NOISEMAKERS:
MAY THEY SHINE

In our latest roundup, we present eight more stars of tomorrow from various parts of the biz whose dedication and effort make their superiors look good.

This week's entrants will also find their faces in our latest mag. And if they don't care about that (because why should they?), we're told the pages make for semi-decent rolling trays.

Alura Grace Gaskins
Senior Manager, Digital Marketing, Interscope

Since joining Interscope in 2017, Gaskins has, among other things, patrolled the line at Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. vinyl signing and boosted Grammy winner Pi’erre Bourne’s The Life of Pi’erre 5, which she calls “surreal” as TLOP 1-4 provided the soundtrack to her college experience. She’s now promoting Last Ones Left, the mixtape released last month by Detroiter 42 Dugg & Louisvillian EST Gee, and the work of R&B queens Mereba, Jenevieve and Ama Lou. Gaskin is also an indoor-cycling instructor. We’re coming to her class as soon as we get our training wheels off.

Spencer Smith
Senior Director, A&R, Crush Music

Smith loved being part of Terrace Martin’s Grammy-nominated Dinner Party, the producer’s collab with Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington and 9th Wonder. Its follow-up is forthcoming, as is a deluxe edition of his 2021 outing DRONES. Smith also helps run Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz’s DCD2 Records and works with songwriter Ilsey Juber (Kane Brown/H.E.R.) and songwriter/producer Andrew Wyatt (Lady Gaga). In a former life, Smith played drums for Panic! at the Disco. In a former life, we played at being a respectable publication. Oh, wait, that’s this life.

Stephanie Marks
Manager, Range Media Partners/Range Music

While every day in Marks’ career feels like a “wow” moment, “young Steph” would go bonkers to know she’d oversee the launch of Range’s label partnership with Virgin and Capitol, helping artists like Beau, TALK and Corey Harper take their careers to the next level. Marks has been working on releases for clients like Bazzi, Wale, Cordae and The Score and exploring sync opportunities in the Range catalog. In another life, she spent months living and working on a permaculture farm in Punta Mona, Costa Rica. Which she felt still wasn’t far enough away from us.

Tim Gonzalez-Crane
Manager, The Core Entertainment

Gonzalez-Crane handles day-to-day management of Core client Valley. In February he had the pleasure of seeing the Toronto quartet headline New York’s Irving Plaza. Up next: festival season—with performances at Life Is Beautiful, The Governors Ball, Field Trip and WonderStruck—new music and touring in 2023. When conditions allow, Gonzalez-Crane can be found on the slopes. He says his mountain playlist is strictly Core artists, insisting, “I really can’t help it!” We tried skiing once but didn’t learn how to stop, so technically, we’re still going.

Jamie Lierk
Chief of Staff, Electric Feel Entertainment & Ventures

While working backstage for Maverick Management on U2’s 2017 tour commemorating the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree, Lierk shared a smoke with Sean Penn, high-fived Adam Levine and escorted Alicia Keys and her kids (via piggyback) to their seats. Today, this former executive assistant is helping Austin Rosen’s Electric Feel launch its Miami Beach studio/office hybrid by staffing “some of the best creative minds in the industry.” Sadly, Lierk confides, she suffers from trypophobia, explaining, “I’m terrified of small holes.” Good thing we’re a big hole.

Jordan Weller
Head of Artist & Partner Relations, Indify

For Weller, it doesn’t get much better than back-to-back successes with tracks like Jx.zero’s “Playboy” and Gatton’s “When Scars Become Art”—which hit #4 and #10 on Spotify’s Global Viral 50, respectively—or Leah Kate’s “10 Things I Hate About You” and anees’ “Sun & Moon,” which both landed in the Top 200 global. At the deal-making hub, Weller’s excited about helping independent artists, including Chrissy (“Socks”) and Armani White (“Billie Eilish”), scale their businesses and own them. While Weller may be a wizard at Miss Pac-Man, he couldn’t avoid this feature.

Natalie Sellers
Director, Artist & Label Commerce & Partnerships, Stem

As a Juicy J and Wiz Khalifa fan, Sellers was thrilled to play a role in their recent collab album, Stoner’s Night. The four-year Stem vet has also worked with Brent Faiyaz, MGMT, LP and more and recently spearheaded the launch of the company’s playlist-pitching tool, which helps clients pitch for editorial consideration. She’s also focused on releases from Big Gigantic, Poolside, NorthSideBenji and Dua Saleh, among others. In her spare time, the USC alum and her roommate drop monthly mixes as a DJ duo. We just drop F-bombs.

Simon Kessler
Talent Buyer/Promoter, Insomniac

During his six years with C3 Presents, Kessler loved going to Argentina, Brazil and Chile for Lollapalooza, where he found “the rowdiest fans in the world.” Since joining Insomniac last year, he’s been busy booking lineups for EDC Mexico, Electric Forest, Beyond Wonderland Monterey (Mexico) and Lost in Dreams. In 2021 he launched Maison Arts Publishing Co. alongside Tyler Goldberg and John Scholz, publishing Suki Waterhouse, Medasin, Eden Prince, Vaines and Joey Briggs. A true festival connoisseur, Kessler chose Burning Man as his Bar Mitzvah theme.