Manager Spotlight: Yasin El Ashrafi
This week in the spotlight is Yasin El Ashrafi! The Manager Spotlight offers a small insight into the heads of incredible managers.
How long have you worked in Management?
I’ve been working in management since 2017 but I’ve been working in artist development for nearly a decade now.
Who do you manage now?
My current roster is Harri Georgio, Maniscooler, Ffion Rebecca, Jada O’Neill, Flynny O’Flynn, Priv OTB, Tayo B, StudioWyzz and Mar!k
Where did you find your first client and what inspired you to take them on?
I started out doing community music projects and own recording studios so I worked with a lot of artists. One of them really stood out to me and had so much talent and potential I decided to offer them a development/management deal to help them progress and see how far I could take them.
What’s a good/bad day at work look like for you?
Every day is a good day for me, I do what I love and I’m my own boss so the closest I get to a bad day is usually just being frustrated by other people not sharing the same work rate and ethics, also sometimes the financial side can be a bit stressful but it’s all experience so I appreciate the bad and the good.
What has been the highlight of your management career to date?
The highlight of my career so far was being accepted onto the Accelerator programme, I had been working towards it for 3 years so was so gassed when I found out my application had been successful! It’s an honour to be on it alongside so many other amazing managers and I’m learning so much and building my network nicely at the same time.
What do you think are the big challenges for a manager in 2022?
I think the big challenges are the amount of hats most managers have to wear. Most of us are much more than managers, we’re often dealing with the artists’ development, releases, strategy, mental health, cheerleaders and financial advisors etc…
What music are you currently listening to?
I listen to my artists unreleased music a lot and also other leicester artists like Sainte, Queen Millz, Easy Life, Kamakaze, Jafro, Sane, Morgan Munroe and I also listen to a lot of Classic Hip Hop when I’m in the car.