Came a Long Way

As the Senior Director of Music & Entertainment at Berk Communications, Morais has successfully spearheaded nationally and internationally-renowned publicity campaigns such as: - Spearheaded the international “Free Meek” PR campaign that resulted in the Grammy-nominated artist Meek Mill’s release from an unjust incarceration and inspired a renewed conversation around criminal justice reform in the United States - Organized and oversaw the press conference launch of the REFORM Alliance that attracted over 100+ prominent media members to cover JAY-Z, Meek Mill, Robert Kraft, Michael Rubin and Van Jones's criminal justice reform organization in January 2019 - Managed PUMA’s global announcement of its re-entry to the basketball marketplace + the brand’s announcement of J. Cole as an ambassador - Orchestrated album publicity campaigns for award-winning musicians like Meek Mill, Yo Gotti, Fat Joe, Romeo Santos, Tinashe, The-Dream, MoneyBagg Yo, 42 Dugg, etc.

Sandra Afloarei is the Senior VP of Promotion at Epic Records. She has been selected to Billboard 40 under 40 for her outstanding work. We hope you enjoy this episode. For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Walter Jones is the Co-Head of A&R at Universal Music Publishing Group. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Justice Baiden is the Co-Founder of LVRN a record label and artist management company currently housing artists such as 6LACK, Summer Walker, DRAM and Boogie. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Wallace Joseph is the Senior Director of A&R at Warner Chappell Music. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Chris Atlas is Executive Vice President of Urban Music and Marketing at Warner Records. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Pete Ganbarg is a Grammy Award winning music business executive who is currently President of A&R for Atlantic Records. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Our guest this week is Jeff Burroughs, SVP of Marketing at Def Jam. An entrepreneur in spirit, Jeff faced many ups and downs throughout his career. After establishing his career at Bad Boy Records, Jeff served as a Vice President at Sony Music Entertainment and later joined Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment as Head of Commercial Relationships. Before Def Jam, he founded his own marketing, consulting and brand strategy firm Rise Entertainment in Los Angeles. During our conversation, we talked about how to shape an artists career, developing a strategy based on persona and the art of 'hustle'. Jeff highlighted the importance of 'getting back up' after experiencing lows and touched on how to make yourself valuable as a professional in music business. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Our guest this week is John Ehmann. After establishing a career in the music industry as an A&R executive, he's now a serial entrepreneur also known as the manager of A$AP Rocky. Growing up, John was the go to for new music amongst his high school peers. It was only until he landed a internship at J records in college when he realized he wanted his passion for music to be his full time career. From then to now, John has gone from intern to being one of the top A&R executives in the industry, breaking acts such as Lana Del Ray, to becoming ASAP rocky’s manager and overseeing all projects associated with him. In today's discussion, John talks about establishing himself in the music industry and how to take control of your own life as you progress with your career. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Our guest this week is Courtney Stewart the founder of the artist management and creative consulting house Right Hand Co. The firm's roster includes global acts such as Khalid. During our conversation, Courtney talked about how the age of streaming played an important role in breaking next-generation artists such as Khalid and the importance of seeking mentorship. Courtney gave some invaluable advice on how to adjust to the Covid-19 as an entrepreneur in music industry and beyond. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Darcus Beese is a British music executive who is the President of Island Records and one of the most influential figures within the music industry. He is known for signing global artist such as Amy Winehouse and Jessie J. Music Week described Beese as "one of the great A&R people of his or any other generation" During our conversation with Darcus, we talked about the launch of his career at an early age, what the music industry looked like back then in UK and how it transformed over the years. He touched on important details that lead to a successful career and how ‘small things’ can ultimately generate big results. We’ve been fascinated by Darcus’ long-term vision, his patience and perspective on ‘time'. Darcus shared the story about how he signed Amy Winehouse to Island Records, his transition into the President role and more. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way and our YouTube channel CameaLongWayTV. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Welcome back! Our first guest for Season 2 is John Fleckenstein, the Co-President of RCA Records. In this episode, we talked about his early days in the industry, projects with stars like Justin Timberlake and how to develop a global mindset when it comes to artist relevance. John talked about his transition into the Co-President role and the responsibilities that come with it, the impact of streaming services and how it's changing the role of record labels. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Nelly Ortiz is the Director of Marketing and Partnerships as well as an active artist manager at Roc Nation working with artists such as DJ Khaled and J. Cole. During our conversation, Nelly mentioned how she takes advantage of every day as if it is a new beginning. She also gave valuable advice to on trying to 'chill out' and trust the process because you cannot figure out all your life at once. We found Nelly’s perspective on being okay with not knowing exactly what you want to do in the future to be relatable for the younger generation as she wrapped up the conversation by saying “have a general idea of what you want to do and see where that takes you.” We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

John Stein is Spotify's North American Lead and co-creator of popular playlist 'Pollen'. During our conversation with John, we talked about the process behind building a genre-less playlist that lead to 400,000+ followers and the importance of data when spotting trends. John lists some of his favorite artists that inspire him and touches on how cultural behavior in today's music is shifting based on various genres. We found John's advice on emerging artists extremely valuable and believe it's applicable to not just artists but anyone who wants to be a part of the music industry. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Anthony Kilhoffer is a 4 time Grammy winning producer, engineer and songwriter who is also the founder of 1st Gen record label. Throughout his career, Kilhoffer worked on major projects with artists such as Kanye West, Kid Cudi and Travis Scott. During our conversation, Kilhoffer mentioned how he had to balance his work and personal life especially during working on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in Hawaii with Kanye West days after his daughter was born. He emphasized on the importance of being knowledgable about the business aspect of the music industry by highlighting the difference between 'producing a hit' vs. 'monetizing a hit'. We believe our conversation with Anthony has some valuable insights to what it takes to become a top producer that works with the most iconic talent of our time. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Phylicia Fant is the Co-Head of Urban Music at Columbia Records. Before her present role, she had worked as the SVP of Publicity & Special Projects at Warner Records. Throughout her career, Phylicia was successful in breaking artists such as JoJo, Kid Cudi and Andra Day pointing out that these artists were special in evoking emotions through their music. During our conversation, we talked about how to treat artists with emotional intelligence by respecting their highs and lows while constructing solutions for such creatives. Phylicia’s advice for young professionals aspiring to be music executives was not to focus too much on what will happen in the future but to live in the present moment so that you will not miss the baby steps that will make you a better executive. We hope you enjoy this episode and use it as a source of inspiration. For visuals from each episode, follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Nigel Talley is The current VP of A&R at Alamo records and has previously worked with artists such as Mase, Waka Flaka Flame, Gucci Mane and more. During our conversation, we talked about the current state of the music industry in the streaming era and how it is changing overtime. Nigel reminisces about his start in the industry through the No Way Out tour with Diddy and developing lucrative relationships in the music industry that lasted his lifetime. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com

Tuo Clark is the SVP of A&R at Def Jam overseeing top iconic talents and he has been a veteran in the industry by being a Grammy nominated producer working on hit records with artists such as Big Sean, Trey Songz and Nicki Minaj. During our conversation, we talked about how Tuo has an ‘intern mentality’ where he continues to the next opportunity with the same attentiveness without thinking about what he has achieved so far. As Tuo never settles and does more than the job description, he adviced the younger generation to get the opportunity and seize the moment because nothing is in life is calculated. Tuo’s final message to young professionals who are aspiring to be music executives was to go after what you believe in, be faithful to your dreams and when your dreams come true, remember the expectations that got you there in the first place. We hope you enjoy this episode! For visuals from each episode, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @came.a.long.way. For any questions, feedback and comments you can email us at e@camealongway.com