Giggs Podcast
The Giggs Podcast, hosted by Nikki Sanz, Founder & CEO of Giggs, the professional career platform for the live event industry, dives into the world of touring and live events to share the good, the bad, the ugly, and the unbelievable moments of gigging life, along with invaluable lessons learned on the road.
We’re here to fill the gap in content about what it truly takes to work on the road. Our episodes explore every discipline within the live event industry, showcasing big wins, hard-learned lessons, and everything in between. We honor the pioneers of this industry, offering invaluable insights from the older generations who shaped modern touring.
Whether you’re an aspiring tour manager, a seasoned backline tech, or just passionate about the live event scene, this podcast is for you. Join us as we take you behind the scenes to explore the highs and lows of gigging life.
Giggs Podcast
#54 Kyana White | From WME Intern to Tour & Production Manager
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Recorded live at Rock Lititz, this episode features Kyana White, a tour manager and production manager whose path into touring did not start on a bus. It started in TV, in internships, in low-paid PA work, and in learning how major productions actually come together behind the scenes.
Kyana walks Nikki Sanz through the real story: how she went from the WME mailroom and award show production into touring, how cold outreach helped her land opportunities with Janelle Monáe’s camp, and how those early one-off gigs turned into bigger roles with Ari Lennox and beyond.
This one matters if you’re trying to break in, level up, or understand what separates people who stay stuck from people who create their own lane. Kyana gets specific about preparation, advocacy, transferable skills, and why calm leadership matters so much in live production.
What you’ll learn
- How Kyana moved from TV production into touring
- Why cold emailing and using your network still works
- What transferable skills matter most when changing lanes
- What a small touring crew actually needs at the club and small-room level
- Why being both a tour manager and production manager can be such an advantage
- What Kyana is learning now as she looks toward arena and stadium-level production
Kyana White bio:
From Atlanta, currently residing in New Orleans, Kyana’s start in touring was unconventional. She got her start in entertainment when she landed the WME Mailroom gig in 2013 the summer before graduating from UAB. She returned to LA summer of 2014 and landed an internship at Octagon Entertainment where she worked on a tv pilot there and decided she wanted to do tv. In the summer of 2015 she did her last internship with Jesse Collins Entertainment on the BET Awards. From there she worked as a PA, coordinator, and Executive Producers Assistant on award shows (Grammy’s, Hip Hop Awards, Billboard Awards, Emmy’s, Oscars, etc) until 2018. She decided to leave LA because she had set a goal to buy a duplex by 30 and realized moving up in tv wasn’t going to happen fast enough to achieve that in LA. She started sending cold emails out to people in touring and this woman named Kim responded saying she loved her resume and wanted to keep in touch. She had ties to Janelle Monae’s camp and in fall 2018 Kyana did her first one off touring gigs in Janelle’s camp as a PA. Early 2019 she was back working on the Grammy’s when she got a call to work a 2 week underplay tour as a coordinator with Anderson.Paak so she quit the Grammy’s and went on her first bus tour. Summer 2019 she became road manager for Ari Lennox and by end of 2019 she was her Tour & Production Manager. She’s been a TM+PM ever since and she currently works with Tank & The Bangas, noname, Kiana Ledé, and Samara Cyn.
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Host: Nikki Sanz