NOISEMAKERS:
SUMMER HEAT

In our latest roundup, we present eight rising professionals from various parts of the biz whose dedication and effort make their superiors look good.

This week's entrants will also find their faces in our latest mag. Thankfully, they can lament this mortifying experience from the comfort of their air-conditioned spaces.

Natalie Dodge
VP, A&R, Astralwerks/Capitol Music Group

When Dodge inked Surf Mesa to Astralwerks in 2020—after which his “ily (i love you baby)” f/Emilee went double platinum, scored 2.6b streams and hit #2 at Top 40—she could never have imagined that he and her dad would write a song together and perform it at her wedding. Today she’s A&Ring releases by not only Surf Mesa but Dillon Francis, Chris Lake, Bob Moses and ACRAZE. She’s also busy with new music by her signee EMELINE, who’s earned 380m+ streams and sold out headlining shows in N.Y. and L.A. Dodge is a lefty and a Scorpio. We consider ourselves warned.

Karina Puente
VP, Promotion, Sony Music Latin

Puente has helped SML take the #1 slot in Latin Airplay for seven consecutive years. She’s also played a role in Shakira’s Guinness World Records haul, including the most #1s for a female artist on the Latin Airplay chart. Puente is currently gearing up for Marshmello’s first Latin-collab LP (f/Manuel Turizo, Farruko and more) and Becky G’s regional MX project with Edgar Barrera. Early on, she quickly rose to a programming role at a Dallas radio station—using her gut to pick hits. Our guts only suggest late-night snacks.

Marco Rojas
Senior Manager, Radio Promotions, The Syndicate

From getting Central Cee’s “Doja” played on U.S. radio to watching him perform the now-gold track at Rolling Loud Toronto for a crowd singing along word for word, Rojas is proud to have played a role in breaking the London rapper stateside. These days he’s promoting songs by acts like Metallica, Portugal. The Man, K. Flay, Chad Tepper, MAGIC!, Scowl, Planet Giza, REZZ and George Clanton. Rojas went to the same North Bergen, New Jersey, high school that produced rapper-singer 070 Shake and actor-comedian Joey “Coco” Diaz. We napped through homeroom.

Jen Morgan
VP, Creative & Imaging, BMG Nashville/New York

Morgan, who was introduced to Jelly Roll’s music more than 10 years ago through his 10-minute freestyle (Google it), will always cherish the experience of watching his sold-out 2022 Bridgestone Arena show with 20,000 other fans. More recently, she was honored to orchestrate creative for a Judds tribute record. She’s also pumped to be working on upcoming albums by Jason Aldean, Dustin Lynch, Frank Ray and King Calaway. When Morgan was 19, she won a Dodge Dakota, which she says wasn’t actually “all it was cracked up to be.” People say the same about us.

Brooklyn DiMartino
Label Manager, R&B, Hip Hop & Reggae, Ingrooves

Among DiMartino’s career highlights, when she was at Mass Appeal she supported Nas’ 2018 Kanye-produced NASIR album―including a release party under the Queensboro Bridge with Kim Kardashian, 2 Chainz, Pusha T, Chris Rock and other such luminaries in attendance. More recently, she’s had her hands full with Tech N9ne’s new album, BLISS, and upcoming projects by Slum Village, DJ Premier, Tinashe and Jacob Banks. DiMartino won numerous first-place plaques on her 1979 Suzuki PE 175 (her dad is still motocrossing). We’re known for our many participation trophies.

Ryan Erickson
Director, Tour Marketing, Live Nation

In 2016 Erickson was responsible for launching Red Rocks Amphitheater’s Instagram to coincide with its 75th anniversary. He’s attended 200+ concerts at the storied venue. During his six-year career with Live Nation, he’s worked on 142 tours (that’s 2,758 shows). This year alone, he’s wrangled 14 tours (354 shows) for artists like Drake, ODESZA, Dead & Company, Fall Out Boy, Zac Brown Band, NF and RÜFÜS DU SOL. Erickson once bought a Fenty shirt from Rihanna herself—she took his credit card from behind the register at a pop-up shop. We genuinely can’t relate.

Inga Kan
Producer, Content Development, Columbia Records

Kan got to celebrate the release of Tyler, The Creator’s 2021 #1 album CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST with a show at New York’s Music Hall of Williamsburg (capacity: a mere 650). This year, she was part of the team behind Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation and Labrinth’s Ends & Begins. A Parsons School of Design graduate and Girl Scouts Lifetime Member, Kan practices self-care by giving herself a nail art gel mani every other week, sometimes even coordinating them with releases she has coming out. We can’t even match our socks half the time.

Genesis Garcia
Associate Director, Publicity, RCA Records

Garcia’s peak career moments include Steve Lacy’s winning a Grammy for his album Gemini Rights and performing the chart-topping “Bad Habit” on Saturday Night Live. She’s presently advancing the careers of emerging artists like Khamari, who released his debut album, A Brief Nirvana, in May, and working on projects with Victoria Monét (her upcoming JAGUAR II) and Teezo Touchdown (his debut LP). She’s also mighty excited about new music from Miguel. This college rugby player owns a rice farm in the Dominican Republic, a place she can only hope we never find.