Brittany Presley - The Recording Academy (GRAMMYs®) Membership Manager, LA Chapter
I met Brittany for lunch in Hollywood on a sunny Friday afternoon during “winter break.” “Winter break” is the period between Christmas and New Year’s when the entertainment industry pretty much shuts down for close to two weeks. Brittany and I took full advantage of the time off from work to catch up on life, chat about her role as a membership manager at The Recording Academy, the importance of mentorship, and where she sees the future of Black Women In Music.
Los Angeles Native, Brittany Presley is the Membership Manager for the Los Angeles Chapter of The Recording Academy (GRAMMYs®)
“How can I help them be their best self and help them understand The Recording Academy is a safe space for them...it’s not all about the award.”
Brittany on her role @ The Recording Academy
Mentorship + Journey
In her role as a Membership Manager for the Los Angeles Chapter of The Recording Academy (The GRAMMYs), Brittany conducts membership outreach to music artists and other music professionals. It is her job to demystify what the GRAMMYs is and what it represents. The GRAMMYs are more than an award show that occurs on one Sunday night each year. Brittany comes up with various strategies to perform outreach to different groups within the music community, across a variety of genres, a role which she says, as a bit of an introvert, has pushed her outside of her comfort zone.
After completing internships at both Power 106 and one of the agencies that produces the BET awards, Brittany worked in medical for a year until she found a role in the music industry that was right for her. As someone who loves music, and is very much an advocate for artists and music professionals, she was in search of a role that allowed her to play to her interests. She found what she was looking for as a Regional Assistant to the east coast region of The Recording Academy. During our conversation, Brittany emphasized that her journey from a Regional Assistant to her current role, was one in part made possible by finding a mentor in one of her former bosses, Wendi Cherry. She credits Cherry as being someone who saw more in her than just being an assistant, and encouraged her to find her voice and confidence speaking at board meetings in front of notable and esteemed music professionals.
Brittany also took advantage of being Los Angeles-based and worked every single event that she could during GRAMMY week, giving her an opportunity to further understand how the organization works, network, and present herself as a valuable asset to the organization.
Her current boss, Qiana Conley is someone who she also considers to be a mentor and notes, that it has been very encouraging to her “having a really dope black woman as a boss that’s pushing me that’s not just letting me sit on the sidelines.” Conley is someone whom she credits as encouraging her to operate outside of her comfort zone — be that by attending events to meet with potential members whose genres of expertise are outside her own, or attending events on her own as a representative of the LA Chapter.
Fun Q+A
What musician would be your ideal dinner guest?
Rihanna — but just to hang out and have a fun lady day/girls day.
Sade (Sade Adu) - “I just need to know how she thinks. I don’t know a lot of artists who have such a low profile, but still have the impact that they have when they put music out. I wanna know what drives her to come out? I just want to be around her to understand that energy”
Favorite Performer That She’s Seen Live
Beyonce - “I’ve never seen someone go at 100 at that level for 2 hours.”
Favorite Perform That She’d Like To See Live
Janet Jackson - Brittany recalls the first time she heard the Velvet Rope album. Where she was when she first heard it. Being at one of her best friend’s houses and all of the memories tied to that particular point in time. “I might have to take a solo trip to Vegas to see her if she does another residency.”
On The Future of Black Women In Music…
We closed our time together by discussing the future of Black Women in Music. Noting over the last few years, there has certainly been an increase in visibility of Black Women within the music industry, Brittany lamented, “I personally would like to see us owning more stuff. I don’t know if there’s a black woman who owns a label, but I would like to see that.” We talked at length about ownership not only as Black women, but as it pertains to Black people in general. So much of pop culture has been influenced by the contributions of Black people — it’s something that we tend to widely celebrate during the month of February. Perhaps, in looking to the future, more paths to ownership will be created and celebrated.
““As a broad thing, I would like to see more black ownership in general. I would like to see more black ownership and more black people in positions of power.”
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