This Week’s Disruptors 8/23/2023
Welcome to DISRUPTORS! This is a brand-new series in which we will be highlighting rising executives in the biz whom you need to know. Don't fall behind! Or end up at a party and not know who you're standing next to. Let's dive in!
- Zak Kuhn (Founder, Nashville Briefing)
Alec Ellin
CEO / Laylo
Los Angeles
Bio: Serial entrepreneur Ellin launched Laylo, a Creator CRM and Drop platform, with Sajan Sanghvi in 2021 after working at record labels and music management companies and founding two prior entertainment tech startups. Since Laylo's launch, it has powered major creators and brands including Calvin Harris, Friday Beers, Sam Smith, DVSN, Kodak Black, Miles Teller, Dixie D’Amelio and Celina Spookyboo. Ellin has helped Laylo raise over $8M from top-tier investors and led strategic partnerships across media and technology with companies including Roc Nation, Acast, Polygon, Red Light Management, Fevo, Beacons, Sound.xyz and AWAL.
Proudest moment: Successfully pivoting the company and raising enough money to survive when we had a few weeks of runway left — on New Year’s Eve no less.
Kelli Wasilauski
Director of Operations, Nashville / The Oriel Company
Nashville
Bio: Kelli Wasilauski is the Director of Operations, Nashville, for The Oriel Company. She is currently spearheading efforts in Music City for the PR company that represents André 3000, Jason Isbell, Kelsea Ballerini, Maroon 5, Old Dominion, Phoebe Bridgers, Questlove, Robyn, and recent Emmy nominees Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Juliette Lewis, as well as the Stagecoach Music Festival. In her current role, Wasilauski works on a variety of accounts including Stagecoach, UTA’s Music Division, Old Dominion and more. Wasilauski joined The Oriel Company in July of 2023 with more than eight years of music industry experience. Six of those years were spent in her most recent role as VP of Publicity at Adkins Publicity. At Adkins, she helped grow the company’s roster to more than 20 clients and worked on notable campaigns including Billy Ray Cyrus’ record-breaking “Old Town Road (Remix)” with Lil Nas X, Tanya Tucker’s Grammy award-winning album While I’m Livin’ and The Judd’s “Dream Chasers" Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum exhibit.
Proudest moment: The proudest moment of my career so far was being a part of legendary songwriter Bill Anderson’s first GRAMMY-nomination as an artist. He has a prolific career in songwriting, being one of the only songwriters in history to chart songs in the past 7 consecutive decades. It was wonderful being a part of telling the story around his album Bill Anderson: As Far As I Can See and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum exhibit of the same name.
Blair Miller
Founder/CEO Chaos Creators Entertainment
Nashville
Bio: Blair Miller is the founder of Chaos Creators, an entertainment marketing agency disrupting traditional social media marketing, fan engagement, and short-form content creation. Before launching Chaos Creators, Blair Miller was the Creative Director of Jonas Group Media, a marketing agency she founded with Kevin Jonas, Sr. Throughout her career, Miller has supported the social media efforts of artists such as Charlotte Sands, Kassi Ashton, Franklin Jonas, Brad Paisley, Chris Young, Lanie Gardner, PUBLIC, and Erin Kirby. She also launched social campaigns with influencers such as Charli D’Amelio, Bella Poarch, Avani, Lil Huddy, and Madi Monroe. Miller earned her degree in Music Business from Belmont University. During her time at Belmont, she honed her marketing skills through stints with Scooter Braun Projects, Atlantic Records, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Nashville, The Recording Academy, Country Music Association (CMA), and Crowd Surf.
Proudest moment: The proudest moment of my career is taking the leap of faith and launching my own marketing agency, Chaos Creators Entertainment.
Andrew Graham
Digital Media Agent / CAA
Nashville
Bio: Andrew Graham is a Digital Media Agent at leading agency CAA. In his current role, Graham brokers innovative digital and linear partnerships across brands, content, social platforms, television, film, books, and merchandise for many of the most successful digital and traditional talent working in entertainment today. That list includes Noah Beck, Matt Rife, The McFarlands, Prince EA, Jimmy Fallon, Gabrielle Union, Lisa Vanderpump, and RuPaul, among many others. Additionally, he spearheads the Digital Media division’s advisory work in the “creator economy,” having represented companies like billion-dollar unicorn startups Jellysmack and Brut Media. Since joining CAA in 2016, Graham has negotiated tens of millions of dollars’ worth of brand endorsements and content partnerships for clients with Fortune 500 companies, resulting in billions of impressions.
Proudest moment: During the pandemic, Graham saw an opportunity to keep clients engaged and growing and subsequently cornered the market for “edutainment content”. He scored instructor deals for award-winning music producer Charlie Puth, as well as musical theater luminaries Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer, illusionist David Blaine, and celebrity chef Christina Tosi to create courses teaching their craft on The Monthly app
Andre Herd
Senior Director of A&R / Artist Partner Group (APG)
Los Angeles
Bio: Andre is currently Senior Director of A&R at APG and works on the pop/alternative side of the company. At APG, he has signed Lexi Jayde, 6arelyhuman, bludnymph, Tommy Newport, thekid.ACE all to the label & hit rock producer WZRD BLD to publishing. He also currently co-manages UK artist Deyaz. Starting as an artist/songwriter, Herd interned for APG and founded the band ARIZONA, which signed to APG and Atlantic. He then launched the publishing company Unrestricted, under Songs Publishing, helping place the #1 pop record "Stay" by Zedd ft. Alessia Cara and working with artists like XXXTENTACION, Chromeo and Demi Lovato. His next move was managing singer/songwriter JP Saxe, signing Saxe to Arista and helping put together & release the GRAMMY-nominated hit "If The World Was Ending" ft. Julia Michaels. Both “If The World Was Ending” and “Stay” now have over 1 Billion streams. He joined APG in 2020.
Proudest moment: The proudest moment of my career was when "If The World Was Ending" was nominated for Song of the Year at the GRAMMYs. It was always a childhood dream to have a song that I worked on get nominated for a Big Four category.
Madison Machen
Messina Touring Group / Digital Partnerships Manager
Austin
Bio: Madison Machen leads digital partnership strategy and execution for Messina Touring Group’s pop and country tours such as Blake Shelton, Ed Sheeran, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Old Dominion, and others. She develops innovative ways to connect fans with their favorite artists in the live music space by partnering with streaming services, social media platforms, influencers, and brands. Madison is a driving force behind securing authentic and long-lasting partnerships in the digital space for MTG artists. A graduate of the University of Arkansas, Madison got her start in music with the university's concert committee, and shortly after graduation started her career with specialized experience in artist management, merchandise, marketing, and live events.
Proudest moment: By developing a tailored strategy to engage fans on tour, our team executed a successful non-profit initiative for George Strait’s 2023 stadium shows benefitting the Jenifer Strait Foundation in partnership with Propeller. It was so rewarding to empower his fan base to take action to support an amazing cause.
