KEYNOTE

Keynote Speaker:

Wesley A’Harrah, VP of Membership & Education, MMF-US

For nearly a decade Wesley T. A’Harrah has been working to help creatives and the teams around them have better lives. He primarily does this from his role as VP of Education at the Music Managers Forum-US and as a longtime leading consultant across digital and strategic innovation spanning entertainment and tech.

A’Harrah has trained teams at, run campaigns with, and developed products + GTMs across companies such as Meta, Snap, Google, Spotify, Red Bull, Universal, Warner, Sony, and most major independent record labels in 40+ countries, along with their agencies of record, primary marketing/tech partners, and startup investment properties; and has worked to improve and build teams behind artists including Tyla, Phoebe Bridgers, Cigarettes After Sex, The Script, Charli XCX, and many more.

A’Harrah and his colleagues are recipients of the Grand Clio Award for music marketing—the highest honor in marketing—awarded to his team for two years running from 2020–2021.

Previously, A’Harrah ran the consulting and educational arm of B2B services firm and trade magazine Music Ally, from which position he began driving record label and artist management teams around the world to build vertically; transformed music business department curriculum at the most prestigious universities; and worked to expand the originally UK-based company into the US, Japan, China, the Nordics, Latin America, and Africa.

Outside the music and tech industries A’Harrah and his friends run CaracolLabs, a multidisciplinary residency program for artists, researchers, and experts of different backgrounds to collaborate with each other on projects relating to art, being, education and sustainability, and EGG, a high-engagement art, philosophy, and book club. 

He holds an M.A. in Global Entertainment and Music Business from Berklee College of Music.

Jessica Wilson resides as the co-founder of management firm, Seven20 and the co-founder of The Circuit Group.  A storied career built on California raves as a promoter in the late 90s through the early ‘00s, until she moved to NYC and into publicity working Tiesto’s GRAMMY nominated album ‘Elements of Life’ album and the ensuing tour; eventually leading her to work at Ultra Records in 2007, and would remain there through 2011 as the Head of Marketing. Here she would work with the team to foster multiple GRAMMY nominations and awards and millions of albums sold, all in a time when the market was switching from physical to digital and streaming consumption was becoming part of the marketplace. She moved into entertainment company ThreeSixZero as the firm was looking to expand their activities in the USA and she would be a part of many storied campaigns through the company’s years. Wilson left the entertainment company in 2015, taking a step back from the music business for 3 years to shift her focus on settling her family into school and life in Los Angeles. She was offered a new position by her partner Dean Wilson in 2018 to sit at the forefront of dance music with his new venture Seven20, a music management firm in partnership with RocNation.  In 2020 when a pandemic took over the world, Seven20 quickly shifted to working with its technology partners and building the new version of the music business.  As the world began to re-open in 2022, Jessica became a full business partner in Seven20. It was during this time that Seven20 left their partnership with Roc Nation so they could focus on the goals of building a footprint in the new digital sphere and on their various partnerships with artists within the management side.  Jessica now sits at the helm of the Mau5trap label in its new chapter at Create Music Group.  

Fireside chat with: