In our latest roundup, we present eight rising professionals from various parts of the biz whose dedication and effort make their superiors look good.
This week's entrants will also find their mugs in our latest mag. Thankfully, they can lament this mortifying experience over delicious
Super Bowl party leftovers.
Alena Jackson
Senior Marketing Manager, SALXCO
Jackson absolutely relished working on
Metro Boomin’s
Heroes & Villains; from the creative phase to feature disclosures, fan pop-ups and more, she considers that rollout “truly special.” At the moment, she’s got all hands on deck for rising R&B star
Chxrry22—the first woman inked to
The Weeknd’s
XO—who will join
Mariah the Scientist on tour and has new music due this year.
Zendaya’s mom was Jackson’s fifth-grade teacher and
Matthew Knowles was one of her college professors—he introduced her to
Beyoncé. Maybe
we should’ve had some schooling.
Matthew Maysonet
Head of Digital Commerce and Streaming Marketing, EMPIRE
Maysonet has crashed in
Questlove’s living room after missing his train, navigated an escape room with
Hailee Steinfeld, brainstormed with
Busta Rhymes and produced
Clive Davis’ first speaking gig at
NYU’s
Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. Today he’s building a stream team spanning all seven continents and every major music hub as EMPIRE becomes an international force to be reckoned with. When Maysonet’s not renovating his house or wrangling his mini poodle,
Apple, he might be brewing his own beer.
We’ve been known to brew up trouble.
Michelle Hockett
Associate Director, Marketing, Epic
Having begun her career at
JAY-Z’s
TIDAL, Hocket will never forget the first time she saw him at the office, when he strolled by and said, “What’s up?” After a huge year for Epic’s
Tyla— “Water” was the first platinum
Grammy winner Hockett’s worked on—the marketer is focused on the artist’s self-titled 3/22 debut. She’s promoting
Mariah the Scientist’s album during her nearly sold-out tour and is also excited about upcoming projects from
ScarLip and
SPINALL. Hockett was a competitive dancer in her youth. If only she’d grand jetéd away from us, poor dear.
Jorge Ovalle
Director, Marketing Services, Warner Music Latina
Ovalle based his college thesis on emerging artist
Manuel Medrano, who went on to win the 2016
Latin Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Singer-Songwriter Album, for his self-titled debut. More recently, Ovalle ran point on
Blessd’s
SI SABE FEST, a multiday music outing that included a celebrity soccer match—featuring Brazilian legend
Ronaldinho—in support of the Colombian reggaeton star’s LP
Si Sabe. Ovalle is also stoked to be part of an AI collab on
Jean Pi & DEKKO’s “Señorita Remix.” In stressful moments, he finds comfort in jokes. No wonder he loves us!
Sofia Caputo
Managing Director, Stent Music Group
Caputo was thrilled for clients
NERIAH,
Patrick Martin and
Andi when each played L.A.’s storied
Troubadour in 2023. In 2024, she’s looking forward to seeing NERIAH open for
Madison Beer on tour and Andi supporting
Natalie Jane across the U.K. and EU. Caputo is also working with 42-times-platinum mixer
Koen Heldens (
XXXTENTACION) and sextuple-platinum producer-songwriter
DeLorean Black (
Drake). This
Formula 1 fanatic would ideally make her escape from us in an open-wheel single-seat
Ferrari.
Glenn “Guccio” Teague
Senior Director of A&R, ONErpm
Teague finds joy in helping the artists he’s inked bloom, “transforming into who they’re truly meant to be through their music,” and considers signing rapper-producer
Major Nine (
Rick Ross,
Raphael Saadiq) one of the most rewarding experiences of his career. He’s lately all about Jamaican dancehall producer
DJ MAC, who—coming off the success of
Teejay’s “Drift,” which he co-wrote and co-produced—teamed up with
Jquan and
CrashDummy for December’s “Chakka.” Teague boasts that he can out-cook
Gordon Ramsay. We’re still waiting for our dinner invitation.
Brittney Boston
Founder, Supreme Republic Entertainment
Boston has collaborated with
Dianne Warren as an A&R for
Ella Mai’s “Love Me Like You Do,” escorted
Angela Bassett down the
Golden Globes red carpet and helped market and A&R
MC Fioti’s sextuple-platinum “Bum Bum Tam Tam” remix f/
Future and
J Balvin, among others. She’s now preparing for new work from client
Dax following his chart-topping “To Be a Man” f/
Darius Rucker and the 6/26 fashion show her nonprofit,
I AM Musicology, will host during
BET week. Boston was once in a Christian rap group called
3 Deep. We’re generally regarded as not 2 deep.
Chad Cohen
Talent Agent, UTA
From sold-out tours for
Eli Brown and
Kasablanca to
Boris Brejcha closing out
Coachella in 2023, Cohen’s extremely proud of his latest wins—including a client crying happy tears in his arms. He’s currently planning Brown’s biggest tour yet, devising a debut-album tour for Kasablanca, helping launch the first U.S. tours for house and techno acts like
Max Dean and
Hannah Laing, introducing the live iteration of
Sultan + Shepard and more. Cohen says he was “born on Christmas but doesn’t claim to be Jesus.”
We don’t even claim to be born; more like spawned.
