When I’m done eating breakfast, I load the dirty dishes into the dishwasher before heading back to my room to brush my teeth and finish getting ready for work. Once my hair is done and makeup is complete, I grab my purse and car keys and head out the door. The beautiful morning sky makes me wish I could walk to work, but because my hours are unpredictable, it’s safer for me to drive, even if I only live a couple miles away. I live in the same house my parents did when they went to college – a rental property my grandparents bought as an investment located between where Belmont and Vanderbilt Universities are.
When my parents took it over, they completely gutted and updated it with modern fixtures with the intention of selling it to make some money. Because of the exclusive area it was in, they decided to keep it instead of selling it. My sister, Valerie, and her best friend, Emma, lived in it during their college years, and then I moved in when it was my time to start college. I was hoping Valerie was going to continue living here when I moved in, but because she’s four years older than me and needed quietness while she worked and studied to become a certified CPA and auditor, she decided to move into her own condo close by. My best friend, Willow, was living with me up until we graduated and then moved out to be closer to her new job.
I make the quick drive to my office and pull into the parking lot. I still can’t believe I’m actually working in the music industry. I’ve always known I wanted some sort of career in the music world. Music has always spoken to my soul, starting out when I was a little girl and my mother would play classical music for me to fall asleep to. I studied piano and violin but grew more interested in the business and gossip side of the industry when I was in high school. Just driving up and down Music Row excited me, knowing how much history was behind those walls of the famous music houses.
I immersed myself into researching what I needed to do to start my path into the industry. I applied and got accepted into Belmont University and studied in their music business program. I busted my butt in school, knowing if I really wanted this, I was going to have to stand out amongst all the other students who had the same dream as I did. Fortunately, I found a cute, boutique-style record label called Big Little Music to intern at during my senior year. Nashville is known for country music, but all genres of music are produced and recorded here. Big Little Music started off with indie rock artists, but it now has a full catalog of music and represents some of the biggest names in the industry. Proving to my bosses I’m a hard, loyal worker paid off, and I was offered an assistant’s position in the A&R department as soon as I graduated. It’s been three months since graduation, and most of my college classmates still don’t have a job, so I know how truly blessed I am.
There are a lot of perks that come with my job, from working with famous artists, to planning VIP parties, to attending concerts and award ceremonies. I take every single assignment I’m given seriously, because if I want to move up in this world, I have to act professionally, be on time, and never, ever act star-struck when in the presence of a celebrity, even if I am star-struck. The biggest rule of them all, one I set for myself is that I don’t date men in the industry, especially good-looking musicians.
I walk in and wish a good morning to anyone whose path I cross on the way to my office. I sit down, turn on my computer, and start making my to-do list for the day. Every morning, I arrive one hour earlier than my boss in order to catch up on emails and relish in the silence, because once he arrives, my day—and sometimes my evening—is filled with chaos.
Fifty-four minutes later, I hear his booted footsteps coming and look up from my computer. “Good morning, Sunshine,” Shane Adams sings in greeting before resuming his phone conversation and shutting his office door. Shane is one of the A&R managers here, and boy did I hit the boss lottery when he hired me. He acts more like my big brother and trusts me enough to let me do my job, gently guiding me along the way when he feels I need help. There are two other assistants who report to him, but they don’t have the close relationship he and I share. I can’t explain it, but we just clicked from day one. He makes every day at work an adventure and keeps things exciting for me and the rest of the people on staff.