Mondo.NYC Speaker
Naima Cochrane
Artist Manager & Music Journalist
Naima Cochrane spent 20 years rising in the ranks of the music industry through groundbreaking labels Bad Boy and Arista, and legacy majors Columbia and Epic. During her career as a marketer, she helped actualize the visions and build the careers and brand stories for acts including Beyoncé, Maxwell, Odd Future, Juicy J and John Legend. The latter relationship led her to transition into management, joining Legend's team at Friends at Work.
In 2017, she started #MusicSermon, a weekly music series via Twitter that quickly went viral and created a community of music lovers seeking both nostalgia and education. Her storytelling through #MusicSermon soon led to writing and speaking about Black music and culture regularly for outlets including Billboard, Vibe, NPR, the NY Times Popcast, Vibe and Vice; as well as research and archival for organizations and outlets including Spotify, Combs Enterprises, Universal Music Group’s uDiscover Music, and DJ Khaled’s The First One podcast with Amazon Music.
Naima also still utilizes her depth of industry knowledge and marketing and strategy experience an artist manager, and as marketer and consultant for brands, organizations, and public-facing figures helping to shape their stories in authentic ways.