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Charese Fruge (@MCMediaonline) Talks To Laura Whitmore
April 4, 2023
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Laura Whitmore is the SVP of Marketing for Positive Grid, a company she describes as a very innovative and disruptive musical instrument company specializing in software and guitar amplifiers. She is also the founder of Women's International Music Network, and the annual “She Rocks Awards.” This year’s award ceremony, which honors women in the music and audio industries is happening April 13th at 6:30 (PT) at the RANCH in Anaheim, CA. This year’s celebration will honor singer Judy Collins, Noelle Scaggs of Fitz and the Tantrum, and songwriter Shelly Peiken.
Whitmore describes her current responsibilities at Positive Grid for us. “I spend most of my time working on marketing for Positive Grid. I run a team of about thirty people internationally. So, most of my time is spent talking. I get paid to talk, it's awesome,” she explains. “I spearhead all the marketing strategy, I work very closely with the creative team to work on the positioning, storytelling, and messaging for the products. We are currently getting ready to head to the NAMM Show, the National Association of Music Merchants’ largest stage, uniting the global music sound and entertainment technology communities. So that's a lot of coordination and strength-strategic planning on how we present while there.”
“I also co-produce the ‘She Rocks Awards,’ which happens at the NAMM show this year. It’s really fun, but it takes a crazy amount of work to make that all happen,” says Whitmore. “Since I have a design background I do so much myself, including designing the program, and I work very closely with the director of the Women's International Music Network, and my ‘She Rocks’ co-producer Bonnie Gallanter. We work together on all the various elements to create a really high energy and inspiring evening.”
Here's how it all started for Whitmore. “Ever since I was a little kid, I always loved singing and writing music. I wrote my first song when I was around 10 years old. I have always been inspired by music, it's been my passion,” explains Whitmore. “When I was getting ready to go to college, I really wanted to go to Berklee College of Music because I lived in Massachusetts, but my parents were accountants, and they shut that down. I was very fortunate though, that when they were looking for a college for my brother, who was an accountant, they found a school that had a music business program, so if I wanted to study music, they would support me getting a music degree. This ended up being the best of both worlds because it had a lot of performance elements, where I learned a lot about business. And I had always thought I would get to become a rock star through the backdoor. ‘I'll get into the business, I'll get to know people, and I work at a record label, and hey, they'll see how great I am.’”
“Of course, that didn't work out. And all along I was performing in bands and writing my own music. But I really grew to love marketing, which I think is a really creative part of the business. I continue to be a musician and I've come to terms with not being a ‘rock star.’ I feel like I really enjoy performing more now than ever when the pressure is off, and I don't have to worry about that for my livelihood, or that I have to be famous, or somebody has to love me. I feel like I've really invested a lot of time in becoming an expert in marketing in the music industry. I feel really confident and great about what I do there. It's really fun for me to combine those two passions. And I think it's really helpful that I am a musician.”
“When I was in college, I was actually trained as an audio engineer as well,” adds Whitmore. “I took a two year program at another school while I was in undergraduate school. So I have a lot of technical training that has helped me to really understand the mindset of musicians and when I'm marketing to them. I have firsthand experience and knowledge of what motivates them. So, it's a really great combination for me.”
“I think launching and growing the ‘She Rocks Awards’ has been one of the bigger thrills and accomplishments in my career. We started out as a breakfast event, the cheapest meal of the day. And it’s grown into this massive Awards event now. And at one point, I really had to take a leap of faith, and stick my neck out to make it work. It really showed me how much I didn't know I could accomplish personally, aside from the fact that so many people are inspired by it, which really keeps me going. It’s a hard project to do, it's so complex, that when people afterwards tell me, ‘I come every year, it's so inspiring, like, thank you for doing that,’ it really means something.”
“I'm getting a little more emotional even thinking about it. That’s been a real highlight of my career.” Says Whitmore. “And then from the other part of my brain is the marketer. My work with Positive Grid has been so fulfilling, I felt like before I joined them, I was an old school kind of person. I've been doing marketing for decades. And there's a lot of things that happen in marketing that I didn't learn how to do. But I was really thankful that the folks from Positive Grid understood my expertise, my background, and were willing to help me level up some of my digital marketing skills. What the company's doing from a marketing perspective, a really great combination of emotional storytelling and super high tech marketing tactics, is a very exciting thing for me.”
Years of experience don’t come without challenges and life lessons according to Whitmore. “It’s funny when you look back and you realize there are many times in your career that you have hit a wall, and had a devastating moment,” she says. “One that sticks out for me was when I was passed over for a promotion, and I really felt like ‘I'm stuck. I don't know what to do.’ Now I've really put my heart and soul into this company. And they're not helping me figure out where my next step is. But when I look back now, at a moment like that, it's a really pivotal moment in my career where I said, ‘Okay, I'm going to shift my thinking, I'm going to do something else, and I'm going to step out of my comfort zone.’”
“And that's when those moments of revelation or fulfillment happen, you realize, ‘Oh, I was defining myself far too narrowly. Who knew I could do all of this?’ That’s definitely something that's happened to me a few times. Even physical limitations that you don't realize the vision you have for yourself, like having kids, getting sick or whatever. ‘Maybe I can do it all.’”
“But I also find that as you progress in your career and in your life, you can redefine what success means to you, and you don't have to be so strict and narrow about what's okay and what's right, and what's exciting and what makes you feel good,” says Whitmore. “Being open minded about those limitations and trusting yourself to be able to pivot and move to the next phase in your career has been a real learning experience, and something that when I look back, it makes me feel really, really good. Those terrible times made me feel good now, is what I'm trying to say. I also think I was a little bit afraid of the technological advancements in my marketing career, my career path. But now I have so much more confidence that even an old guy like me can figure out all this newfangled, cool stuff you can do to make the world aware of what's happening.”
Whitmore laughingly refers to herself as an “old guy,” but she’s got great advice for young women who want to get into the business. “Networking is so important. Showing up and not being afraid to have a conversation with somebody without any expectation, just being there, being part of the conversation and following up like, ‘hey, it was awesome to meet you.’ I used to do this thing, where if I was traveling, and I went into town, and I had my lunch slot available, I’d look at my LinkedIn and say, ‘Who do I know in Chicago? Do you want to have lunch?’ It might be somebody that I met three years ago. And we clicked and I thanked them.”
“It’s just really great to nurture that network. I also believe in karma, business karma,” she says. “So, I think when you do things for other people, without any expectation, it comes back to you in unexpected ways. I also really recommend people that are fun to work with, that are easy to talk to and approach. I think that they succeed, and that they get opportunities.”
I also say this to my kids: ‘Do what you say you're gonna do.’ You volunteer to do something, you're there, and somebody needs help. If you can help, you better do it. Because otherwise you get known as the person who says they're gonna do something, and don't do it. That’s a really hard thing to get around. Once you let somebody down, they're not going to give you another chance.”
“And finally, I would just say that everybody has some value. You have to figure out what your value is to somebody that you're trying to connect with, or to a company that you're hoping to have a career with,” says Whitmore. “Or just think about your career path, think about your passion and the things that you love, and what you can contribute? Build little by little from there.”
“I think as far as leadership goes, that's kind of a terrifying thing. Because you're always going down a path that you've never been on before. You talk to a lot of people about impostor syndrome, which is a real thing. Feeling like, ‘Oh, I don't know how to do this, like, who decided that this is for me?’ But you find out that almost everybody feels that at some point. Just trust your instincts and having that, more than 10,000 hours, probably more like 800,000 hours of experience, that you can rely on. I always say ‘hey, if I make a mistake, no one's gonna die. I'm not a surgeon here, it's okay. We'll figure it out.’ So, trusting your gut and taking the time to know your stuff is pretty crucial.”
One of the biggest challenges we face in the industry is the lack of diversity, equity and inclusion. Having been in the business for a while, Whitmore has not only seen, but experienced what’s happened over the years. “When we started the Women's International Music Network, it was really apparent that women were not represented enough in the industry, never mind other diverse groups. It's really terrible,” she says. “I think I have seen improvement in the last 12 years. So, in the 11 years that we've been in existence, there's definitely more women playing instruments, there's more women in leadership roles in the companies that serve the music industry. But I will say this, we're still a minority. And sometimes there's backward steps, which are very disappointing. That happens. We're always in there plugging away trying to make opportunities and visibility for women, and even creating the resources for women if they hit a wall, and if they have questions, if they need help from me.”
“The Women's International Music Network has workshops and panels, and we sometimes step in and help other companies identify people to use in their marketing, or in their panels so we can help them with representation. As I was saying before, we always think about it in our own marketing terms, a positive return on everything we do. We are showing the people that we want to attract the audience and asking, ‘Are you seeing yourself? Are you seeing yourself in that marketing so you can relate to it?’”
Whitmore admits she’s a little overwhelmed right now with the ‘She Rocks Awards’ just around the corner, but she does admit to ‘trying’ to work on balance. “Find balance? Balance eludes me, for sure LOL. I am pretty good about going to the gym. I have been really trying to not eat a lot of sugar, because I find if I eat too much sugar, my whole body gets out of balance,” she says. “But other than that, I'm a workaholic. So, I have terrible balance. But I also definitely make time for my kids. I love my kids. I talk to them almost every day. I have a little dog that I take for a walk, and that gets me out in the world. Otherwise, I'd probably be sitting in this chair all the time. And I really try to eat dinner with my boyfriend and take a little break, but it's really hard to have balance. It definitely feels like I'm a little bit out of balance.”
Sometimes, the work load and the structure are the balance. I guess it depends on the person. But if that’s the case, that’s good news for Whitmore since the ‘She Rocks Awards’ is April 13th. It's open to the public and can be viewed at SheRocksAwards.com. If you can't make it, it will be available on demand on the site. “So that'll be really exciting,” she says. “We’ll have celebrities and performances and really moving acceptance speeches by all the honorees. And I'll be there, of course.”
Also, ahead for Whitmore, “We just launched the incredible little exciting Spark Go from Positive Grid, and it's in preorder right now. We'll be showing it at the NAMM Show, April 13th-15th. We’ll be sharing lots of that content online. Check it out at PositiveGrid.com It's a really cool, fun, and a pretty deep guitar amp that sounds incredible.”
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