What inspires you to show up at work everyday?
My team inspires me. They are hungry and extremely hard-working. I have a lot of responsibilities. I have a team in the UK and a small team stateside. England is five hours ahead of us, so I’m usually up at the crack of dawn conversing with my team and catching up on emails. Their energy and passion motivates me a lot. When you’ve been working in the business for over 10 year’s it can become pretty exhausting dealing with some of the politics and emotions. My team’s energy and enthusiasm levels out a lot of the negativity in this business. Besides all of that, I just love what I do.
How did you determine your career path?
It chose me. I actually started out in fashion. I have a BA (HONS) degree in fashion promotion (droadcasting, public relations, journalism) from the London College of Fashion, I was a fashion and beauty editor. I used to write articles and features on celebrities fashion style and was a stylist, then it turned into writing full-blown interviews on their careers. When I became associate editor for Tense Magazine, my first international assignment was to cover a live broadcast for BBC Radio 1 in New York. Wyclef was there, 50 Cent, G-Unit when he first came out, it was an amazing experience, I was then asked to cover a story in Paris, France, again, amazing! So my interest in music became a passion. I was still heavily perusing fashion opportunities, but I kept getting requests and invitations to cover music related assignments and took them.
What other industries connect to your career choice?
Fashion for sure, journalism, marketing, and event planning.
Describe the skill-sets that are essential to future business leaders and innovators.
1. Foresight: you need to have an idea of where the direction of your industry is going and prepare yourself for it.
2. Fresh ideas: you’re not the only innovator out there and you need to keep those creative ideas coming
3. Never lose yourself in the industry that you’re in. Some people get really lost and caught up in the business and that sometimes results in them losing some element of who they are. When you lose yourself, you lose all the followers, believers, and most important, respect.
Define innovative methods you apply to your business and life.
I live and stand by the notion of not living my life and running my business in a corporate manner. We’re a creative bunch and have a relaxed attitude and mentality. When dealing with record labels, managers and publicists, some companies are super stiff, and I feel like, it’s really just not that serious! Lighten up. We’re not saving lives; we work in entertainment; we’re not doctors … calm down.
How do you set goals and evaluate your success?
It depends on the task actually. I work on many different projects and expect different results from each of them. Regarding the conference for instance, although it takes place over 5 days once a year, it literally takes the full year to put together. I would say the event is a success based on the turnout, people’s response to it, and of course how much money we bring in as a business. You have to think about how much time you have spent on the project, what your income goal should be and then divide it by how many hours you’ve spent on the project per team member. If you’re not breaking even/ making a profit then there’s a problem, but don’t beat yourself up, this usually happens in years 3 and 5 of your business, so you have some time to get it right.
Who do you consider peers in your field? Who is setting a great example of best practices?
Jessica Huie with JHPR in London, England. She’s extremely passionate, hardworking and knows everything about her field. She’s an entrepreneur too and driven and motivated. She inspires me everyday.
How do you stay abreast of changes in your field?
I surround myself with people in the business who are making those changes. When it comes to music, it could just be as simple as being in the studio with a songwriter or producer when they are crafting a beat, and sometimes their creations are game-changers.
Name your favorite role models for success in two industries.
My former fashion editor, Salome Munoe, she really did teach me everything I know,; she has no idea she’s absolutely amazing. Kanya King CEO/founder of the MOBO Awards in the UK. The MOBO Awards is the biggest urban music award ceremony in Europe. I have the utmost respect for her as a woman, as an entrepreneur. It’s not easy being a woman in this business. You might think it is, but we deal with a lot and Kanya has made a groundbreaking impact in this business.
Explain why lifelong learning is important to you.
Because I don’t know it all. My mind needs feeding like my body does; it needs exercising. I workout four days a week, but my mind works out 24/7. It’s important for me to exercise my brain, because it can become sloppy and lazy, just like my body and who wants that? It doesn’t look good, and it doesn’t feel good, so I have to exercise my mind everyday.
Describe the voice of success that you hear in your head.
“Wake up!” You snooze, you lose. If you want your dreams to become a reality, then don’t oversleep. Anytime I feel tired, or want to sleep in a little extra, there’s always that voice in my head, screaming at me to get the hell up. I really feel like the earlier you start your day, the more ahead of the curve you’ll be.
Define your personal culture.
I’m 100% British born and bred, and proud. My heritage is West Indian; my grandparents are from Dominica and Jamaica. I love my culture and the influences it has had on my life. I love being Black British. I consider it being the best of both worlds!
Describe your favorite vacation spot.
I’ve traveled most of the Caribbean, destinations in Europe, like Paris, Greece, Italy … visited South Africa … I would say anywhere there is sun, a beach and exotic food. I really can’t pinpoint one destination, as all of the places I mentioned are absolutely amazing!
If you could change one thing about the world, what would you change?
To recycle more. One thing that really, really bugs me is going into Whole Foods towards the end of the night and seeing all that food being wasted. I’ve been told on numerous occasions from managers at the store that they just throw it out. That really hurts my soul and nothing can be done about it — so they say. That’s on my “Change The World To Do List.” Food like that from major supermarket chains should not be thrown out when there are so many people going hungry.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change?
I wish I was more patient. My lack of patience often results in my experiencing panic attacks. Really not pleasant, but definitely working on it. I’m a work in progress.
Join Julia Huie-Martin and a host of music industry professionals September 18-22. For full event details, please visit the website: www.
