Today we’d like to introduce you to Deja Small.
Deja, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
To start off I’m originally from Philadelphia born and raised. GO BIRDS. I’ve been a violinist since 4 years old and went to a performing arts high school. I moved to Atlanta in 2018 for college at Georgia State University. I played in their orchestra for two years then stopped because I wanted to focus all of my attention and energy towards the underground ATL music industry scene. At GSU there is an organization called NCEG where it’s a replication of the music industry but it focuses on development for rising artists, producers A&R’s and PR, etc. I made so many meaningful relationships through that program which is the reason why I’m here today. The relationships from this program made me realize we are all hungry to be successful and our better selves that we push and encourage each other to grow. I continuously networked/volunteered to work at events for NCEG and their artist showcasing because at the time I wanted to be an A&R for a record company. I spent my days booking photo shoots, a runner for sets, marketing/branding meetings and create events.
During the pandemic of 2020, students were forced out of dorms and go back home which meant back to Philly for me. That was a time where I wanted to give everything up but I pushed myself came back to the school in the fall and kept pushing myself to work at internships. I went through three internships in 6 months. At first, I was an intern for Dallas Austin’s record company Rowdy Records. Then became an intern at a media company called Rappplug. Finally, I got into the Women in Music chapter through their mentorship/internship. They aligned me to Alamo Records a subsidiary from Interscope Records as a creative marketing intern. The Women in Music experience was exhilarating especially since I felt like I have a safe space filled with knowledge for the industry which is male-dominated. In the midst of my junior year, I decided I didn’t want to become an A&R anymore instead I wanted to become a Music Supervisor. I fell in love with the occupation because in my Music Marketing class, the music publishing company spoke to the class about music supervisors, publishers, pitchers and sync. That’s when I fell in love with the sync world because we had a mock brief as if we were creative sync agents for a commercial and we were assigned to make playlists. I fell in love with the process but most of all feeling. I did and still do so much research so I can become one. The beginning of my senior year I got accepted to a music supervisor company called WEGETARTIST as a research analyst. A couple of months I received one of the hugest blessings and Music Supervisor Kier Lehman (music supervisor for Insecure, 21&22 Jump St, Space Jams 2 and Queen&Slim) became one of my mentors. He was one of the first people in the sync world to believe in me and allowed me to help on whatever I can as well as answering any questions I would have.
In 2021, I started working for the coolest marketing agency in the world called Six Degrees and continue to work as their Brand Ambassador for any events they have in Atlanta. Their most recent collaboration with Pandora and Spelhouse was an amazing experience especially being able to see 21 Savage and Drake perform live. Love the company it’s very family oriented which gives everyone the room to grow. Finally, the last leg of my senior year my roommate, NCEG and Lotus Rosary came together to create an artist showcase which had 500+ attendees with games food and of course music from underground ATL artists. It made me so happy when Lotus Rosary an amazing Atlanta hot spot for underground ATL artists told me their artists gained so much Instagram followers and traction after our show. I later got recommended for an internship at Red Bull under Maegan Mogul and the RB team allowed me to grow and taught me how to articulate my creativity and building it around community. I had the pleasure to help execute the first ever Red Bull Symphonic in America with an all-black orchestra and conductor Jason Rodgers with a hip hop mogul Rick Ross at the Symphony Hall in Midtown. This was my first ever big event to be a part of and everyone worked so hard throughout the entire process. I get to continue my journey with Red Bull and excited for the projects to come.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been smooth. In the beginning, I didn’t know who I was or who I envisioned myself to be which can cause people to doubt me because I doubted myself. But the struggle that hits me the most and still to this day is not being in Philly and missing so many important occasions so I can follow my dream. It hurts but it also is the main reason why I go so hard so I can give back even harder.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I like to call myself a creative entrepreneur because I do a lot of things and not just one specific thing. Im a creative marketer, brand ambassador, event coordinator, production assistant and music coordinator.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
I like how ATL everyone wants to get it out the mud together especially within the black community. I dislike people who aren’t genuine with themselves for a come up.
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