In our latest roundup, we present eight more stars of tomorrow from various parts of the biz whose dedication and effort make their superiors look good.
This week's entrants will also find their faces in our latest mag. And if they don't care about that (because why should they?), we're told the pages make for semi-decent rolling trays.
Alura Grace Gaskins
Senior Manager, Digital Marketing, Interscope
Since joining Interscope in 2017, Gaskins has, among other things, patrolled the line at
Kendrick Lamar’s
DAMN. vinyl signing and boosted
Grammy winner
Pi’erre Bourne’s
The Life of Pi’erre 5, which she calls “surreal” as
TLOP 1-4 provided the soundtrack to her college experience. She’s now promoting
Last Ones Left, the mixtape released last month by Detroiter
42 Dugg & Louisvillian
EST Gee, and the work of R&B queens
Mereba,
Jenevieve and
Ama Lou. Gaskin is also an indoor-cycling instructor. We’re coming to her class as soon as we get our training wheels off.
Spencer Smith
Senior Director, A&R, Crush Music
Smith loved being part of
Terrace Martin’s
Grammy-nominated
Dinner Party, the producer’s collab with
Robert Glasper,
Kamasi Washington and
9th Wonder. Its follow-up is forthcoming, as is a deluxe edition of his 2021 outing
DRONES. Smith also helps run
Fall Out Boy bassist
Pete Wentz’s
DCD2 Records and works with songwriter
Ilsey Juber (
Kane Brown/
H.E.R.) and songwriter/producer
Andrew Wyatt (
Lady Gaga). In a former life, Smith played drums for
Panic! at the Disco. In a former life, we played at being a respectable publication. Oh, wait, that’s
this life.
Stephanie Marks
Manager, Range Media Partners/Range Music
While every day in Marks’ career feels like a “wow” moment, “young Steph” would go bonkers to know she’d oversee the launch of Range’s label partnership with
Virgin and
Capitol, helping artists like
Beau,
TALK and
Corey Harper take their careers to the next level. Marks has been working on releases for clients like
Bazzi,
Wale,
Cordae and
The Score and exploring sync opportunities in the Range catalog. In another life, she spent months living and working on a permaculture farm in Punta Mona, Costa Rica. Which she felt still wasn’t far enough away from us.
Tim Gonzalez-Crane
Manager, The Core Entertainment
Gonzalez-Crane handles day-to-day management of Core client
Valley. In February he had the pleasure of seeing the Toronto quartet headline New York’s
Irving Plaza. Up next: festival season—with performances at
Life Is Beautiful,
The Governors Ball,
Field Trip and
WonderStruck—new music and touring in 2023. When conditions allow, Gonzalez-Crane can be found on the slopes. He says his mountain playlist is strictly Core artists, insisting, “I really can’t help it!” We tried skiing once but didn’t learn how to stop, so technically, we’re still going.
Jamie Lierk
Chief of Staff, Electric Feel Entertainment & Ventures
While working backstage for
Maverick Management on
U2’s 2017 tour commemorating the 30th anniversary of
The Joshua Tree, Lierk shared a smoke with
Sean Penn, high-fived
Adam Levine and escorted
Alicia Keys and her kids (via piggyback) to their seats. Today, this former executive assistant is helping
Austin Rosen’s Electric Feel launch its Miami Beach studio/office hybrid by staffing “some of the best creative minds in the industry.” Sadly, Lierk confides, she suffers from trypophobia, explaining, “I’m terrified of small holes.” Good thing
we’re a
big hole.
Jordan Weller
Head of Artist & Partner Relations, Indify
For Weller, it doesn’t get much better than back-to-back successes with tracks like
Jx.zero’s “Playboy” and
Gatton’s “When Scars Become Art”—which hit #4 and #10 on Spotify’s Global Viral 50, respectively—or
Leah Kate’s “10 Things I Hate About You” and
anees’ “Sun & Moon,” which both landed in the Top 200 global. At the deal-making hub, Weller’s excited about helping independent artists, including
Chrissy (“Socks”) and
Armani White (“Billie Eilish”), scale their businesses and
own them. While Weller may be a wizard at
Miss Pac-Man, he couldn’t avoid this feature.
Natalie Sellers
Director, Artist & Label Commerce & Partnerships, Stem
As a
Juicy J and
Wiz Khalifa fan, Sellers was thrilled to play a role in their recent collab album,
Stoner’s Night. The four-year Stem vet has also worked with
Brent Faiyaz,
MGMT,
LP and more and recently spearheaded the launch of the company’s playlist-pitching tool, which helps clients pitch for editorial consideration. She’s also focused on releases from
Big Gigantic,
Poolside,
NorthSideBenji and
Dua Saleh, among others. In her spare time, the
USC alum and her roommate drop monthly mixes as a DJ duo.
We just drop F-bombs.
Simon Kessler
Talent Buyer/Promoter, Insomniac
During his six years with
C3 Presents, Kessler loved going to Argentina, Brazil and Chile for
Lollapalooza, where he found “the rowdiest fans in the world.” Since joining Insomniac last year, he’s been busy booking lineups for
EDC Mexico,
Electric Forest,
Beyond Wonderland Monterey (Mexico) and
Lost in Dreams. In 2021 he launched
Maison Arts Publishing Co. alongside
Tyler Goldberg and
John Scholz, publishing
Suki Waterhouse,
Medasin,
Eden Prince,
Vaines and
Joey Briggs. A true festival connoisseur, Kessler chose
Burning Man as his Bar Mitzvah theme.
