NOISEMAKERS REVISITED:
THE 2018 EDITION

The industry folk showcased here first appeared in our publication as eager young strivers—they’ve since acquired a bit more seasoning and, in many cases, have moved up to positions of greater responsibility. But they still don’t have enough juice to get out of dealing with us.

Mary Catherine Kinney
Strategic Music Partnerships Lead, Spotify

The fall of 2018 saw Kinney segue from Sony Nashville (working with Luke Combs, Maren Morris and Kane Brown) to Spotify, where she oversaw the platform’s first album promotions with Chris Stapleton, George Strait and Taylor Swift and inaugurated the Indigo playlist, devoted to country’s “new traditionalist” sound. In 2021 she was elevated to the position she holds now, taking Hot Country to college football in a Barstool Sports pact and launching HC’s “Artists to Watch.” Kinney herself is clearly one to watch. She’s been advised to keep a watchful eye on us.

Kayode Wellington
Founder, Artist Manager and A&R, drtymnd

Wellington has been guiding artists’ careers since 2019, helping sign 24kGoldn and Rich the Kid to Electric Feel Management, where he handled preliminary A&R for the former’s debut, El Dorado (home to the #1 smash “Mood” f/iann dior), and A&R’ed the latter’s Republic album, BOSS MAN. In 2021, Wellington founded drtymnd, under the auspices of which he’s managing Field Trip/Warner’s Mallory Merk, whose EP Counterparts, led by single “Just Because,” was released that year. We’ve enjoyed catching up with Wellington. We’re not sure the feeling is mutual.

Steven Gringer
Senior Creative Director, A&R, Pulse

In 2018 Gringer was upped from Creative Director of A&R to his current post, in which capacity he continues to help Pulse reign o’er the Latin charts with, for instance, Bad Bunny’s “Yonaguni” and Kali Uchis’ “telepatía,” both Latin #1s. His signings have contributed to hits by the likes of Justin Bieber, Polo G, Maroon 5, Lana Del Rey and J Balvin, among others. Inspired by George Harrison’s guitar mastery, Gringer is learning how to play. And he still enjoys stargazing at Griffith Observatory—but understandably averts his eyes when we orbit his way.

Jackie Cheng
Senior Director Marketing & Label Management, ADA

Formerly Director of Marketing for Island Records, Cheng last year joined ADA, the independent label- and artist-services arm of Warner Music Group, which brought her back to her indie-label roots—prior to her tenure at Island, she was VP, Marketing & Creative Services, at Photo Finish Records. Since the last time we checked in on Cheng, she’s gone from being a fan of Grammy-winning rapper Macklemore to supporting his work as marketing lead, among other career highlights. We suspect that seeing herself here a second time is a career lowlight.

Alex DePersia
Manager, Patriot Management

DePersia has continued working with Pharrell Williams, presently as his manager alongside Patriot boss Ron Laffitte and as Executive Event Producer of his SOMETHING IN THE WATER festival, which launched in 2019 (immediately selling out) and will return in 2022. She’s likewise overseeing the career of Interscope’s Gracie Abrams, who’s wrapping up a sold-out headlining tour and will soon hit the road with Olivia Rodrigo. In 2021, DePersia joined Femme It Forward’s Next Gem Femme mentorship program to empower women of color in the biz. Anyone want to mentor us?

Malik Rasheed
Co-Founder, As You Are Creative

The last few years have seen “curator of culture” Rasheed, who was previously SVP of A&R at SB Projects, ink masked country rapper RMR (Warner) and Black-ish star Katlyn Nichol (Republic) to CMNTY CULTURE, the venture he co-founded in 2019. More recently, he launched As You Are Creative with CMNTY co-founder Chief Johnson (erstwhile senior manager of entertainment marketing for Puma), where he will expand his purview to include podcasting, film and other media. Rasheed remains a stalwart supporter of the Duke Blue Devils. That’s the one with the ball, right?

Christine Cao
Talent Buyer, Live Nation; Co-Head of Culture, Asian Nation ERG

Since switching from agent (Tove Lo, YUNGBLUD, Rina Sawayama) to promoter (The Wiltern, The Palladium), Cao has produced intimate showcases for twenty one pilots, Leon Bridges and Foster the People, and witnessed newcomers Parcels and Current Joys blow out venues for the first time. During the pandemic Cao routed her own, 49-stop tour of National Parks and began matriculating at UCLA’s Architecture and Interior Design School, from which she’ll graduate this year. She also finds time for LN’s Asian Nation employee resources group. Wait—employees need resources?

Brian Harris Frank
COO, Shelter Music Group

Two years ago Frank brought BFrank Management to Shelter Music Group, which he now serves as COO and has helped grow via the acquisition of AYITA Management. The combined entity has 104 clients, including Fleetwood Mac, ZZ Top and Crowded House. Frank has signed Rodrigo y Gabriela and the estates of Buddy Holly and Scott Weiland, to name a few. Among his personal bests: working with Mick Fleetwood on the epic “Dreams” TikTok campaign, which saw the drummer’s appearance on the Tok’s rockin’ New Year's Eve show. We’ve been asked to disappear on New Year’s Eve.