On Managing Pharrell — Caron Veazey on Women, Power & Leadership in Music

What does it take to help guide one of the most influential artists in the world—and turn that experience into lasting leadership in the music industry?

In this episode of She Creates Noise, Sarah sits down with Caron Veazey to discuss her years managing Pharrell Williams, and how that chapter helped shape her perspective on women’s leadership, artist development, and real change across the music business.

From an early break as a page at Saturday Night Live to senior roles at MCA, RCA, Island Def Jam, and Sony’s global marketing team, Caron built a rare career path rooted in instinct, strategy, and people-first thinking.

She shares how refusing narrow categories opened doors for artists like Christina Aguilera, Rihanna, and Duffy—and why creating your own opportunities can still be the most powerful move.

We also discuss the Pharrell years: building I Am Other as a multi-platform vision where music, fashion, film, and philanthropy fueled one another, and navigating the global success of “Get Lucky,” “Blurred Lines,” and “Happy.”

If you want to know more about:

•  managing major artists 
•  Pharrell’s creative world 
•  women’s leadership in the music industry 
•  artist branding and career growth 
•  building influence behind the scenes 
•  marketing artists globally 
•  creating opportunity in the music business 
•  long-term career strategy 

A sharp and inspiring conversation with one of the industry’s most respected executives and advocates for progress.

 If the conversation resonates, tap follow, share it with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a quick review—your support helps more listeners find stories that open doors. 

Transcript

Welcome To She Creates Noise

SPEAKER_02 0:03

She creates noise. She creates the voice. She's moving through the earth with a powerful voice. She creates noise. She creates. She creates noise.

Sarah’s Background And Mission

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Hi, you're listening to Sarah Nagurney, and welcome to She Creates Noise, a new podcast spotlighting women who power the music industry, coming to you from New York City. Now, if you don't know me yet, here's a little background. I'm a songwriter, producer, manager, educator, and mentor. I've written platinum-selling songs, had tracks on Grammy nominated records, and released music on both major and independent labels. I've been a jazz singer, a jingle singer, toured with big bands, and became a pop artist, and I've performed at festivals across the US, Europe, and Asia. These days I focus on writing with and developing young talent. In the coming weeks, I'll be pulling back the curtain on the music industry's female change makers. Some are close friends, others I'm just getting to know, but all have reshaped the business in profound ways. My goal here is to help listeners better understand how the music business really works, and just how instrumental women behind the scenes have been. You'll hear from both sides of the desk artists, producers, managers, label executives, lawyers, women making things happen, often without the spotlight on them. Thank you for joining me on this journey. Now let's dive in.

Introducing Caron Veazey

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Today's guest is Karen Veezy. She's a pioneering music executive, talent manager, and cultural strategist with over three decades at the forefront of entertainment. Rising through senior roles, including VP of Marketing at RCA, SVP at Island Def Jam, and VP of Global Marketing at Sony Music, she helped shape global campaigns for Beyonce, Shakira, and Alicia Keys, earning a reputation as one of the most trusted creative strategists in the business. In 2011, Karen joined Pharrell Williams as his longtime manager and head of IMOther, overseeing defining moments like Happy, Blurred Lines, and Daft Punk's Get Lucky. She guided the brand's expansion into fashion, film, and art, earning multiple Grammys, Oscar nominations, and Can Lyons for innovation. A passionate advocate for equity, Karen co-founded the Black Music Action Coalition, BMAC, where she serves as the vice chair and launched Something in Common, a management and consulting firm representing visionary creatives, recognized by Billboard as a change agent and women in music honoree, Karen Veezy continues to inspire the next generation of cultural leaders. Please welcome Karen Vee. Yes! Nice! It's such an interesting career. It spans more than three decades from senior roles at RCA, Island Def Jam, and Sony to managing Pharrell Williams and now founding something in common. Tell us a little bit about your mentors or the things that shaped you on your path. Please just tell us a bit about your journey.

Early Spark At SNL And MCA Break

SPEAKER_01 3:15

First, Sarah, thank you so much for inviting me, and I'm so happy to be here. You know, when talking about the journey, it's always interesting. It's like, well, where exactly to start? Because I feel like there's so many points that could be kind of the beginning of the journey. But to put some context, I grew up loving music as most people do. And at that time, there was no, when I was in college, there was no music business school. There was none of that on what we have now. Right. So I would always be at the record store at retail. So at you know, Virgin or at um Tower Records on Tuesdays, which is when CDs would come out, and always there without fail. And where was it? Where did you grow up? I grew up, sorry, grew up in DC and I went to college in Baltimore. And then my all my number one goal was to get to New York. So you have that as well. People going into music business during that time was usually through the radio station on campus or through booking parties and booking artists. So coming from that POV or working retail, working at, you know, one of the record stores. And I never considered it as an occupation, as a career. I just loved music. I was studying communications. I thought I wanted to go into broadcast journalism. So I thought I would be, you know, on scene. Hi, this is Karen Veezy reporting live from you know, and so that was what I planned to do. I became a page at NBC. I got the the job. I shouldn't say became, like it was a process. And I was so lucky to be selected. So I moved to New York pages at that time. And I actually am not very familiar with the program, you know, now, but during that time there were about 50 of us, and we all worked in different rotations, whether it was Today Show or Nightly News or uh what have you. And we also worked Saturday Night Live. So this particular Saturday Night Live that I was working, and you get there at two o'clock in the afternoon, and obviously you stay through like 1 a.m. That was a fun opportunity, though, I bet. Saturday night. Oh my god, yeah. Yeah. It was, I mean, it was the most unique because everybody, all 50 of us were essentially the same age, you know, and we had this incredible exposure, you know, to the to the areas that we had interest in. So working, you know, working the the the day, working on the audience, helping, you know, helping whoever needed assistance. And the musical guest was Whitney Houston. So I began talking to, again, you're there how many hours? You're you're almost 12 hours. So talking to somebody on her team, and like a light bulb went off in my head. And that was really kind of the beginning. I was like, oh, wait a second. She has a team, there's a record company. Maybe I could do that. So that was on a Saturday. On the Monday, I started looking for a job. Um, I got an assistant position at MCA Records in the marketing department. So I supported three executives. And yeah, it was, it was it was meant to be. Yeah, I feel like a lot of so much of my life has been like, you know, these God moments, universe moments, whatever you want to call it. God wink. Oh,

Breaking Genre Silos And Atlanta Move

SPEAKER_01 6:20

I like that one. I've never heard that one before. I have said God shot before, but I'm gonna adopt God wink if possible. So yeah, so that's really kind of where it began at MCA Records in New York. CPA's nice. I came in with the music that I like, the experiences that I had. At that time, it felt very you work in black music or you work in pop. And it was almost like there were no black people on the pop side. And I didn't understand that because I was like, I like Joe Disney as much as I like Led Zeppelin. So why, you know, why does it have to be pigeonholed in that way? So my naivete actually was helpful because you broke down barriers without even realizing it. The alchemist and how the shepherd just goes from one situation to the next situation, not understanding how one is informing the previous is informing the the one next. So that's kind of how my life was. I met Dallas Austin while I was working at MCA, and this is 90s, so he is the king of RB producers, TLC, Monica, everybody. And he lived in Atlanta and he would come up to New York a few days a week. And then he was like, Well, I have all my setup in Atlanta. Why don't I just, you know, take a few people and go down? He asked me to go, and I did. Wow. It's probably there like 18 months. Atlanta was very different than what it is now. Um, and I missed New York. So came back to New York, another god wink. Um, there was another producer, his name is Bryce Wilson, and he had a group called Groove Theory. And we, you know, we're all friends, we would listen to the demo all the time, loved it. And I wrote like a little marketing plan because it was not fully non-traditional, but it wasn't kind of the RB necessarily of that moment. He, unbeknownst to me, sent it to Sony, and then the head of marketing called me and asked me to come in for an interview. And so I did, got the job as a product product manager. And everything I feel like in my life that has happened in my journey is propelled by passion. Passion is the catalyst. It's not necessarily strategy in the beginning. You apply the strategy next, just the opportunities coming based on passion, because I didn't expect him to send it to anybody. I just this is just for him. So he could share the components with his marketing person. Magical. It's sort of it was just, it really is such a cool. Yeah. So much is so much is magic. And then went from there to working with Dallas actually again, and then working at V2, which is where I met Kate Muhammad, who is an extraordinary, is still extraordinary, of course, was an extraordinary woman for me to see in that time because she was the head of AR. ANR was typically super male. And if you were in AR as a woman, you're typically like AR admin. You weren't, you know, you weren't an executive. I mean a full executive.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

I wish I could have seen her then. I'd I'd love to have seen that. On fire, Kate was. On fire.

SPEAKER_04 9:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Um, so that was that was a really that impacted me a lot.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

We're talking about Kate Hyman, by the way. Uh

Passion Projects And Sony Breakthrough

SPEAKER_00 9:45

people, just so you know, check out the episode. It was like my third or fourth episode on this. Yeah. She's awesome. And she introduced me to Karen. So that's why we're that's why I was blowing her horn here. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Um, and then after that, I started my own company with my friend, partner, and we did progressive urban culture. Progressive urban culture to us was talking about these genres and and the barriers and the borders and and how things are categorized. And again, we just love music. So our specialty was kind of taking a project that wasn't straight down the middle. Today you would call it kind of like alt RB, I guess, and working it out to other audiences. And then the same way in reverse. We worked on Dido's project, Dido's album, and this is probably like maybe 99 or 2000. And then we worked that to kind of progressive alt urban audiences as well. So we did both ways.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Nobody was doing that then. The big song she had with like MM, that that kind of period? Yeah. Well, her album came after the success of that song. Oh, that's great. Did this happen while you were at these labels, or is this is this I was going to lead into the time with Pharrell? Is this before Pharrell?

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Oh, this is way before. Way before. This is way before. So I'll truncate the the next part because essentially what happens, I go to RCA after we had our company and worked with everybody from Christina Aguilera to Susan Coast to Mark Ronson. And kind of my calling card, if you will, signature was that I worked on every genre that I could work in every genre. And typically that wasn't definitely wasn't the case for black executives, definitely wasn't the case for black women executives. So I kind of only a few of us, so I kind of carved this this niche. After that, I went to Island Deaf Jam. Wow. And that was working with Rihanna and Mariah and an artist called Duffy from the UK. Love her. And then yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

My friend, yeah, my friend wrote her song Mercy with her.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Yeah. Steve Booker, good friend of mine.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Oh, sweet. Yes. So after that, I went to Sony working in global marketing. So essentially the whole world outside of the US kind of reported into our division. And we would work with them on plans for like the superstar priority artists and how they could amplify and extend the vision, the impact of this artist in their particular market. So we would go to meetings. We had a meeting in Bucharest. We had a meeting in Mumbai. We had, and this is with all the marketing people from around the world. Um, so I got to see the culture and how music worked within the culture in all of these

Multi‑Genre Wins At Major Labels

SPEAKER_01 12:35

places. And it was the most incredible experience. I learned so much, and I'd always had an interest in international. So that was a dream job. Then a mutual best friend for me and Pharrell, her name is Mimi. She had always said that we should work together. And I'd only met him a few times, like socially gone out to dinner, like with a group of people, but I didn't know him well. So she's like, he's gonna call you. He wants to talk about working together. And I said, Okay. So he calls. We have this uh conversation. We immediately click, had this conversation and talking about how he can structure his world because he was kind of the the very first multi-hyphenate, right? So he was working in all these areas, but they felt kind of disparate. So, how to bring them all together kind of under one roof. And so that's what we talked about. And I thought, okay, I'm gonna find somebody for you, I'll help you. But I love my job, so I'm staying. And then we just ended up continuing to talk. I want to say that was like October by December. I was like, hmm, maybe, maybe I can maybe I want to do this. Maybe I want to do this with you. So we in the top of the year, we started working together. And this was obviously before the the big the big wave, as I call it. Blurred lines, get lucky. That this was pre-predating. That's pre-that. So we were just you know, this is 2010, 2011. So we're just he's working all the time, has such I have never met anyone like him who has the has an idea every minute, has the stamina to jump from one thing to the other and do them all very well, do each thing very well. And watching him create in the studio is still one of the most awe-inspiring moments that I've had. Just when you can see him pulling down from the ether to create song.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

Right. And he seems like a lovely guy. I saw him uh do a uh show at the garden, and I think Bruno Morris was or they were sharing the bill. I'm not sure exactly.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

This was a that was a tour he was opening for him, I think on four dates. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

And and it was you just get this feeling of joy and love and beauty from him. It was it just came through. I mean, I Bruno Morris is amazing, but there was just something so different and cathartic about him that that I you just felt that it was a different different experience, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Yeah, it was the whole tour, it was great. You do what you feel is accurate, right? Like that's that's who he is.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Just exuding love and joy and and really just beauty.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Yeah, that's that's who he is, and he he operates on a different spiritual level. Like

Joining Pharrell And Building I Am Other

SPEAKER_01 15:18

he's he's I call it tapped in. He's definitely tapped in. So yeah, so we worked together during all of that time. He went to a cute story uh about get lucky. He happened to be in the south of France. Thomas from Get Lucky, I mean from uh Daft Punk called me um and said, His fron happened to be like in Paris. And I said, Well, actually, he's gonna be he can be in Paris and tomorrow. He's in the south of France right now. So I tell P and he's like, Okay, what did what do they want me to do? Produce? And I said, actually he didn't say, so just you know, just go and see, you know, how it feels. And so he does, and he spends a couple of days there. He comes back and he's like, I said, how was it? He said, I can't really remember. He said, um, he said, I think those effervescence that they sell at the pharmacy in Paris like erase your memory or something, because he was like, I can't really remember the songs we worked on. But I remember it being cool. That was August. Fast forward to November. Their manager reaches out. I go over to meet him, and he says, Well, while the guys were together, they wrote this song. Well, they wrote two songs together, Lose Yourself to Dance and the song called Get Lucky. Being who they are, they don't send music to anybody, right? So, but what they did say was that it was gonna be the first, they wanted to be the first single. I mean, they wanted to put this whole campaign together. So I call for all and I'm like, dude, they they said it was gonna be the first single. I was like, Do you remember, do you remember the song? And he said, No. Oh my gosh. Like, I don't remember. So that was November, it wasn't until January that we actually heard it. Wow. And the head of Sony, Rob Stringer, had listened to the song with the engineer in the studio maybe like 17 or 18 times. And when we heard it, we all knew it was super special. But that's the thing. There can be really special songs. There have been really special songs, special artists who I've worked with who, you know, even though the song is special and they're incredibly talented, sometimes it connects, sometimes it doesn't connect. And um uh, but we knew it was really special, and they brought a special kind of chemistry and and combo um because they've worked together before, and the type of creatives they are, and the image F Punk was so you know, such a unique image and everything. Yeah, yeah. So the song comes out and you know, you know the rest. But what was interesting during that time is blurred lines came out as well during that time frame that was not planned, that was not meant to happen. The manager, Robin Thick's manager, was like, we're gonna shoot this video, it's P around. Yeah, so he goes to the video shoot, shoot this video. And Diane Martel, who is legendary video director, who was recently passed, rest in peace. She was the director for for that very controversial video. Yeah, so they released it, and then all of a sudden we see it popping up like on the iTunes charts, like all over the world, starting in

The Get Lucky And Blurred Lines Wave

SPEAKER_01 18:20

France, Netherlands, then northern Europe. Daft Punk is, I mean, get lovey is still doing its thing. It's growing, it's huge. So they ended up being like neck and neck on the on the charts, which was insane. And not just neck and neck, the two songs that are neck and neck, the two huge global hits, which I think made the rest of the story as we get to happy, which happened maybe the following six months, that's what made that time period feel so fruitful, so productive, and so so serendipitous, is that you can have a number one song, but when you have a number one song or involved in a number one song three times in a short span of time, it's like takeover, you know, whether you want it to be or not. Yeah, everywhere. Everywhere. We actually had to figure out a way to pull back because he was just so everywhere, but that was that time frame. Um, and that was the most magical time, the years I worked with Farrell. And he's just there's no other artist like him or creator, not just not just music artists, but creator.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Sounds like it was a magical time. And you had that company I Am Other, where you help merge art, fashion, and social impact into one creative vision. How did that experience change the way you think about what it means to manage or develop an artist today?

SPEAKER_01 19:45

In terms of having all the different areas converge. Well, you have to have the the artist who who embodies that, who has who is who's curious, creatively curious, intellectually curious, wants to do all of those things. He was already, you know, working in fashion. He had his own brand, Billionaire Boys Club. And he was scoring movies. He was doing all the things that he does. And so many people actually reached out and said, you know, should get him to just focus on one thing and just do that, you know, just focus on that. And then you can go on to the next thing. But that's not how his brain works. Um, and this is the case for many artists, like art and design pollinates the music, which pollinates the collaborations in fashion and beyond, which pollinates the film and TV, and also pollinates the philanthropic endeavors. So you can't take a piece away because then it throws off the entire chemistry of the creativity.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Yeah, it does sound. I mean, I do know a lot of people that do a lot of different things and they're very visual and fashion-oriented. And I mean, he was an extreme, amazing example of that.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

Yeah, and one of the first. And sometimes I feel like artists have the pressure to be these I like to call pluralists, but you don't have to do that. Like if you want to write music and be a singer-songwriter, and that's what you want to do, you don't have to do these other things. But those who do want to do now, it's very normal. Back then wasn't as as commonplace.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

And what is he up to today? Do you do you know? Do you are you?

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Yeah, he is the creative director of Louis Vuitton, men's. So it's crazy, huge, you know, and you know, one of his dream, one of his dreams. So he's doing amazing. He's doing great in Paris in the fashion space. And he's still working with artists, he's still writing and producing, he's still producing film, he's still doing all the things. How fun.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

What a great, what a wonderful character. You've often been described as a curator and connector, someone who identifies and amplifies culture in motion. What draws you to a particular artist? And how do you know when something is just bright, just has that spark?

SPEAKER_01 22:02

You know, there's just a je ne sais quoi about artists,

Managing A Pluralist Artist

SPEAKER_01 22:05

about people. You know, some people have the thing that obviously extends to artists. When we're talking music, the music has to speak as well. So, really, those are the two things that I that I focus on and that impact me. So you can have a great artist, like talented, but maybe they don't have the thing. And I prefer working with pluralists, as we just talked about, who do many things and you know, who have the X factor. That's how I determine who I'm gonna work with.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

And and and you haven't done management too often. That was one major 10-year management relationship.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

I've managed some, you know, developing artists since I started something in common. But yeah, now I'm really kind of advising and consulting and creating organizations like Black Music Action Coalition and sitting on boards and and that sort of thing. And if the right situation came along for managing, I would I would do that. But I'm super discerning and I'm not just going to manage for the sake of managing. So the next time it strikes me, the Je ne sais quoi and the music, then yeah, then I would absolutely consider. It's a hard act to follow, though, that's for sure. Yeah. Well, you know what? Every everything has its own space, its own energy, its own purpose. I believe Ron and I work together for a purpose, spiritual purpose. After we stopped working together, I was like, well, yeah, I don't need to manage anybody else because he's the creme de la creme. But there are a lot of developing artists, emerging artists who, you know, need some experience, you know, some with experience and for guidance, etc. So do you mentor?

SPEAKER_00 23:45

I do. You do, yeah. Yeah, it's it's I I love mentoring. It's it's a great thing to do. You co-founded the Black Music Action Coalition, which has become such a powerful force for advocacy and accountability. What motivated its creation and what progress have you seen that gives you hope?

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Well, the organization was born out of in 2020, when we were all captive at home, right? Locked down, shelter in place. And we have Ahmad

Curating Talent And The X Factor

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Arbory in Florida, sorry, in Georgia, who was murdered while he was out jogging in his neighborhood. Then shortly thereafter, you have Brianna Taylor, who in in Louisville, who was murdered in her own home, in her own bed. Um, and then of course there's George Floyd. And these were all within five months of each other from the five-month period. After George Floyd, we said, if you're feeling helpless, you know, you're like, what can I do? What can we do to raise awareness? To, you know, we can march, we can get out in the street, but what can we do? Music executives and music business in our own backyard. So we came together and we formed Black Music Action Coalition, which we referred to as BMAC, because we said, let's figure out a way, even though it's lofty and noble, let's figure out a way to eradicate racism in the music business. The music business, the backbone has been Black artists. And we were seeing that not only did Black artists not have the same ability to negotiate the type of contract that they should have, recording agreement that they should have. It was also the executives and you know, the people in the business who work along, you know, side the artists and who support, you know, the business and not getting the same deal as a white counterpart. So we so that's what we came together to do. We have obviously completed our fifth year and things have changed quite a bit. We had a lot of momentum 21, 2021, 22, 23. Then things

Founding BMAC And Driving Accountability

SPEAKER_01 26:00

started as we know, but the climate is in terms of dismantling DEI, et cetera, that impacts us as well. Um, and in the business. So all the strides that we made, you know, we have to make sure to continue to be just as focused and just as set on our mission as we were before, because it's a harder, it's a harder climate now. It's a harder marketplace, you know, and it's really disappointing and upsetting. But we have no no choice but to just move forward.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Keep moving forward. Yeah. I mean, I think as you said, there was a lot of progress, but right now you're really facing new problems or old problems that are coming back.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Right. That's right. That's right. That's what the disappointment is, is that, you know, we were really starting to see change and really important change and holding, you know, companies accountable. Like during that time, the you know, in 2020, 2021, you know, you would put up your black box on Instagram saying, you know, we're in solidarity with you. And then these funds started popping up, like, you know, people creating hundred million dollar funds to to funnel into underserved communities, support artists, etc. And then once that leaves, and we always knew it was going to leave the front pages, what do you do then? So so that's uh that's where we are.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

So it's like your job is kind of returned in full force when when it was the job will never end. Yeah, it will never end.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

The best thing that could happen is that we become obsolete because we're no longer needed because there's no there's there are no more issues to fix. That's the way we look at it.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

I mean, because I'm just looking at the questions I had, we've covered some things, but I wanted to see what you think about you know women today in in the music industry, and that's what we're really interested in talking about, and how you think things have improved and haven't improved, and where do we need, and especially also for black women, uh what do you see that needs to happen? I mean, related to what we just said, of course, that things are taking a little bit of a back step. Although, you know, I was talking to Kate about this. She felt that in the music industry there's still giving women opportunities. That it's it's still what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 28:18

Yes, yes, but we've we've suffered a lot of blows over the past year and a half, so the past 18 months. Michelle Jubelier, who was the chairman and um CEO of Capital, no longer there. Ethiopia, who was the chairman and CEO of Motown, no longer there. Jody Gersen, who's amazing, and she's the chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing. She is still there in her role and creating organizations like She is the Music, which is an incredible organization, women in the business, aspiring artists, etc. And then Sylvia Ron, legendary, who has just left, you know, her role as CEO at Epic. So men have filled these positions. Wow. So they're really, except for Jody, and I hope I'm calling that right, except for Jody, you know, we don't have the the same level that we had 18 months ago of women.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

So it's a really big problem. That's discouraging. Yeah, and I mean they there were the the Annenberg study said that yes, the number of women in senior roles at record companies was maybe 18% or something like that. I don't know if I have the number right, but it was pretty, pretty low. Dismal.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Dismal is

Women’s Leadership Gains And Setbacks

SPEAKER_01 29:35

is what it is. Again, we thought we were on a certain trajectory where we had these women in these positions of power were coming out of Me Too. We felt like people, companies, all were being held accountable, and so much can change in such a short time. But I would say there is still, just like with Black Music Action Coalition, we got to continue, you know, the fight and the climb and the young women coming up in this business, um, making sure that they have the support that they need and you know, making sure that they have the opportunities that they deserve. Um, but there's some really incredible, you know, young women on the management side and on the executive side who are doing great things. We just have to keep the pressure. That's really what that's really what it's about. We got to keep the pressure. We gotta, you know, keep moving forward and keep you know climbing up the hill, can't be discouraged.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

Yeah, I mean, I guess that's I see a lot of women in the business. There are a lot of women, but they're not in senior roles. That's that's not yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

No. And that jump is the, you know, like when you get to senior director, vice president level. So let's get to that next like senior vice president and executive vice president, and then, you know, hopefully president and CEO. That's where it gets challenging. There are a lot of women coming into the business in entry level and then working their way up. But yeah, on a on your senior executive level, there are only a few.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

That's kind of what what this is podcast is really about for me. Right, right. I'm really trying to talk about the stories of women like yourself who've accomplished so much and also impart some wisdom to young people. Like what could you say to young women who want to get into this business?

SPEAKER_01 31:14

To create a network of other women and to work together to bring opportunities to each other and perhaps to work together on projects, work together on initiatives. There has to be some sort of solidarity and sisterhood, you know, within the business. And that doesn't mean that every man is trying to keep, you know, the the the young women who are growing down. That's not I'm I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that there's strength in numbers and there's strength in unity. So women need to, you know, support each other. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Women help be women. It's a really big, big thing.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

And it doesn't always happen. Yeah, that's I mean, that's it. And that that's really that's the thing. And we've got to make a way,

Advice For Young Women In Music

SPEAKER_01 32:05

we've got to keep the door open, right? So we don't just go through the door and close it. We've got to go through the door and keep that door open so we can pull somebody else in, pull somebody else up. And that's the way.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Woman to woman, yeah. Well, it's it's so interesting to talk to you. I know there's many things we could discuss. See, on a light note, is there something fun we don't know about you you want to want to share or something unexpected? Unexpected, but in a fun way.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

My dog's name is Maurice White. For those who don't know, Maurice White is the founder of Earth Wind and Fire. Yep. I was reading a book, I was reading the biography um when we got our dog. And Maurice White is not gonna say he's done sung because he's definitely celebrated, but he is he's done so much more than Earth Wind and Fire. He's he was such an incredible musician, he was such an incredible visionary, and you know, he helped a lot of careers, like even like Prince. It was Maurice White who said, think you need to listen to, you know, check out this kid, you know, those sorts of things. So yeah, so we named him Maurice White, and I consider him an artist.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

My husband wants him to be an athlete. I consider him an artist. That's lovely. Well, thank you so much, Karen. It's lovely to have you and just everyone listen and we'll put your info on at Karen Vizier. You uh you put your Instagram and and your website and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

Um Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Sarah. Uh, you know, I really appreciate it. Wish we had more time. But that's a little taste of of it. And I hope someone sees it who can feel the motivation and the passion and you know, take hopefully some of the uh the points that we discussed, take that with them. Follow your passion.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Is this it's the and let things uh kind of unfold if they're unfolding.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

You can feel it. You can feel you can feel it and let it be your. I think Shonda Rhymes, her her book is called Year of Yes, which every year I say, okay, this is gonna be my year of where you accept the opportunity, you accept the you know, the experience, you you know, put yourself forward for things.

A Personal Note And Closing Credits

SPEAKER_01 34:10

That's really important too. But always follow the passion. It's just the gut instinct. Have all the data, we got metrics, we got all the things, but I believe it needs to be led by the passion.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

Great. And on that note, thank you again. Thank you so much, really appreciate it. I'd like to thank today's sponsor, Herd City, the premier audio post-production company servicing the advertising, motion picture, and television industries right here in NYC. I'd also like to thank Antello, aka XON, for singing the She Creates Noise theme that I wrote. Thanks for listening to She Creates Noise. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and share. I want to thank the team here: Blair Riley, Yelena Stevanovich, Emily Wilson, and the Master of Engineering and Grammy Wendell Cooper Anderson. We'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_03 35:03

She creates noise. She creates noise. She creates noise. We have voice. She creates noise.