Conversations with the Inspiring Erica Bowen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erica Bowen.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Erica. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there. I got started in the mid-90s with Def Jam. A good friend of mine, Nicole Jones, asked me to fill in for her assistant while she was off work and I was lucky enough to land portion and never leave. By the time I left, I had leading role in A&R Admin, I’d overseen some of the biggest recording and marketing budgets ever, just because this was the height of the music industry. One of the last artists I had a chance to work with while he was getting started is Young Jeezy. After he landed at Def Jam and released Thug Motivation 101, things really took off for him. When he started CTE in 2006, I was invited to take the role as General Manager of the label, so my son and I moved to Atlanta. I’ve been here ever since.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?

It’s always been a little harder for women in the industry because it honestly is a male-dominated field, but I was fortunate enough that women in high positions like Maria Davis of Mad Wednesday and Nicole Jones at Def Jam took a chance on me. It’s hard sometimes if you’re a woman because even if you’re on a team if it’s a group of guys, it

can feel like a team within a team. It’s like that scene in Insecure when Issa is accusing her coworkers of having “secret white people meetings.” But at the end of the day, I think about people like Sylvia Robinson who started the first hip-hop label and remember that women have been in hip-hop just as long as anybody else. My advice to young women is just to keep your reason for doing what you do at the forefront of your mind. Once you do that, its’ easier to control the things you allow to affect you. In a way, that helps motivates you and keeps you in check at the same time.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of. I worked in the music industry for 20 years before I decided I wanted to go into business for myself. I started off planning private events for my friends when they were launching a new business or promoting new projects and needed event marketing. The thing with the music industry is that you never really retire. It started off as being called back to consult on projects for new artists or contracting to help finish up projects until I eventually started managing my son and some of his friends once they decided to be artists. That’s led me back to working in A&R and management, but this time with my own artists for my management company Blanco Entertainment.

It would be great to hear about any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve used and would recommend to others. Honestly, I try to keep it low maintenance. I enjoy to read books to encourage me one of my favorite’s is “Year of Yes” by Shonda Rhimes , I love inspirational books as well as The the old writing of Donald Goines but the main thing I usually need is a pair comfortable shoes and an extra charger for my iPhone. I’m honestly either answering an email or posting to Instagram. I poke around on Facebook a little bit, but that’s strictly for my friends and family.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/msericablanco
• Facebook: Erica Bowen

 

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