Mompreneurs: Joi Brown's Journey In The Music Industry
Mompreneurs: Joi Brown On Building Culture Creators — The Platform Uplifting Black Innovators And Future Leaders
This week on Mompreneurs, music industry trailblazer Joi Brown joins host Nancy Redd to reflect on her illustrious career and share the exciting growth of her own venture, Culture Creators.
Through this multifaceted platform, Brown honors culture shifters and mentors up-and-coming leaders across industries. These days, the mother of two is embracing life as a full-time entrepreneur after turning the page on her storied career in music marketing. In this interview with Redd, Brown outlines her journey and shares how she’s using her gift for bringing people together to elevate the culture.
Brown is currently the CEO of Culture Creators, a business that has evolved into a multifaceted enterprise since she founded it in 2016. Meanwhile, she was shaping the music and media world herself, as SVP of Marketing at Atlantic Records then Head of Strategic Partnerships at ICM.
“Really, I didn’t know what I was starting. I just knew that I wanted people to get together,” Brown said. “I was just passionate about people, about making sure that we know that we are stakeholders in each other’s success, and that we need one another.”
“It’s about putting people in a room and saying: How can we collaborate? How can we break bread together, and how can we make money together?”
Joi Brown, Founder & CEO of Culture Creators
This summer marked the 9th annual Culture Creators Innovators and Leaders Awards Brunch, which spotlighted a powerful group of honorees, including Icon of the Year Larry Wilmore, Media Honoree Joy-Ann Reid, Innovator of the Year Keke Palmer, and more.
“The room feels like a family reunion. It’s not stuffy, it’s purposeful,” Brown said. “I try to set the tone as to why we’re here. We’re here because we are a community, we’re here to support each other. We’re here to tell our stories. We’re here to reach across the aisle and say hi to your neighbor.”
‘No One Sees The Sacrifice That Goes Into Building Other People’s Dreams’
Brown is known for her influential work behind the scenes of media and entertainment, but it came at a cost. The demands of her job meant working weekends, missing parent-teacher conferences, and having little time to be present for her husband and children. “No one sees the sacrifice that goes into building other people’s dreams,” she said. “You turn around like, I kind of feel like no one even knows that I exist.”
‘It’s Exciting To Be Working With My Daughters’
Now that her daughters are grown and setting out on their own paths, and having left her industry job to establish her own cultural legacy with Culture Creators—Brown is thriving as a full-time mompreneur. “I will say, it’s less stressful because I don’t have little ones,” she said. “I can put that energy into my business.”
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Her daughters have been part of this journey since the start of Culture Creators, watching Brown manage all of the moving parts behind the scenes—creating flyers, strategizing, making t-shirts. It’s been a true labor of love. “They have been on this journey with me, in lockstep,” Brown said.
Her girls are now involved in the business, bringing their energy and insight to the thriving platform. “Watching them be involved in Culture Creators, they really bring great value to what I’m doing,” said Brown. “It’s exciting to be in this phase with them, working with my daughters.”
