Born and raised in Philadelphia, I was first exposed to music through my parents' Harry Bellafonte and Barbara Streisand record collections. My horizon widened the epic day I woke up to find Meet the Beatles strategically placed by my dad, on the living room couch. Months later, there was life size Beatle wallpaper in my room, a gift from my mom the interior designer. A few years later, while visiting my grandparents in Miami Beach, I slipped out of their house and headed to the Eden Rock Hotel to catch a glimpse of the Monkees. I wound up hanging out with them (I was 10 but passed for 15.). And whoa, that was Jimi Hendrix, their opening act at the time, lounging with the band at the pool.
I was hooked on music, but my ambitions went beyond chance encounters with rock stars. I wanted to work in the business. After a couple years at Boston University studying psychology, I moved to Hollywood, where I worked for Warner Bros. Records, Atlantic, Dreamland and Mahoney Wasserman Public Relations. Working for the legendary Paul "Wasso" Wasserman taught me an unorthodox, even crazy, style of old school PR. He handled the best artists, and his method of mentoring was to throw me into the deep end. He sent me on the road with the Rolling Stones, and it was sink or swim. If not for the aid of Bill Graham, I might still be lost at sea.
Then I was off to New York to work for a fun little experiment called MTV. I started as an executive assistant and later as part of the promotions and talent relations departments. I built promotions and secured Mick Jagger for the I WANT MY MTV groundbreaking ad campaign. I was a chaperone on the infamous Concorde Christmas with Loverboy and I supervised the Horrible Halloween Weekend in Chicago with Motley Crew (I have yet to recover.). After years of working for other companies, I felt I had accumulated enough skills and experience to go out on my own and offer a more personalized and less corporate service to clients.
