This event is sponsored by Finessed Media, Inc. and hosted by Bea Dimaculangan.

RSVP to attend.

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It’s Pride Month and we are celebrating the LGBTQ+ folks that are shaping the music industry – professionals, artists, and fans!

While there has been considerable progress in queer representation over the years, there is still much work to be done. Join us for a conversation with Queer Capita, a professional networking and community organization for LQBTQ+ professionals working in the music industry. Our speakers are leaders at Vevo, The Orchard/Sony, and Meta, and have worked with artists like Giveon, Madison Beer, Tems, Cautious Clay, & more!

We’ll be discussing Queer Capita’s networking and mentorship programming, queer influence in music, and uplifting the LGBTQ+ community beyond Pride Month.

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Speakers:

Nico Machlitt – Associate Manager, Digital Marketing at Vevo

Michael Tomczak – Associate Director, Publicity at The Orchard/Sony Music Entertainment

Gaurav Simha – Operations Associate, Music Business Development at Meta

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Agenda:

12 – 12:10pm EST – Introductions

12:10 – 12:45pm – Discussion with speakers

12:45 – 1:00pm – Audience Q&A

1:00 – 1:30pm – Breakout networking session

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Nico Machlitt is an Associate Digital Marketing Manager at Vevo. He oversees marketing campaigns for Pride and Black History Month and artists like Giveon, Madison Beer, and The Kid Laroi. He has a degree in Journalism from Hofstra University and while in college interned at O, the Oprah Magazine, Complex, and Comedy Central. After graduation, he got his start in the music industry at Billboard Magazine. He has been at Vevo for over two years and this past fall launched Queer Capita. with Daniel Iammatteo, a networking group for LGBTQ+ music industry professionals. Queer Capita has grown into a community of over 200 members working at over 100 music companies. Queer Capita hosts monthly music industry mixers and has hosted panels at Music Biz and Indie Week.

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Michael Tomczak embarked on his career in Publicity at Carnegie Hall nearly 10 years ago where he discovered his passion for uplifting artists and their stories. During his 5-year+ tenure at the world-renowned Manhattan venue, he developed and executed robust media campaigns in support of the Hall’s historic 125-year-old legacy and for a diverse range of Classical, Opera, Broadway, Jazz, and World Music artists that resulted in top-tier coverage across local, national, and international media.

Michael was delighted to join the Sony Music family in 2018 serving as RED MUSIC’s in-house national Publicist serving Pop, Alternative, and Indie acts. Now, in his current role as Associate Director, Publicity he strategically and effectively generates maximum exposure for independent recording artists on The Orchard’s esteemed Artist & Label Services roster. He currently works across a number of genres — including R&B, Pop, Hip-Hop, Afrobeats, K-pop, Latin, Alternative, EDM/Dance, and Indie — and with artists he admires including Caroline Polachek, Cautious Clay, RAYE, Saba, Tems, Jewel, Joyce Wrice, Sinéad Harnett, Gaidaa, REI AMI, Eric Nam, Stray Kids, Orla Gartland, and many more. His most recent work can be found in outlets like Billboard, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Harper’s BAZAAR, VOGUE, MTV, ELLE, Seventeen, Forbes, Variety, Nylon, L’Officiel USA, and Refinery29 to name a few.

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As the Operations Associate on the Music Business Development team at Meta, Gaurav Simha works with the team responsible for developing strategies for music integrations across the Metaverse and negotiating agreements with copyright holders to get the necessary licenses for music usage. Specifically, he handles the operations behind these agreements to make sure that everything is running smoothly both internally and externally. Prior to this, he served as the Project Coordinator at JioSaavn’s in-house record label, Artist Originals which was the leading independent label in South Asia. He led ROW marketing, partnerships and participated in A&Ring releases. Also during his time at the NYU Music Business Program, Gaurav was able to cultivate vast knowledge of the music industry through interning in various sectors like PR and Live. His deep passion is to consistently make sure artists are at the forefront of every music endeavor and his music tastes range from Beyonce to Bollywood.

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Finessed Media is a New York City based start-up focused on developing content in all things music entrepreneurship and creation. The company was founded in January 2020 with the mission to provide resources for a worldwide audience interested in making it in the music industry in any capacity.

Our contributors spotlight music and stories of artists, A&R reps, DJs, music tech executives, radio hosts, and more to speak on their experiences and share insight for others to learn from. These stories are provided via videos, online lessons, news updates, and events.

The Finessed community has grown into a global audience for its work in promoting all genres and for providing a platform for all aspiring music industry entrepreneurs.

Join our community at Finessed Media.

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