Manager Spotlight offers a small insight into the heads of incredible managers. This week in the spotlight is MMF Board Member Rachael Bee!

How long have you worked in Management? 

20 years (although had some breaks along the way).

Who do you manage now?

Izzy Bizu, Emmavie, Anjelo Disons, Damn Shaq, Vibbar although have to shout out John Hendrickse who leads on everyone but Izzy (-;

Where did you find your first client and what inspired you to take them on? 

I was running the MTV Lick Parties and had an urban events and promotion company and was approached by Jade Richardson (A&R at Polydor at the time), who was looking for a manager for a girl group she had put together called Ladies First. I went to meet them and they picked me out of a handful of meetings she had set up. I was only in my 20’s and was always game for trying something new so it wasn’t a hard decision to say yes to the offer. The girl group didn’t last but Jade became one of my best mates. In fact, she was a maid of honour when I got married!

What’s a good/bad day at work look like for you?

A good day is when amazing new music has landed in my inbox from one of our acts, we’ve nailed a great deal or opportunity for one of our artists or a release has reacted really well. A bad day is a deadline looming, creative assets not coming together how we had hoped, unhappy stressed artist and/or just too much to do (although if truth be told, as a manger there is always to much to do but some stuff not so deadline driven).

What has been the highlight of your management career to date?

Hard to pick between Izzy being nominated for The Brits Critics Choice, winning BBC introducing Artist of the Year or being asked to support Coldplay on the US Arena Tour.

What do you think are the big challenges for a manager in 2020?

Releasing albums in these times is really hard. It’s not so bad if you are brand new or massive but for everyone in the middle, it’s tough. It’s hard to release an album without a live plot around it and the opportunities are much fewer at media with Covid too.

What music are you currently listening to?

Today I’ve been listening to Michael Kiwanuka on the back of his Mercury win, Emmavie’s new unreleased music coming soon, Xadi (an artist on our development programme at iluvlive) and Celeste, Arlo Parks, Solange, Ray Blk, Joy Crooks, Daniel Ceaser, Mos Def and of course Izzy all on my current personal playlist. I like to mix up some old and new together.