March 17, 2023
Emily P.
Last week, our founder and CEO, Roanne Mesirow, was featured on Music Entrepreneur HQ’s
podcast to speak with David Andrew Wiebe, founder and CEO of Music Entrepreneur HQ, about
the importance of paving one’s own road in the music industry! Music Entrepreneur HQ is an
online platform dedicated to giving independent musicians and aspiring music industry
professionals career-boosting assistance by providing various resources such as masterclasses,
reading recommendations, and informative panel discussions.
The podcast episode begins with Roanne giving a little insight into her career in fashion PR,
prior to founding Mezz; she studied both international business and French, and lived in Paris for
a year while participating in an internship working at Paris Fashion Week. Roanne talks about
how she wasn’t bothered by working 16-17 hours per day because she was truly enjoying the
work she was doing. Because of that experience, she believed that she was going to work in
fashion when she moved to New York, and participated in another internship working in fashion
PR. However, working in fashion wouldn’t pan out for the long term for Roanne. While in New
York, she was working as an event planner for the ACE Hotel. Out of the blue one day, one of
her coworkers at ACE, who had studied at the NYU Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music,
suggested that Roanne go into artist management. That coworker just so happened to also be a
rapper, so Roanne took the coworker on as her first management client, and thus began her
career in music and artist management!
Roanne then goes on to speak about the qualities of a good manager, and how she took what she
learned from working in fashion PR and applied it to the music business. Regarding qualities of a
good manager, Roanne lists being hardworking, hyper-organized, resourceful, and a
quick-thinker, to be the best. Especially since, as an entrepreneur in artist management, her
“product” isn’t a “thing” or an inanimate object; her “products” are human beings that she works
extremely closely with. Regarding the links between fashion PR and the music business, Roanne
states that becoming accustomed to a very fast-paced environment with multiple moving parts in
fashion PR has well prepared her for a career in the music business. Being able to “turn on a
dime,” so to speak, or be adaptable to a multitude of situations has become one of Roanne’s
greatest strengths since the beginning of her professional career.
Later in the podcast, Roanne and David discuss the concept of “behavioral consistency,” which is
a term defined by world-renowned marketing advisor Dan Kennedy to essentially theorize that if
one were to model their methods after successful figures in their field, then they, too, would
become successful. However, for Roanne, finding success isn’t about following a set formula or
modeling oneself after others; in fact, there is no formula for success, according to Roanne.
Instead, finding success is about staying open to any and all opportunities that may come one’s
way. For Roanne, some of the most amazing things to have happened in her life were things that
were completely unplanned, and that happened organically. Her career in the music industry
began because she was presented with an opportunity out of the blue and took it; she decided to
act on the conversation that transpired between her and her coworker at the ACE Hotel, instead
of leaving it alone. While there may be certain characteristics and qualities that are consistent
throughout all successful people, such as their work-ethic, drive, and passion, there is no set
career path that is consistent with all successful people.
Throughout the entire podcast episode, Roanne discusses with David various other concepts
regarding her career path, including overcoming challenges, getting exposure, finding mentors,
what her day-to-day looks like, and even Mezz’s internship program.