Kristina (she/her), is an Artist-Advocate from Hong Kong with over 15 years working internationally as a curator, creator, and connector. She specialises in mentoring, developing pathways and advocating for all level of careers in front of and behind the lens of Media & Entertainment; from crafting a single resume for a fund-applying artist and connecting creatives to resources in their industries to developing, and producing regional and national initiatives in Music, Film and Entertainment. Kristina has helped hundreds of post-secondary graduates with resumes, covering letters, and job applications, with notable jobs landed at Microsoft, EA, 604 Records, Live Acts, Digital Sound Magic and more. She has also moderated panels and participated as a juror for provincial and international organisations including Monstercat, Music BC, Creative BC, and VIMA Global Music Awards. She has over five years of combined board experience with Cushy Entertainment, Music BC and FIO Entertainment and has delivered lectures for Kwantlen Polytechnic and Capilano University. She has worked with or provided consultancy in Media careers from local industry individuals to global brands including the American Classical Orchestra, Nimbus School of Recording & Media, and RIFF.

Kristina is the co-founder of Bombshell Brunches, a weekly podcast and lifestyle and career-centred community platform, and is a working actor and singer-songwriter with national tours, network television and global commercial campaign credits. She believes strongly in the necessity for hybrid arts-advocacy careers, and facilitative leadership, by creating active succession plans and greater accessibility into positions of influence. With over ten years of event and project planning, proposal writing, community initiatives, research and development, Kristina enjoys her roles in public engagements, performance, moderation and community building. As the current Executive Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility for Prolific Media Holdings, she holds a strong passion for reducing barriers to entry for emerging creators and creatives, and envisions a world where full-time creative careers are visible, sustainable, fulfilling, and highly valued.

Racquel Villagante is an artist manager, A&R executive, and business consultant for artists IDMAN and Syv De Blare. For the previous three years, Racquel held the position as SOCAN A&R Representative in Vancouver and Toronto, recruiting, retaining, and repatriating Canadian songwriters, producers, and composers. Racquel also mentors for the RBC x Launchpad Music program and MANIFESTO’s Music Business Management program in Toronto, ON. In February 2020, Racquel co-founded “Womxn Rising”, the inaugural conference-festival educating, empowering, and amplifying female-identified, trans, non-binary, and 2-spirit artists.

Natasha is a diverse creative leader focused on branding in the music and corporate industries, working on projects with Adidas, Bauer, Internet Money, Rogers Arena, and more. She works as a Branding Director for Analog + Digital (Brand + Web Agency), is a Creative Director for Chaos Club Digital (Record Label and Creative Lab), Creative Director for Boslen (Artist), and General Manager at 2track Entertainment (Music and Photo Studio). Natasha studied Communication Design at Emily Carr University but doesn’t like to be defined by a title – working on many side projects as a director, editor, producer, social media manager, industrial designer, and photographer.

Negele Hospedales is a versatile communications specialist focused on optimizing digital strategy and brand development. With his clients he develops, formats, and scales brilliant campaigns and brings them to life in modern and exciting ways that captivate existing audiences and identify new opportunities. He’s worked with Universal Music Group in the UK and USA to develop digital strategies for developmental artists, as well as worked directly with artist teams across all genres and territories, including Cordae, Chance the Rapper, Juls, Jarreau Vandal, and Grace Weber.

Creatively, Hospey is also an established photographer, writer, and content creator.

Music industry professional for 10 years and counting. Coming from a background in banking, Daryn joined the Feldman Agency in 2010 overseeing artist immigration and contract management. In 2014, Daryn joined Macklam Feldman Management assigned to Elvis Costello’s management team promptly followed by Diana Krall’s team a couple years later. He has also worked with artists to the likes of Ry Cooder, Lyle Lovett, Jordan Smith, Colin James, Sarah McLachlan over the years in addition to developing acts in the A&R division.

Matt Maw (Chippewas of the Thames First Nation) is the Director & Lead Artist Manager at Red Music Rising. Matt brings over 10 years of multi-faceted music industry experience to RMR, along with a passion for artist development and a mission to amplify Canada’s Indigenous artists on the global stage. Throughout his career, Matt has worked with some of Canada’s most celebrated artists, Indigenous and otherwise, including Tanya Tagaq, William Prince, Riit, Jeremy Dutcher, Broken Social Scene, and BANNERS, among others. A graduate of the Harris Institute for the Arts, Matt has previously worked alongside organizations including Arts & Crafts Productions, Six Shooter Records and New Constellations.

Esra Firatli (she/her) is a Toronto-based Label Manager at ArtHaus Music, overseeing all aspects of label operations. Prior to joining ArtHaus, Esra worked as Label Manager at Pheromone Recordings and Sleepless Records.

With nearly a decade of experience working at independent record labels, Esra has held roles related to marketing, project management, album production, administration, grant funding, as well as touring coordination and logistics.

Esra was actively involved on the JUNO Awards’ Advisory Committee and has been a FACTOR Juror for 5+ years. She has participated on panels/workshops on a multitude of Canadian festivals and conferences across the country.

Nancy Lee(they/she), is a Taiwanese-Canadian DJ, interdisciplinary media artist, curator and music video director. Nancy is a co-founder of Chapel Sound, an electronic music and art collective supporting emerging artists, and CURRENT Symposium, an intersectional and multidisciplinary initiative featuring artistic and educational programming for women, gender diverse and artists of colour. They also run a small DIY production studio in Chinatown, Atelier 254, hosting shows, workshops and artist residencies. As a community music consultant, Nancy has worked with CreativeBC and City of Vancouver to improve the accessibility of their funding programs. Nancy works with artists and organizers in DIY and underground spaces, and genres spanning from rap, RnB, club, experimental electronic, ambient, bass, house and techno. Over the past few years, Nancy has received grants from Creative BC, City of Vancouver, Canada Council for the Arts and BC Arts Council. They are keen to offer support for emerging artists, BIPOC and queer artists, artists from immigrant families, and artists whose first languages are not English.

Languages: English, Mandarin and limited Cantonese

Rae Spoon is a musician and producer with twenty-five years of experience in the music industry. Their voice and song-writing are always the centre of their music which they perform out of a great respect for mutual connection with their audience. They have been nominated for two Polaris Prizes, a Lambda Literary Award and a Western Canadian Music Award. They have toured internationally in much of Europe, the USA, Australia and China.

Rae supports artists in forging their own spaces in the industry through sound recording workshops, mentoring, grant writing and music production. In 2015, Rae founded Coax Records in the hopes of using their experience as an under-represented artist to create more space in the music industry for others. They aim to build a community where artists from lots of backgrounds can share their music on their own terms. Coax Records has released four-six albums many of which have received a lot of media attention, won Juno Awards and been nominated for Polaris Prizes.

Indigenous Super Stars’ Canada 2022, Best Emerging Artist, Robin Cisek is a Metis artist from Edmonton who creates melodic electro-pop. She has charted on the Mediabase Activator Chart and the Indigenous Music Countdown a number of times including a #1 in 2019. “Memories”, a song from her album, garnered 24,000 views on Youtube and received Awards from a number of film festivals including an Award of Merit from the INDIEFest Film Awards (2022), Best Music Video from the Edmonton Short Film Awards (2022) and Best Music Video in Oz Indie Film Festival. In 2022, Cisek was chosen as one of CBC and Toyota Searchlight‘s (2022) top 100.

At the start of Cisek’s career, she was mentored by Alex Houton, an artist development specialist based in New York City, and created and released her first two commercial singles. Mentorship is still an important part of Cisek’s career and since her career started, she has participated in the APTN, RBCxMusic Indigenous Music Accelerator 2021, the Indigenous Women in Music residency Manitoba Music and in 2023 SOCAN’s EquityX production program. She now works as a mentor herself. Robin uses her Bachelor of Education, Certificate of International Knowledge and talents in art and design to mentor and teach artists to be creative, know their audience and branding and share tips to be business savvy. Robin Cisek’s goal is to create a supportive community and break down barriers for artists. Robin Cisek has taken on all different aspects of her career including radio distribution, branding, promotion, content creation and social media. She has been a mentor with Hitmakerz, a number of local artists, The Quaggaviut Mentorship Program to be one of has been a speaker for IndieWeek.

Jenn Barker is an experienced artist and business manager with a career spanning over two decades. She has gained valuable insights from her involvement in various roles, including festival organization, record label management, and artist representation.

Jenn’s career highlights include her work at Mint Records as the Special Project Manager, where she collaborated with renowned artists Neko Case and the New Pornographers. She later founded Fairground Management, providing comprehensive artist and business management services to a diverse roster including Destroyer and China Cloud Studios.

 Jenn held a central position at Nimbus School of Recording as the Head of the Music Business Department. During her time there, she co-created Business Class Records, an innovative platform that enabled students to gain real-world experience by releasing products.

In 2023, Jenn launched a mentorship program through Fairground Management, offering education and coaching to artists and cultural entrepreneurs at all career stages. This program supports artistic and business development, further solidifying Jenn’s commitment to fostering growth and success in the industry.