Please tell us your story! How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up surrounded by music. To the point where I had my first album credit before I could even talk. I’m exaggerating; my dad was a blues musician, so it was his album and therefore doesn’t really count.
But I grew up with a musician for a father. A circus performer as a sibling. And I’ve dabbled in dance, acting, and music myself throughout my life.
I’ve been going to gigs at the pub and festivals since I was an infant, and I’ve been lucky enough to grow up surrounded by incredibly talented artists of all kinds.
For some reason, it didn’t click that this could be a job for me until much later, despite running events in Canberra (and booking Genesis Owusu when he was performing with his brother as the Answar Brothers), and running away to join the circus for 6 months when I was 19. However after a long period of reflection during the Covid lockdowns, I realised that I loved being able to help artists share their art with the world, I loved being a part of and surrounded by art and music, and I couldn’t believe it had taken me this long to figure it out!
Despite a life spent around the arts, I didn’t know where to start, but I knew I wanted to learn as much as I could and so I decided to go back to uni. It’s not the only way, but it was a great path for me.
I worked in events & the live space throughout uni, but after seeing the insane work hours those in the live industry seem to tolerate I knew it wasn’t for me – at least not full time!
I was lucky enough to receive an offer at Xelon, an independent digital distributor, straight out of uni – and I’ve been working here ever since!
I’ve had the incredible opportunity to grow and take on new projects during my time at Xelon, including launching our own in-house label, ASCENT, with my colleagues Gemma Dunsmore and Amy Roberts, which was created to support & elevate female and gender diverse artists, and which is one of my main focuses for the immediate future.
Tell us about your current role and professional life, what does your day-to-day entail?
I’m the Label & Partnerships Manager at Xelon, and co-run our in-house label ASCENT.
I work across both our label and marketing teams, so my day-to-day changes a lot! On any given day I’m usually helping artists deliver their releases, problem-solving ingestion issues, pitching releases for playlists, working on release strategies or marketing plans, liaising with our DSP partners, organising sponsorships & opportunities with external partners, and of course answering a million emails!
Do you feel that higher education is a necessary step to enter the music industry?
Higher education is a necessary step for very few professions, in the grand scheme of things. How many people do you know that work in an entirely different field to the one they have a degree in? Higher education is valuable in so many different ways; it teaches you how to learn, how to critically analyse information, problem solve, work in teams, and it gives you access to a myriad of knowledge, resources, opportunities, and experiences that are hard to find anywhere else. No one needs a degree to work in music, but I’d encourage anyone that feels drawn to that route to pursue it, because no knowledge is wasted knowledge, and I think everyone should spend their lives learning as much as they can.
“I try to approach challenges as a learning opportunity, but sometimes adversity is simply adversity and the only thing you can do is weather it until you come through the other side.”
Have you had to overcome any challenges or adversity in your career, and if so, how did you approach them?
Like anyone, I’ve had a number of challenges to overcome throughout my career. During university I made the somewhat insane decision to quit my hospo job and only earn money from music related work. Predictably, this made me extremely broke for a while, but it forced me to accept and create opportunities wherever possible.
I was a driver for big stadium shows, and I remember sitting in my van outside Rod Laver Arena at 11:30pm finishing an assignment that was due at midnight, having worked for 12 hours straight and knowing I was in for a few more before going home, and feeling so exhausted that I seriously questioned what I was doing with my life.
A few months later I would graduate at the top of my class and start working at Xelon, but I look back on that moment as a symbol of the years of struggle and hard work that it took me to get where I am today.
I try to approach challenges as a learning opportunity, but sometimes adversity is simply adversity and the only thing you can do is weather it until you come through the other side.
Who has been your biggest champion in your career?
To quote Snoop Dogg’s 2018 Hollywood Star acceptance speech, “I wanna thank me”. My biggest champion has been myself – I have worked so hard to get where I am and I am dedicated to being every artist’s dream team member. I made a choice to back myself, and I am still just as often insecure, ignorant, and making mistakes as I ever was, but I choose to show up anyway.
But this isn’t the whole answer, because there have been so many people that have championed me along the way, without whom I wouldn’t have achieved anything that I have. From my friends & family providing me the personal support that allowed me to study and allows me to work, to the incredible mentors & coworkers & friends in my professional life that have gone above and beyond to educate, support, and guide me, I am beyond lucky to have a wider array of champions than there were knights of the round table.
What is your big picture career goal?
My career plan is to learn everything I can, and use that knowledge to help artists share their art with the world, and with people who will appreciate it as much as I do. I won’t stop learning, I know, things change, but right now my big picture career goal is to do everything within my power to inform, support, empower, and platform the many many talented & dedicated artists out there.
“I made a choice to back myself, and I am still just as often insecure, ignorant, and making mistakes as I ever was, but I choose to show up anyway.”
What has been your proudest achievement so far?
Without a doubt it’s been co-founding ASCENT with friends & colleagues Amy and Gemma, along with the invaluable counsel of Sarah Hamilton herself and help from many many others along the way.
We announced the label in August last year, and we’ve already achieved more than I think any of us could’ve hoped for, but it’s still only the beginning for us and I’m incredibly excited for what the future holds.
What has been the best gig that you’ve ever seen?
There’s so many, but Little Simz had my jaw on the floor the entire time; she was so intentional about everything she did onstage and it was beautiful to watch.
Who are your top 3 ‘artists to watch’?
DEVAURA
Do you have any non-negotiable self care activities?
Sleeping, eating well, drinking enough water, and some kind of movement. Genuinely, if you have those right then good on ya, do your 8-step skincare routine, but I have enough on my plate making sure those four things are solid so that’s my non-negotiable self-care routine.
Any tips for a quick ‘pick me up’ if you’re having a bad day?
Put on ‘We Like To Party’* by the Vengaboys and dance around like a maniac til you feel better.
*Can substitute any similarly ridiculous feel-good Eurotrash song.
What does the rest of the year hold for you? Anything exciting you can tell us about?
We’ve got some big plans over at ASCENT, having just launched our annual ASCEND Competition for female & gender-diverse artists and producers! The winner will receive a prize package which includes distribution through ASCENT/Xelon, as well as a suite of amazing offerings including a workshop with ARIA #1 artist Mell Hall, a mentorship session with Beatrice (Haiku Hands), and a Golden Hour release strategy session!
We’ve also got some releases in the pipeline, including our debut release with nabii which just dropped on the 14th of May, so please go follow @ascent.label to keep up to date with everything!
What is your go-to Karaoke song? (please include this one!)
OH okay my go to is Queen’s ‘I Want To Break Free’ which I cannot sing for the life of me but brings me the most joy out of anything ever.