In our latest roundup, we present eight rising professionals from various parts of the biz whose dedication and effort may or may not get them invited to their companies' Grammy parties. Either way, a shout-out from this rag and eight bucks will still buy them an oat-milk latte at Starbucks.
Joanne Hunter
VP, Media and Brand Strategy, Def Jam
Among other career highlights, Hunter was ecstatic to see
Muni Long earn three
Grammy Award nominations, including for Best New Artist, this year. She also witnessed
Armani White perform at the
BET Hip-Hop Awards and make his late-night debut on
Jimmy Kimmel Live! She’s presently focused on White’s Def Jam debut and upcoming tours by
Kaash Paige,
Fridayy,
YG and more. In her spare time, Hunter raises chickens and grows a variety of fruits and veggies on her farm in Ecuador. We’ve been known to grow tedious.
Aaron Stern
Senior Director,
Marketing,
RCA
A founding drummer of emo-punk groups
Matchbook Romance and
D.R.U.G.S., Stern has gone from touring with
Taking Back Sunday and
Goldfinger to overseeing campaigns for
RCA acts of various genres, including rock legends
Foo Fighters, next-gen rap group
BROCKHAMPTON and left-field country favorite
Tyler Childers. He recently collaborated with
P!nk on her
TikTok channel and is now dedicating his energies to the release of her next album,
Trustfall. Though it’s a little foggy, our ’00s also consisted of drugs and the
Warped Tour.
Shelby Durkin
Manager,
Brand Partnerships,
SALXCO
Among other “surreal” achievements, Durkin served as the brand manager for
The Weeknd’s partnership with
Monty’s Good Burger and
Postmates, then served the featured meal backstage during his L.A. shows. Other collabs have included
Swedish House Mafia x
Spotify,
Hope Tala x
Skechers and
Dreezy x
True Religion. Durkin was on set for
Doja Cat’s
Taco Bell Super Bowl commercial, which spawned a deal for Doja involving the momentous return of the Mexican Pizza, announced during
Coachella. Now
that’s living más.
Edgar Cutino
CEO, To the World Soon
Four years ago, Cutino direct-messaged
Fridayy to say, “Let’s work!” Since then, the artist has appeared on
DJ Khaled’s “GOD DID” (recipient of three 2023
Grammy nominations) and earned his first Top 10 record (
Lil Baby’s “Forever”). In the past five months, Cutino has seen his clients earn eight Grammy noms and contribute to two #1 and six Top 10 albums. He’s looking forward to Fridayy’s
Def Jam debut album and 2023 tour. Somewhere on the Internet, you’ll find a track Cutino made in high school that won multiple awards. Just don’t Google
us.
Jackie Carrasco
Manager, Digital Marketing, 740 Project/Blac Noize!
Carrasco has come a long way from writing for a local Chicago music blog: Among other things, she’s received a gold plaque for her work on behalf of
French Montana’s
Jungle Rules and was complimented by
Usher for the content she curated for his socials. Coming off a successful 2022 with
Hitkidd’s “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” w/
GloRilla and “Shabooya,” Carrasco notes, “I was destined to be in music since I was a little girl; I used to take down our purple curtains and perform like Selena around the house.”
Our performance is perennially abysmal.
Alex Stolls
Senior Associate, Boyarski Fritz LLP
Stolls, Boyarski Fritz Managing partner
Jason Boyarski and client
Louis Bell once watched
Post Malone play beer pong backstage before his show at
Madison Square Garden. Having cut deals for legends like
Prince,
Earth Wind & Fire,
Joan Jett and
Donny Hathaway, Stolls is currently securing arrangements for
Meek Mill,
Lil Kim and
Marc Anthony; agreements for producers Bell and
Cirkut; a Latin partnership with the
NFL for
Tainy and
NEON16; and pacts for
Create Music Group. He was the captain of his high-school basketball team. We were band geeks (shocking, we know).
Clark Mims Tedesco
VP, Artist Development, Warner Music Nashville
Post-pandemic, Clark’s first concert was
Cody Johnson’s opening of the 2022
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo before a sold-out crowd of more than 70k fans, which made him only the third artist to sell out night one. Also that year, she helped launch 2023
Grammy nominee
Ingrid Andress’ sophomore album,
Good Person, plus new music from artists like
Kenny Chesney and
Blake Shelton. Clark provided background vocals to Shelton’s #1 gold single “Gonna.”
Our singing is limited to the shower.
Eddie Fourcell
A&R Executive, Prescription Songs
For Fourcell, nothing tops hearing
Fridayy, whom he signed to Prescription, on
DJ Khaled’s “GOD DID” for the first time and seeing him score his first Top 10 hit as a featured artist, on
Lil Baby’s “Forever.” Fourcell’s lately excited about new signings
KP and
Derelle Rideout (inked with
Bizness Boi). He’s also working with
Malibu Babie,
Lunch Money and emerging Nashville talent like
Tim Gent and
Bryant Taylorr. Somehow, Fourcell has managed to never even taste coffee. We can’t survive without it—which is not an invitation for you to turn off the spigot.
