When efg Mgmt’s Nikki Boon was finishing her degree at MTSU, after stints at North Central University and Belmont, she ran into a guest speaker from one of her summer classes at an industry function. Introducing herself to Martha Earls, the woman breaking ground with Kane Brown, the Grand Rapids, Mich., native found herself being offered an internship. With a head for social media that matches Brown’s gift for audience development, Boon soon built out a marketing/creative direction/new business platform. Not bad for a young woman who came to Nashville on a Dr. Pepper scholarship, looking to make her mark in the music business. “People love a great song,” she believes, “more than they care about the confines of a genre. ‘I don’t love (genre), but I love (artist)’ is something I hear all the time.” Pictured below is Boon with Brown and Earls.

How has breaking artists changed?

Artists need to completely understand their brand and be unapologetically authentic. When artists start releasing music, if fans don’t have something to connect them to the person, then it just becomes one song—they love that song, but they don’t really know the artist. Forming a true connection with the fans that goes past the music, I believe, is what creates a long career.

Best lesson learned?

Don’t ever let your comfort zone limit you. When I started out, I was always intimidated by industry events. I would try and talk myself out of going, because I didn’t know who I’d talk to, but I forced myself to go. And every time I did, I would meet one more person or make a new connection.