S02, E1 - Ivory Layne

Ivory grew up performing and teaching herself songwriting and production. Her music caught the attention of Grammy award-winning producer, Ed Cash and she moved to Nashville from North Carolina. And she went on to sign a record deal with Justin Timberlake’s label Villa 40 and has collaborated with writers like Chris DeStefano, Jimmy Robbins, Lori McKenna, Shane McAnally and others. She’s received 2 major ad placements with her song “Something’s Gonna Happen.” One for Swarovski crystals and the other White House Black Market.

Her music is a blend of orchestral and pop synth sounds taking like to her influences Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, Coldplay, and Imogen Heap. She traveled to London last year to record new music with the help of producer Liam Howe (Lana Del Ray, Ellie Goulding are among the names he’s produced). Her personality and aesthetic is much like your favorite character in a classic Hollywood film – and she shares more about how she has taken her style to still be relevant and true to her in 2019. Ivory’s latest releases include Boy Loves Me, Heaven and Me of which we talk more about in this episode.

S01, E11 - Rachel Knight-Zola

Our Director of Community Engagement Rachel Knight Zola offers advice for balancing your personal life and career in the entertainment industry, tips to making your resume stand out, and ways to manage mental health. She shares her personal journey becoming an entrepreneur in recruiting, life coaching, and helping people become the best in their area of expertise.

Rachel hosts our monthly mixers and assists with any other events in the organization that bring our community together. She is a native of Louisville, KY and a graduate of Belmont University's Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business. During and immediately after college, Rachel worked in entertainment PR and IT startups. She is currently COO of Turnipblood Entertainment and Founder and President of The Knight Agency, Inc., a talent development and placement agency in Nashville.

S01, E10: Ben Danaher

Ben Danaher has spent time curating his songwriting craft from the likes of Country, Blues and

Americana influences such as Merle Haggard, Ray Charles and Darrell Scott. Ben Danaher is a

Texas native and comes from a musical family, specifically his father who spent time touring as

a singer/songwriter and greatly impacted Ben’s decision to pursue that same career for himself.

Ben has participated in YEP’s writer’s round and got connected with the YEP community

through one of our co-founders, Andrew Cohen. This episode we talk a great deal about mental

health and the industry, a topic we featured at a past YEP Life of An Entertainer Event. Ben

shares his own experience and perspective on defining success and how other creatives can be

mindful of the comparison game.

For news on his upcoming tour dates and new music visit bendanaher.com.

S01, E09: Emilija Saxe

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As Director of Strategy at Made In Network, Emilija Saxe specializes in digital content strategy, YouTube channel management, and video-specific media buys. She is YouTube Certified in Asset Monetization, Channel Growth, Content Ownership, and Content Strategy. She is currently a member of Belmont University's Young Professionals Advisory Board and was previously a board member for Nashville's Young Entertainment Professionals. Raised in Cincinnati, Emilija graduated from Belmont University in Nashville with a BBA in Music Business.

S01, E08: Renee Blair

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We’re following up our last episode featuring Lee Krabel and Ryan Beaver of SmackSongs. Another writer from the SmackSongs roster is here with us and her name is Renee Blair. Renee played our last holiday Rewind Show and she’s with us today to chat about her new music and songwriting journey. Renee shares the steps that led her to a publishing deal and the story behind her recent release “Gotta Quit Drinkin.” Fun fact about Renee, she has a spot on Britney Spears impersonation. You’ll get to enjoy a bit of that in this episode.

S01, E07: Lee Krabel and Ryan Beaver

In this episode, we sit down with one of YEP’s founders, Lee Krabel. He is the Senior Creative Director at SMACKSONGS. Joining him is Ryan Beaver who is a country singer/songwriter signed to SMACKSongs and BMI. Lee and Ryan have known each other for a while and in this episode their share their perspectives on industry relationships and how to let opportunities happen naturally rather than try force success and career milestones to unfold. This is a great episode to listen to in terms of hearing how a publisher/writer relationship works, what to look for when working towards a pub deal and a whole lot more.