Jazmine Valencia operates at the heart of one of the most disrupted…

ElderGrasshopperMaster959 Jazmine Valencia operates at the heart of one of the most disrupted…Jazmine Valencia operates at the heart of one of the most disrupted and fastest-changing industries of the past decade. She has been on the cutting edge of the music industry since the beginning of her career. In 2012, she started from the bottom at the Island Def Jam Music Group label as an intern, working her way to director of digital marketing. During her 7 years at Island Def Jam, she witnessed the dawn of social media as an effective marketing tool before it was consolidated into the handful of platforms we have today, such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Jazmine saw the changes and she saw the possibilities. “In the beginning people didn’t yet know exactly what social media could do for music marketing as it had yet to establish itself as a mainstream medium and it was not clear if major players would, but I wanted to be ready.”In 2014, Island Def Jam Music Group split into multiple labels and Jazmine’s entire client list was shaken up. As Jazmine said, “It was like going through a divorce and we were all confused kids.” Although her job was secure, her day-to-day had changed drastically, and many of the artists she had spent years building relationships with were no longer hers. But Jazmine had skills that the artists needed, especially in this time of uncertainty. What those artists needed was help with marketing in this new world of music distribution. As a result, she left Island Def Jam in 2015 and started consulting with her clients who had been displaced in the split. She soon realized she was offering a little too much help for free. It was time, she thought, to “jump head first into starting my own music marketing agency.”It was an organic transition from Def Jam to her own business because it was easy to sell herself based on what she had already accomplished. There was no question of what she was capable of doing for musicians, and this made it easy to attract clients she had previously worked with as well as new ones. “It didn’t seem like a risk to me; it felt easy and it happened by accident. I said to myself, ‘Let me just go with this and see where it gets me.'”Today, JV Agency is a marketing company handling campaigns for all levels of musicians from all genres. Jazmine leads and advises some of music’s biggest artists, from indie rock band The Killers to Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes. She helps grow careers for some of the most talented musicians today using an artist-focused marketing approach to growth. This means she handles their digital marketing, social media, brand strategy, international distribution, and many other aspects of an artist’s business. She credits her success in the industry to her creativity, confidence, and ability to thrive under pressure, all things she honed early on while at Island Def Jam. One thing Jazmine wishes everyone would do is replace the word “failure” with “lesson” because she feels that failure has such negative connotations. “I wish we could use a positive word for failure so people would be less afraid of making mistakes and more capable of learning lessons from their experiences.” Jazmine knows that without failure and the associated learning, it’s hard to see new opportunities. “Sometimes you have to learn lessons and pay the price in the short term and to realize that setbacks can be opportunities in disguise.”Critical Thinking questions1.Why did Jazmine start her own business?2.Why does she recommend doing what you are passionate about?3.What is Jazmine’s perspective on failure? BusinessBusiness – Other