more than 10 years experience devising and executing marketing plans aimed at breaking artists, selling out tours and engaging music fans. Kieve’s experience includes working across the U.S., Australian and Asian markets, in a variety of roles including marketing strategy, digital marketing, product management, account direction (agency) and artist management. In addition, she has also completed her Masters in Arts Management.

Justin Levenson
Label Resources Team Lead, Big Machine Label Group

Justin Levenson joined Big Machine Label Group as Label Resources Team Lead in September 2019. Prior to joining Big Machine, he served as an artist manager and consultant, and spent 15 years with SESAC working for both the licensing division and the writer/publisher relations department Throughout his life, Levenson has been drawn to a life spent serving others through great organizations like S.O.L.I.D. (Society of Leaders in Development), a leadership organization for young executives in the music industry, the W.O. Smith Community Music School Board of Directors, and as board member of Leadership Music.

Melanie McClain
Publishing A&R, Secretly Group

Melanie McClain is a New-York based Publishing A&R professional at Secretly Group, which includes independent record labels Jagjaguwar, Dead Oceans, and Secretly Canadian, as well as Secretly Distribution and Secretly Publishing. Prior to joining Secretly in 2019, McClain was the Hip-Hop music content specialist at YouTube Music, where she created and optimized more than 100 playlists and assisted the service’s artist relations team. In her 10 years in the music industry, she has also held roles as staff writer at Solange’s Saint Heron, experiential music manager at Budweiser, publicist for G-Eazy, and artist manager for Chicago’s The GTW and JODY. Her past experiences have allowed her to help break international artists like Burna Boy, Megan Thee Stallion, Tory Lanez, DaBaby and more. McClain’s mission is to uplift the vision of musicians who make boundary pushing and left of center music.

Blair Miller
Creative Director, Jonas Group

Blair Miller is the Creative Director of Jonas Group, where she oversees the marketing strategy for artists such as PUBLIC (Island Records) and Melanie Pfirrman (Curb Records). Some of her current responsibilities include music video production, release plan strategy, influencer marketing, and artist/brand development. Miller began her career as a Digital Marketing Manager at Thinkswell before launching Jonas Group Media with Kevin Jonas Sr.

Erika Montes
Head of Artist Relations, SoundCloud

Erika Montes is a Head of Artists Relations at SoundCloud. Based out of SoundCloud’s Los Angeles office, Montes and her team are responsible for building and maintaining SoundCloud’s relationships with artists, managers, producers, and agents at varying levels of success and across genres. In addition, she educates the creator community on SoundCloud’s differentiated business model and best practices to help them drive success on the platform. Prior to SoundCloud, Montes was the Director of Label and Artist Relations at LoveLive, coordinating musical talent for major productions with Show Cobra clients including Amazon, AOL, Spotify and Verizon. Earlier in her career, she was the Vice President of Music Programming and Development at Fuse Networks, where she helped to launch the network’s YouTube channel, in addition to booking all Fuse linear and digital shows such as United States of Hip Hop, Hustle After Party, The Mixdown and CrateDiggers. She got her start in the label system working as an A&R assistant at Polygram and Universal Latino then spent 10 years at Island Def Jam rising the ranks to Senior Director of Video Promotions working with acts like Rihanna, Kanye West, and Fall Out Boy.

Jordan Moran
Director of Digital Marketing at Primary Wave

Jordan Moran is the Director of Digital Marketing at Primary Wave, a role that sees him breathe new life into the music catalogues of icons and legends like Smokey Robinson and Gloria Gaynor with the help of new technology, apps, and digital partners. With his network of partners including Lyft, JibJab, ATTN.com, and Timehop, Moran has helped give “old songs” new meaning for millennials, Gen Z, and generations to come.

Chissy Nkemere
Senior Director, Streaming Marketing at Concord

Chisaram (Chissy) Nkemere is the Senior Director of Streaming Marketing for Concord, and also serves as the Global Co-Chair of Women in Music’s newly established Diversity and Inclusion Council. In 2013, Chissy started her career in music at Razor & Tie, managing physical & digital sales and streaming. After Concord’s acquisition of Razor & Tie in 2015, she joined the Concord family to help lead the streaming marketing, analysis, & strategy for artists across the label group. Between New York & LA, Chissy works internally with seven active labels – Concord Records, Loma Vista Recordings, Fantasy Records, Rounder Records, Fearless Records, KIDZ BOP, & Craft Recordings – and externally with DSP creative teams on Concord’s growing roster of artists & projects.

Jackie Otero
Program Director, Entertainment Business and Music Business Bachelor of Science, Full Sail University

Jackie Otero is the Program Director of the Entertainment Business and Music Business Bachelor’s degree programs at Full Sail University, an active industry consultant, and a music supervisor for commercial campaigns and independent films. She worked in artist management in San Francisco and New York starting in 2001, supporting artists like Aimee Mann, Marc Cohn, Suzanne Vega, Ian Axel of A Great Big World, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Stroke 9, and Speech of Arrested Development. Otero has been a featured speaker for the Music Business Association, Women of AT&T, Florida Film Forum, Women in Film & Television, Charleston Music Confab, Network Music Conference, and Full Sail’s International Experience Center in São Paulo, Brazil.

Neeta Ragoowansi
Co-Founder and SVP of Business Development & Legal Affairs, NPREX

Neeta Ragoowansi is Co-Founder and SVP of Business Development & Legal Affairs for NPREX (National Performing Rights Exchange), the first-ever online marketplace for direct licensing of performance rights with the ability to bundle mechanical and sync between music copyright owners and music users (radio, TV, streaming services, live, etc.). Ragoowansi has been an entertainment attorney, music business professional and musician for over 25 years, dedicated to growing the music industry and helping creators and copyright owners get paid. 

Ragoowansi also serves as leadership/on the boards of Women in Music (Global Co-Chair, Chapter Expansion), The American Bar Association’s Forum on Entertainment & Sports Law, and the Music Managers Forum – US (MMF-US), and is US co-liaison to the International Music Managers Forum (IMMF). She also acts as a consultant to the finance/investment sector on licensing and rights management and music industry issues, a strategic advisor, a business development resource, a legal counsel to entertainment and tech industry clients, and an artist manager.

Joe Rapolla
Chair of The Music & Theater Department, Monmouth University

Joe Rapolla is the Chair of the Music & Theater Arts Department at Monmouth University, where he oversees all student Performing Arts Programs, directs the Music Industry Program, and founded the university record label, Blue Hawk Records. A recognized music industry innovator, he built and led marketing departments at Universal Music and Warner Music Group, where he introduced pioneering relationship marketing programs and platforms. Rapolla also helped build the direct-to-consumer marketing agency, Music Marketing Network, along with a social research agency. He has directed programs for top talent and has partnered with the world’s leading entertainment, media and consumer brands. Rapolla is also a performing songwriter, event producer and speaker. He has written and recorded three studio albums, served as producer on multiple projects and continues to perform globally.

Jason Reddick
Associate Director of Rhythm & Soul, ASCAP

Jason Reddick is the Associate Director for ASCAP, where he runs the Atlanta office assisting writers and producers with royalties, publishing and creative opportunities. Prior to joining ASCAP, he served as Promotions Director for Radio One Atlanta’s Hot 107.9, where he helped push the culture forward in Atlanta by promoting artists and brands through radio. Before this, Reddick open his own branding and music agency, Creative Period, working with the likes of  Pepsi, Footlocker and Puma, among others.

Olivia Rudensky
Digital Marketing, Maverick 

Olivia Rudensky works in digital marketing for management firm Maverick. She began her industry career from running Miley Cyrus’ biggest fan account on social media at 12 years old and joined her management at just four years later. In addition to management, she also works with all different types of talent and companies across entertainment. Rudensky is extremely passionate about using her own platform and experiences to raise awareness for mental health and well-being in this industry.  With artist management being a 24/7 hour type of job, she is also vocal about finding balance in all aspects of life, not just one’s career.

Hunter Scott
Head of Marketing & Publicity, TREND

Hunter Scott Head of Marketing & Publicity for TREND, a full-service PR firm established in 2008 which focuses on press outreach, lifestyle branding, and social media management. He is also the Head of Brand Development for High Q Digital, TREND’s sister company that specializes in social media marketing for entertainment clients, non-profit organizations, and other brands. In addition to running TREND and HighQ Digital, Scott teaches music marketing at UCLA and serves as the Chairman of the Board of The Musicians Foundation, a non-profit that provides scholarships for music and music business education. Scott has spoken at seminars and panels produced by SESAC, ASCAP, The GRAMMY Museum, CD Baby, Cutting Edge Business Conference, NAMM, and MIDEM, among others.

Jessica Sobhraj
CEO, Cosynd

Jessica Sobhraj is a more than 10-year veteran of the music industry that currently serves as the CEO of Cosynd, a cost effective, easy, and legal way for creators to create simple agreements to protect their content. She is also President of Women in Music, a 32 year-old nonprofit that provides services to nearly 2,000 industry professionals. Women in Music’s chapters include New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Nashville, Chicago, DC, Brazil, Barbados, and Canada. Previously, she led strategic traditional licensing opportunities for music micro-licensing pioneers Rumblefish, where she structured distribution networks in Africa, South America, Asia, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. She also served as the Manager of Digital Content Licensing for the performing rights organization SESAC. At the age of 18, she co-founded an online B2B music curation and licensing company honored by Billboard, Fast Company and more, where she established a network of content creators that spanned more than 90 countries.

Alison Smith
Internship Program Manager, SiriusXM / Pandora

Alison Smith is the Internship Program Manager – Employee Experience at SiriusXM / Pandora. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the entire internship program that runs year-around and hires approximately 250 students per year across all departments. Prior to joining SiriusXM, Smith served as career counselor where she helped undergraduate and graduate students in all aspects of the job and internship search process, as well as selecting majors.

Justin Tomlinson
Assoc. Director of Digital Marketing, Sony Music / RCA Inspiration

Justin Tomlinson is Associate Director of Digital Marketing for RCA Inspiration, the Gospel division of Sony Music Entertainment. In this role, he leads the strategic implementation of digital marketing campaigns for the RCA Inspiration roster, while ensuring that that all marketing campaigns support all promotion and consumption efforts. Prior to this role, he served as Manager of Digital Strategy at Sony Music’s Country division, where he developed the digital footprint of the label’s Country music presence and adapted to new social, pop culture and influencer habits while working with artists like Kane Brown, Chris Young and Seaforth, among others. Tomlinson began his career at BET Networks, honing his skills while working on the hit music countdown show 106th and Park, working with the likes of Will Smith, Justin Beiber, Fantasia and Drake.

Ed Walker
VP of Original Content & Production, Vevo

Ed Walker is Vevo’s VP ofOriginal Content & Production. In this role, he oversees all original content, marketing assets, event production and design within the company. Walker and his multi-disciplined team undertake the production of all projects in-house from ideation to roll out, creating and implementing Vevo’s content strategy and creative direction of all content marketing, live event strategy, sponsored content/event strategy and design output. He joined Vevo in 2013, after working with AEG Europe, Metallica, Pro First, Burberry and Activision.

Nina Williams Woodard
Senior Career Development Specialist, Belmont University

Nina Williams Woodard is a Senior Career Development Specialist at Belmont University In this role, she cultivates entertainment industry partnerships and provides career development coaching, resources and programming for students and alumni in the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business and the College of Music & Performing Arts. A former senior level music industry executive with 25 years of expertise in corporate leadership, employee development and brand marketing, Woodard is uniquely suited to guide organizations and individuals towards building strategies and achieving goals. In addition to her role at Belmont, Woodard also serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for Porter’s Call.

Nicole Wyskoarko
EVP of Urban Operations Interscope Geffen A&M

Nicole Wyskoarko is EVP of Urban Operations at Interscope Geffen A&M. Working closely with the label’s A&R team, she helps to streamline communication, keep projects on track, and troubleshoot problems across the Urban roster of the company at a time when Hip-Hop is dominating the charts. Prior to this role, Wyskoarko was a partner at Carroll, Guido & Groffman, working closely with the team on Andre 3000, Len Blatvatnik’s companies and Prince, while building her own client roster which included DJ Mustard, Playboi Carti, Meek Mill,  H.E.R., and Skinny. Her career began at Island Def Jam — in her 14 years at the label, she began as an intern and rose through the ranks to become SVP of Business Affairs, working across both IDJ and Republic Records with Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Rick Ross, Post Malone, Alessia Cara and more.