Starday King Records was my first real job in the music industry. This led to many associations in the industry meeting radio & record executives. Since I had graduated from secretarial school, my skills at office administration qualified me for office positions.
While working at Chess Janus Records, Frankie Crocker offered me a job as the music librarian for WBLS-FM in NY. So my radio career began. Once there, I developed on-air skills & began working on the weekends. My career includes radio consulting for Burkhart/Abrahams Disco division (Disco 92FM), air personality for WVEE-FM in Atlanta along with hosting Soultown on SiriusXM. I have been fortunate to have worked on both sides of the business, including record promotion for Atlantic, MCA, Columbia & Ruben Rodriguez Entertainment.
After over 10 years on SIRIUSXM, it came time to move on to other challenges. Since my family needed me, I decided to retire from the 9-5s and move to Orlando. There I began a new life caretaking for my grandchildren & mother, who is 93 years old and going strong! A unique door opened for me to get out, meet new people and allowed me to learn this new city. Since I had marketing experience through record promotion, people skills from dealing with personalities in radio and the fact I’m not shy, I was able to successfully transition into a Product Ambassador for wine tasting at various locations throughout Orlando.
This opened up a whole new world since I had no serious knowledge about wine & its complex history. There still is so much to learn & every year there is a new batch of wine to taste! What makes it even more fun is the diversity of people from all over the world, more so than NY. And of course, being bi-lingual has helped since there are so many Latin folks here.
Although not directly employed in the music business, my friends, contacts, social media accounts keep me up to date on the business, so I still feel very much connected to the family. And who knows what tomorrow will bring!
Aretha Franklin’s “Natural Woman” has always been inspirational. Contact me on FB & LinkedIn. #BlackMusicMonth #LivingLegends