Artists and Speakers

Craig Finn

Singer/Songwriter, Frontman of The Hold Steady

Craig Finn is a Minnesota-bred singer/songwriter based in New York City, best known as the singer of The Hold Steady. Finn spent the ’90's leading Minneapolis indie band Lifter Puller, which released 3 albums and an EP. After relocating to New York, he joined with Lifter Puller member Tad Kubler to form The Hold Steady in 2003. The Hold Steady quickly achieved critical acclaim and a worldwide fanbase with their unique pairing of dense lyrical narratives with big rock guitars. The Hold Steady’s ninth album, The Price Of Progress, was released in March 2023, commemorating the band’s 20th Anniversary. 
  
Finn released his first solo album in 2012 with three additional solo LPs put forth from 2015 - 2019: Faith in the Future, We All Want The Same Things, and 2019's I Need a New War - which coalesced into a sign-of-the-times musical trilogy. Finn’s debut book “I Can’t Keep Saying Thank You”, a collection of his song lyrics, was also released in 2019. A double album of B-sides/outtakes All These Perfect Crosses was released in 2021 accompanied by a limited-edition graphic novel/comic book. 
  
Finn’s fifth solo album, A Legacy of Rentals, was released in May 2022 to great fanfare. Pitchfork praised it saying, “The writing remains the main attraction in Finn’s work, and both as a storyteller and a rock songwriter, he has never sounded more in control. From the beginning, he had a gift for meticulous, vivid world-building, and his wordplay has gotten tighter as his subjects have come down to earth.” That’s How I Remember It is Craig Finn’s podcast series, which just started it’s third season. Co-produced and distributed by Talkhouse, the podcast series examines the connection between memory and creativity. Each episode features a discussion between Finn and one creator – including musicians, authors, filmmakers, and more – about the role memory plays in their art. These exclusive conversations reveal the different ways each creator synthesizes their remembered life experience to tell stories about themselves and the world we live in.
 

Miriam O'Shea

Partner Manager—Major Labels, YouTube Music

Miriam O’Shea is an Irish/Moroccan woman who moved to New York in 2022 to work for YouTube Music as a Partner Manager for Major Labels. She is also an artist manager and advocate for emerging RnB artists. As a double immigrant and fearless breaker of glass ceilings, she lives by the words ‘Tada Gan Iarracht’ - Nothing Without Effort (Irish Proverb)’. The greatest magic happens when you embrace the hustle, stay humble & work hard. 

Deborah Mannis-Gardner

President/Owner, DMG Clearances

Deborah Mannis-Gardner — the “Queen of Sample Clearance” according to Billboard, Forbes, Variety, and more — is the go-to expert for global music rights clearances. After starting DMG Clearances, Inc. in 1996, Deborah’s sample clearance skills quickly became legendary. She recently worked with Reservoir to clear samples and prepare the De La Soul catalog for its long-awaited release on streaming services. Deborah also handled music clearances for video games such as Rockstar Games franchises “Grand Theft Auto” and “Red Dead Redemption”; metaverse platforms such as Meta and Roblox; films by Martin Scorsese, The Coen Brothers, and Richard Linklater; TV series on HBO, Showtime, Netflix, and Paramount+; ad campaigns for Google, Ciroc, and Kmart; and podcasts including Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell’s “Broken Record.” Deborah also handled Grand Rights clearance for “Hamilton” and music clearances for its release on Disney+, as well as political campaign music clearances for Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign.

Maria Gironas

Founder—Cool Sh*t, Cool People

Maria Gironas, Forbes 30 Under 30 Honoree, is an entertainment and technology executive who has followed two north stars throughout their career: elevating marginalized communities and empowering creatives to embrace technology. They continue these missions through their own company – Cool Shit, Cool People – working on artist development, talent relations, and integrated marketing for clients like Good Party, Showcase, ShowUp, and more. Beyond their work, they’re currently the General Manager of Keychange U.S. – a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering underrepresented gender creatives with training, mentoring, and network support. Most recently, Maria was also the Global Chair of Diversity, Inclusion, & Community at Women In Music where they worked to create sustainable change for women in music at all stages of their careers.

Rebecca Shapiro

Sr. VP of Publicity, Shore Fire Media

Rebecca Shapiro is an accomplished PR professional and entertainment industry leader who helps artists, thought leaders and brands amplify their messages. Driven by an insatiable curiosity and a passion for helping people tell their stories, Shapiro works at the intersection of arts and culture, leading PR campaigns for renowned musicians, actors, entrepreneurs, venues, start-ups, nonprofits and more for over two-and-a-half decades. 
   
As Senior Vice President of Publicity at Shore Fire Media, she has worked with notable clients including musicians and actors (Bonnie Raitt, Paul Reiser, Kesha, Khruangbin, Kylie Minogue, Steve Aoki), venues (Brooklyn Bowl, Forest Hills Stadium, Capitol Theatre), non- profits (Belafonte Family Foundation, Music Will), cultural institutions and destinations (Louis Armstrong House Museum and Archives, New York Public Radio, Paisley Park), entrepreneurs (Sahra Nguyen/ Nguyen Coffee Supply, Jing Gao / Fly By Jing), festivals (Super Bowl Music Fest, Summerfest) and music industry executives and businesses (Wasserman Music, Premier Music Group).
 

Dre Slater

Head of Artist Discovery, The Digilogue

Born and raised in Miami, Florida, De Aundre Slater, is an artist manager, digital marketing genius, and music business professional. He has always had a burning passion for discovering & developing talent, strategic marketing, production, and building music communities. As The Digilogue's Head of Artist Discovery, his focus is to help build infrastructures that would create a plethora of opportunities for artists to be discovered and hopes to positively impact the global music & entertainment industry.

Angela Ramos

Manager of Global Sync, Meta

Angela Ramos is the Manager of Global Sync for Meta. In her role, she handles a broad scope of sync licensing deals for Meta's variety of projects including video games, marketing, and metaverse activations. Prior to joining Meta in 2021, Angela worked within production music licensing a large catalog of music for advertising and new media, while maintaining a clientele of several hundred contacts. Angela also worked with major video game distributor Take-Two Interactive, on the music licensing for Rockstar and 2K Games focusing on the music of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption II.

Marcus J. Moore

Music Journalist

Marcus J. Moore is an author, curator and music journalist at The New York Times and Tidal, among other outlets. Marcus co-leads the jazz-focused "5 Minutes That Will Make You Love" series at The Times and has his own monthly column at Tidal called "The Liner Notes." He's been a contributing writer at The Nation and a founding editor of Bandcamp Daily. His first book, 'The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America," was published by Simon & Schuster in 2020. His next book, "High and Rising," will be published next year by HarperCollins.

Kevin Rutherford

Sr. Charts/Data Analyst—Streaming Services & Rock, Billboard

Kevin Rutherford is a senior charts analyst for streaming services and rock at Billboard, working as one of the stewards of the industry-standard Billboard charts. He previously worked as the news editor at CBS' Radio.com and freelanced for a variety of music publications, including Rolling Stone, Fuse, Paste, Flavorwire and more. He spent four years with ACRN while at OU, eventually becoming its editorial director. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, a fellow OU grad.

Mike Joseph

Director of Label Management, The Orchard

Mike Heyliger AKA Mike Joseph has worked in the music industry for over three decades. His career began at the legendary Tower Records and has included retail management, physical and digital retail sales, PR, digital marketing and client management. He was honored as a Billboard Pride Power Player in 2020, recognized as an influential LGBTQIA+ music industry executive. Mike is also a mental health advocate, having worked with various charitable organizations including Backline, Sound Mind, and the JED Foundation, with whom he partnered on an initiative called "Mindful Vinyl", raising thousands of dollars for mental health research. He hosts and produces the podcast "Detoxicity", which focuses on creating pathways for discussion around masculinity, and is currently busy starting a new career as a life and relationship coach.

Sarah Kloboves

Digital Marketing Coordinator, Chartmetric

Sarah Kloboves is the digital marketing coordinator at Chartmetric, an all-in-one data analytics platform for artists and music industry professionals. There she manages all of the daily content on digital platforms, including Chartmetric’s publication How Music Charts. She also oversees many marketing initiatives and has facilitated campaigns for projects such as Chartmetric’s Artist Plan and OneSheet platform. Sarah has also contributed several stories to How Music Charts, infusing data with real world music news and specializing in areas like international markets, genre trends, and other industry insights. 

Britnee Foreman

Head of Data Strategy & Digital Operations, Exceleration Music

Britnee Foreman is a multi-hyphenate music executive and data strategist with a passion for helping artists and creators make a living doing what they love. Currently, she’s Head of Data Strategy & Digital Operations at Exceleration Music where she scales labels and music catalogs using data, and works across multiple verticals like royalty collection, marketing, development, and discovery. The Los Angeles native is also the Global Co-Chair for Membership at Women in Music, an organization committed to advancing equality, visibility, and opportunities for women in the industry. Britnee’s career spans 10+ at the intersection of music, tech, and data analytics at top companies such as Downtown Music Holdings, Temple Music Investments, Universal Music Republic Group, SPIN Magazine, Pandora, among others.

John Williamson

CEO/Founder, SongFinch

John Williamson is the CEO and Founder of Songfinch, an artist-first music platform leveraging technology to connect a curated community of talented independent artists with individuals and brands to tell their stories through original songs. Inc. 5000 recently named Songfinch the fastest growing consumer product company in the country, based on its explosive 23,991% 3-year growth rate. John is a serial entrepreneur who’s been inspiring and investing in Chicago’s startup community for over two decades. Prior to Songfinch, John founded and exited a creative agency as well as a music licensing marketplace that was acquired by Coca-Cola.

Mary Jo Braun

VP of Music Clearance, Paramount Pictures

Mary Jo Braun ("MJ"), Vice President Music Clearance for Paramount Pictures.  MJ has worked at Paramount for 20 years negotiating the rights to use source music in over 100 films/television shows.  After graduating Ohio University with a BA in Journalism, MJ traveled a bit then made her way to Southern California to work in the music industry.  Her first job was at Columbia Records as a long-term temp (Temping does work!!!) in administration, then she was hired at Virgin Records where she met her mentor, Gemma Corfield, VP of Artist & Repertoire.  She started to license out Virgin Records recordings.  After four years at Virgin, she took a leap into independent licensing, working for various music supervisors for film.  MJ was recruited by Don Williams Music Group as the Director of Licensing where she licensed music from Chicago and parts of the Jimi Hendrix catalog.  MJ has worked at Warner Brothers, Rysher Entertainment, Famous Music (now Sony Music Publishing), CBS Home Entertainment and has continued to love the art of negotiation when it comes to music.  Notable films include SELMA, ON THE COME UP, MEAN GIRLS: THE MUSICAL, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, SMILE, TRANSFORMERS (multiple films), DORA THE EXPLORER, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (multiple films), DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, A QUIET PLACE and many more. She currently lives in Santa Monica and enjoys traveling whenever she gets the time!

Matt Hendrickson

Music Journalist—Rolling Stone, Garden & Gun

Matt Hendrickson has more than 25 years of experience in print and digital journalism. Currently, he’s a Contributing Editor for the Southern lifestyle publication Garden & Gun, overseeing the music coverage for the magazine, which includes a cover story on Jason Isbell in 2023. He began his career at Rolling Stone, serving as a writer and editor for 12 years, penning cover stories on Green Day and Rage Against the Machine, among others, and covering the 1999 Columbine High School shootings. From 2005-08, he held a three-year visiting professor position at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He has contributed to the New York Times, Details, Billboard, Travel & Leisure, among many others, as well as running his own media consulting company, Big Swede Media, where his client list includes Fast Company, AT&T, Ford, JW Marriott, CBS, and Interscope Records.

Jaron Takach

Producer/Multi-Instrumentalist, Saticöy

Jaron Takach is a producer and multi-instrumentalist who is a member of the band Saticöy. His productions have received thousands of TV and commercial syncs, including shows such as All-American, Lucifer, and Gen V. His music has also been featured in major sports events, including UFC, ESPN, and The World Series. Jaron has won several awards for his productions, such as "Best R&B Song" and "Best Pop Song" at the PMA's Mark Awards, as well as "Best Pop Song" at the Hollywood Music & Media Awards. In 2022, Saticöy signed a publishing deal with Universal Production Music Group, which led to the release of their debut album "Origami". The band has amassed over 60 million views and 2 million streams across all platforms to date.

Faith Galloway

Director of Operations, Bauer Entertainment Marketing

Faith, originally from Cleveland, OH, kick-started her career at Live Nation and has since gained nearly a decade of expertise in music marketing and management. During her time at OU, she served as the Director of Marketing for Brick City Records, participated in the school's SXSW program, and volunteered at All Campus Radio Network (ACRN).
  
Post-OU, Faith has worked for top-tier companies like VICE and Refinery29, as well as collaborated with notable artists such as Lee Brice, Priscilla Presley, and Nile Rodgers. Now based in San Francisco with her fiancé, Faith is the Director of Operations at Bauer Entertainment Marketing (BEM), overseeing a team of 30+ and managing digital marketing efforts for the agency's festival, venue, and artist clients, including ASCAP, Country Jam Music Festival, CAA, and more. 
 

Macy Gilbert

Artist Manager, Grandview Music

Macy Gilbert is an Artist Manager, currently working at Grandview Music, with artists such as Kim Dracula and Motionless in White. Macy recently traveled with Kim Dracula on their North American Tour, which included Avenged Sevenfold, Falling in Reverse, and Alexisonfire. Independently, she manages the band Saticöy, an alternative rock band from Ohio. Prior to her current role, Macy worked in Artist Management for Lil Nas X at Live Nation/REBEL. She has also worked in Music Supervision at entertainment marketing companies such as Project X and Trailer Park Group, where she managed syncs for Film, TV, and Trailers.

Alex Malcolm

Global Sync Manager, Warner Music Group

Malcolm began his journey as an intern at Warner Music Group just a few weeks after graduating in 2018 from Ohio University and is now with the Visual Media Licensing team. He handles Video Games + New Media clients, working with major artist campaigns and companies such as Epic Games, 2K Games, EA (Electronic Arts), Rockstar Games, Meta, Roblox, and many more.

David De Cristofaro

Business Development & Partnerships Lead, Interactive Images

David brings advanced insights from his studies of tech, economics, the live event space, as well as his work in creative fan experiences with the largest artist, tour, & festival productions in music from Coachella to the Grammy’s, to the Emmy Award-winning Super Bowl Halftime Show. As the business development & partnerships lead for Interactive Images he is helping guide cutting-edge extended reality (XR) projects with artists like U2, Coldplay, Karol G, & Janet Jackson, as well as companies like VIP Nation & Full Stop Management. A NAMM President’s Innovation Award winner, & member of the MIT Technology Review Global Insights Panel, he’s contributed to USA Today, AV Magazine, and Hypebot.

Brothertiger

Electronic Musician & Producer

John Jagos, aka Brothertiger, is an electronic musician and producer based in New York. Originally from Toledo, Ohio, he graduated from Ohio University in 2012, studying music production in the School of Media Arts & Studies. Since leaving OU, he has garnered critical acclaim through his releases and has gained a loyal fanbase across the world, touring extensively across the US, Europe, and South America. His intention has always been to create electronic music connecting to the natural world. This unique approach has led to producing for a multitude of artists. Brothertiger’s most recent album, the self-titled "Brothertiger", came out in 2022.
  
Some of his most listened-to works include a cover of Tears for Fears’ "Songs From the Big Chair" in its entirety. Regarding the album, Tears for Fears’ Roland Orzabal stated “I think we might have to play his versions before we go on stage. His "Mothers Talk" is better than ours.”

Jon Zellner

President of Programming Operations & Digital Music, iHeart Media

Jon never had a “plan B.” After meeting Wolfman Jack on the NBC Tour at the age of 8, he knew he wanted to work in the radio industry. Jon’s first time on the air was at the age of 14 when he joined his high school radio station in Franklin Lakes, NJ.

Now, 40 years later, Jon has worked with over 100 markets across the country specializing in ratings and revenue growth through brand development, strategic and financial planning and the coaching and mentoring of talent. Jon's experience includes broadcast and digital programming, operations, marketing, mergers & acquisitions and product start-ups & turnarounds from his senior management positions at iHeartMedia, Sirius XM and CBS Radio. 

Jon currently serves as President of Programming Operations and Digital Music for iHeartMedia, the #1 audio company in America, overseeing national programming and strategy for 650+ iHeartMedia Custom and Format Center stations, thousands of Digital Channels and Playlists on the iHeartRadio app, Partner and Client integration, the Commercial Production, Imaging and Audio Distribution Centers, the Talent Management Center, the Technical Operations team, event broadcast operations and communication to all of iHeart’s 860+ radio stations in 160 markets serving 275 million monthly listeners. As a Regional EVP, Jon oversaw programming for dozens of markets of all sizes from coast to coast.

Before joining iHeartMedia, Jon was EVP of Programming for Sirius XM overseeing programming operations and strategy for 100+ channels and helping grow the subscriber base from 1m to over 20m. Jon spent nine years as VP of CHR and Hot AC programming for CBS Radio, WBMX & WODS Boston VP of Programming and KMXV, KSRC, KFKF & KBEQ Kansas City VP of Programming. Jon also worked as an OM, PD and On-Air Talent in Phoenix, Columbus, Greensboro, Oklahoma City and Fresno. 

A recent Senior Programmer of the Year winner at the Worldwide Radio Summit, Jon has also been recognized by Billboard, Radio & Records, Friday Morning Quarterback, Gavin and the Kansas City Media Professionals as OM/PD of the Year and five times as one of Radio Ink's Best PDs in America. He has served on the Board of Governors and the Media Advisory Council for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and the faculty for the Conclave, the HD Radio Leadership Team and the National Talent Radio System.

LJ Malberg

Founder/CEO, Compassionate Muse

LJ Malberg, PCC is the Founder and CEO of Compassionate Muse, an executive coaching and workplace culture consulting company based in Athens, OH and NY, NY. LJ is also the Founder of CoMuse, the Mindful Business Community for Creative Professionals in Music and Entertainment. A former jazz vocalist and dancer, LJ is a near-30 year music and entertainment veteran (Chuck D./Slam Jamz, Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, IndieGoGo, Patron Technologies), an avid meditator, and student of Buddhism for 25 years and a lover of Brazilian Jazz, Neo Soul and 80s New Wave rock. 
  
Her life’s work is to bring the practical applications of emotional intelligence to work, and to shift the way we work together for GOOD. 

J Rawls

Producer and Asst. Professor of Hip Hop at Ohio State University

Known for his music production work with artists like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Domo Genesis (Odd Future), Capital Steez (Pro Era), Beastie Boys, Del tha Funky Homosapien, Aloe Blacc and more, Dr. Jason Rawls is an educator with over two decades of teaching experience. A leader of the #HipHopEd movement, Dr. Rawls is an Assistant Professor of Hip Hop at THE Ohio State University. He is leading the team that is creating the FIRST Hip Hop Studies program in a School of Music at an R1 university in the United States. Before this, at Ohio University, Dr. Rawls helped develop the first Hip-Hop Based Education program in a College of Education. The program called H.O.P.E. is a series of four courses rooted in Hip-Hop Based Education using both Culturally Relevant and Relational Pedagogy and he was the coordinator of the Brothers R.I.S.E. program at Ohio University. Dr. Rawls is also co-author of a book entitled, Youth Culture Power: A #HipHopEd Guide to Building Teacher-Student Relationships and Increasing Student Engagement. Rawls is also featured in an exhibit on Hip Hop at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Ted Van Hyning

Vice President, NPi Audio Visual Solutions

Ted Van Hyning, a 2000 graduate of Ohio University, is the Vice President of NPi Audio Visual Solutions, a full-service Event Production company in Cleveland, Ohio. As a Project Manager and Designer, Ted's clients include The Cleveland Orchestra, Nelsonville Music Festival, Live Nation, AEG and many others in the entertainment, special events and experiential marketing spaces. He lives outside Chagrin Falls, Ohio with his wife Jenny and their dogs, horses and Delonte the cat.

Chris Messina

Producer/Engineer, Bon Iver

Chris Messina is a Grammy nominated producer, engineer, and songwriter best known for his work with Bon Iver, S. Carey, and Gordi. He is an 18 year veteran of the music industry with extensive knowledge of the live production, creative direction, and touring industries having toured with Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Eminem to name a few. The intersection of these disciplines and his experience in them gives him a unique ability to take artists from the writing phase, to the studio, and onto stages around the world.

Chris Wetherell

Co-Founder/CEO, Myxt

Chris Wetherell is a musician turned Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Myxt. An early engineer at Google, Chris started the popular Google Reader app used by millions worldwide. Chris then went on to work at Twitter as the lead on implementing its Retweet feature. He also started Thing Labs, Avocado Software, and was most recently the Chief Product Officer of the geographic data analysis platform, Tierra. Chris attended University of California, Berkeley where he studied Computer Science and Music.

Anne Kallevig

Founder, Empirical Production Group

Anne Kallevig is a production manager, stage manager, show caller and technical director whose experience spans the gaps between music, corporate and virtual. She spent the first years of her career learning the music festival ropes from the best of the best, and is proud have been part of many top tier music festivals in their formative years including Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, Firefly and others. 
   
Since forming Empirical Production Group in 2013, she has been consulting for promoters, meeting planners and artists to execute world class events. Highlights include production manager roles for Jack Johnson, Something In The Water, and Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival.
   
Having worked on both the promoter and artist side, Anne brings a variety of perspectives and a small but mighty team of production professionals to every project. She’s both amazed and grateful it’s possible to take high school theater and summer camp and somehow make a career.

Kevin Breuner

Head of Artist Development & Education, BandLab Technologies

BandLab Technologies’ Head of Artist Development & Education, Kevin Breuner, has spent over 25 years working in the music business, both as a recording artist and an industry professional. As a member of the Atlanta-based band Smalltown Poets, Kevin has sold over 300,000 albums, been nominated for a Grammy, had ten Top 10 songs on radio, with two reaching the coveted #1 spot. He’s also had songs used by Peacock, ABC, the NFL, and the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

After many years leading the marketing efforts at CD Baby and building the DIY Musician brand of musician content, Kevin is excited to be helping usher in a new era of creator development at BandLab Technologies

Andrew Wright

Lighting Technician, NPi Audio Visual Solutions

Andrew is a lighting designer based in Cleveland, OH. He is a graduate of the Lighting Design and Technology program at the University of Cincinnati. He started his career working as a designer for community theaters and dance companies but found a passion for corporate design working in the shop at Vincent Lighting Systems. Andrew has always had a love for the arts and engineering. Some of his hobbies include climbing, music, and pottery. His favorite gigs are both creative and technically challenging, combining both his love for art and engineering. During Covid, he couldn't stay away from the theater and found work installing rigging systems in schools and theaters. This engrained a passion for safety and quality that drives his creative processes now. Andrew is currently a Lighting Technician at NPi Audio Visual where he has had the opportunity to work on projects for clients such as the Browns, Professional Bull Riders, and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Dave Polster

Sr. Mastering Engineer & Operations Manager, Well Made Music

Dave Polster is a Senior Mastering Engineer and Operations Manager at Well Made Music. He is an OU alum graduating in 2012. In 2014, Dave joined Well Made Music. There, he jumped at the opportunity to learn how to cut master lacquers for vinyl on two Neumann VMS-70 lathes and has since spearheaded Digital Mastering at WMM. Dave has worked on two GRAMMY Award-winning projects; cutting lacquers for both Billy Strings’ Home album and Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway’s Crooked Tree. Dave has appeared as a panelist for AES’s International Convention in NYC, at Webster University’s AES Student Summit, and as a guest lecturer at Ohio University. In his spare time, Dave enjoys live musical performances, hiking, and researching lots of tech topics online. One of Dave’s favorite aspects of his job is the unifying power of music and the timelessness of the recording and mastering process.

Cameryn Conner

Rights Management Associate, The Mechanical Licensing Collective

Cameryn Conner is an alumnus of Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication, and currently resides in Nashville, TN. She serves as a Rights Management Associate at The Mechanical Licensing Collective, while also pursuing an MBA with a concentration in Music Business at Middle Tennessee State University. During her time at Ohio University, she had the privilege of attending South By Southwest 2018 and collaborating with students and talent at Brick City Records. These experiences, along with her education, have allowed her to start her career and forge meaningful relationships within the music industries based in Nashville, TN, Atlanta, GA, and Los Angeles, CA.

Mason Nozik

Audio Technician, NPi Audio Visual Solutions

Mason is an audio technician and multi-instrumentalist from Cleveland, OH. He started writing and performing music at age 11, and his knowledge of audio led him to his high school A/V department, where he became the head audio technician for all school events. After graduating, Mason got an associates degree at the Tri-C Recording Arts & Technology program to further his knowledge of audio and music production. However, interning at a local studio showed him that despite his love for making music, studio engineering wasn't an enticing career path, and he was steered toward the live events industry. Mason has now been an audio technician at NPi for almost 5 years, allowing him to run sound at music festivals, large corporate events, the professional bull riding tour, and anything in between. In his free time he writes, performs, records, mixes and releases music on his own under the name Lone Thunder.

Jay Gilbert

Host of Your Morning Coffee Podcast

Co-founder, Digital Strategy and Analytics at Label Logic 
Curator of Your Morning Coffee Newsletter 
Co-host of the Your Morning Coffee Podcast (with Michel Etchart)
Co-host of the Billboard podcast Behind The Setlist (with Glenn Peoples) 
Co-host of the Music Biz Weekly Podcast (with Mike Brandvold)
 
Created and executed unique online marketing plans for Nirvana, The Police, KISS, Motley Crue, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, Styx, Rob Zombie, Johnny Cash, Guns ‘N Roses, Smokey Robinson, Tears For Fears, Rick Springfield, Lisa Loeb, Ringo Starr, Ron White, Peter Frampton, The Temptations, Amy Grant, Melissa Etheridge, The Accidentals, Travis Tritt and many, many others.

Dani Deahl

Head of Communications & Creator insights, BandLab

Dani Deahl has been at the forefront of artist discovery and meaningful industry change for over a decade. She is currently Head of Communications & Creator Insights at BandLab, the next-generation social music creation platform on a mission to break down the technical, geographic, and creative barriers for musicians and fans. She is also President of the Chicago Chapter of The Recording Academy, a DJ, and an electronic recording artist with music released on labels like Dim Mak, Armada, and Monstercat.

Yuri Lysoivanov

Market Development Specialist, Shure

Yuri Lysoivanov is a product expert at Shure and a Chicago based audio engineer specializing in recording singer/songwriters and small classical ensembles. His love of sound and acoustics and friendly personality make him a valued asset to a variety of projects across the country. His recent recordings include Joshua Bell, the American Composer’s Orchestra, Kurt Elling and two classical albums released on Navona records.

Rachael LaCava

Music Supervisor / Music Research Analyst, Media Content Operations at Meta

Rachael is a Freelance Music Supervisor and a Music Research Analyst. She moved to NYC in 2015 after graduating from Ohio University and has worked in various roles within the industry. She started her career at Audio Network working as a Music Licensing Manager. She’s since had the opportunity to work as a producer and music supervisor at two music houses, SixtyFour Music and Howling Music. She’s worked on original compositions, re-records, and supervision projects. Her work includes Stella Artois, Angi, espnW, Sephora, Ubisoft, Burt’s Bees, Crayola, and Nissan. She currently works as a Music Research Analyst at Meta. 

Peter One

Artist and Musician; Opening Act for Jason Isbell Show

Peter One grew up in Bonoua, a small town in southeastern Cote d'Ivoire about 30 miles from Abidjan, the economic center of the nation. Having first learned guitar at the age of 17, Peter developed stylistic affinities for African troubadours like Benin's G.G. Vickey and the Cameroonian Eboa Lotin, which he began to blend with the chordal and harmonic lushness of some of his American favorites Simon & Garfunkel and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. He now resides in Nashville. His latest album, 'Come Back to Me', might just transport listeners to new vistas, new moods, and new modes of experience, because they are the reflection of Peter's own unpredictable, ever-surprising journey.

Andrew Morgan

Booking Agent, Wasserman Music

Andrew is a booking agent at Wasserman Music whose roster includes Angel Olsen, Ichiko Aoba, Sleep, Wednesday, MJ Lenderman, Bully and a handful of podcasts and comedians. His career as an agent started at Aero Booking in 2006. Since then he's spent time at the boutique booking agencies Billions and Ground Control Touring. He's based in LA.

Brian Muehlenkamp

Product Manager, Ticketmaster

With 10+ years experience in the ticketing industry, Brian is a motivated Product Manager who helps to deliver data-driven insights into the e-commerce platform at Ticketmaster. After working at venues, recording studios, and music festivals, Brian found his niche in the entertainment industry helping to get millions of fans through the doors to see their favorite artists every year. Brian currently works remotely and lives in Athens with his wife and two sons.