Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Caroline Mongillo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Caroline, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The title for Synesthesia Collective appeared very naturally in my mind. Around 5 years ago, my older sister, Natalie, told me about the phenomenon that is Synesthesia: when you experience a cross-over in the 5 senses in the body. For example, someone might hear something that sounds purple, or taste something yellow. I personally experience this myself and bonded with my sister over certain sounds appearing like the physical touch of velvet. When naming my business, my thoughts went straight to Synesthesia because I experience such heightened senses when I listen to music and the impact it has truly means the world to me. Its artistic and creative nature constantly inspires the crossing of senses and I wanted to bring that special quality into my Collective. Being an artist management and events group, the name felt very fitting for the vision we have to incorporate multiple elements of the arts and music to expand and thrive.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

For as long as I can remember, I have had rhythm in my bones and have been wildly drawn to music. I danced for about 10 years growing up and always sought different outlets through which I could express my passion for music. When I was 15, I stumbled upon the electronic dance music scene, when an advertisement popped up on my YouTube for the 2014 Excision ‘Executioner’ tour. I had previously been lightly introduced to the scene through listening to Skrillex sporadically, as he was a hit artist making waves that year. However, I had not attended a live EDM show before, and the Excision promo video completely captured my attention and convinced me to attend. After attending, I knew I had found my community of people…my tribe..and I was hooked. It was the loving and free-spirited nature of the crowd, with the raw sense of pure passion for music that hit my heart like a brick, It was totally me. As a very entrepreneurial young lady, I was also quickly interested in getting into the working side of the industry, and thus, I began promoting for a local music venue called Tuxedo Junction, as well as started up my own festival clothing brand. I was in high school at the time, and was sewing apparel with my best friend, Autumn, who partnered with me to run the business. This project ended when I attended a fashion design program at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and discovered the fashion industry was not for me long term. Shortly after this time, I left my hometown in Connecticut to attend college in Chicago at DePaul University. In the years to follow, I stayed integrated in the music scene through working music festivals such as Sacred Vibrations and Morflo (both in Michigan) in Art Deco, Ticketing, and Operations roles. When I moved to Michigan from Chicago in 2018, I also worked at a local music venue called 20 Monroe Live in downtown Grand Rapids in Guest Services, and completed a marketing internship with them at the end of my college career. Once that opportunity concluded, my goal was to bridge the internship into a full time marketing role in the industry, however, Covid-19 hit that very year and put a pause on my career development. Once the music industry re-submerged, I was looking to see where I could jump back into work, but opportunities were sparse, as the industry was making a slow recovery from the hit of the pandemic. Fortunately, my best friend, Jamie, began producing music and I naturally fell into the role of being her manager. Artist management quickly became a role I could see myself growing in long term, and it re-inspired the entrepreneur in me again. Over the many years being both a worker and attendee in the music industry, I witnessed both the beauty and the flaws of it. There has been a lot of darkness that has come to light regarding the behind the scenes nature of the working industry, as well as inappropriate actions of artists. So many of us in the scene can attest to how tragic moments in time have felt when a favorite artist was exposed for a dark wrong-doing, and were subsequently cancelled. Additionally, I recognized just how sparse the number of women working in the industry was- both behind the scenes and among artists in the spotlight. All of this sparked my desire to create something new for the community….a place where women could have more seats in music, and where our community of people could feel safe. Synesthesia Collective was then born in October of 2023. I wanted to genuinely take the time to learn the ins and outs of Artist Management, so I have stuck with managing 1 artist, JAMiAM, through 2024, however, 2025 is the year of expanding my roster and submissions are open moving into Spring! I am very grateful to announce that we have had a few new Artist submissions for management already, and expect to onboard them to the team shortly. Looking forward, it is my goal to represent my artists with the utmost ethical integrity, with skills in creative collaboration and undeniable passion and dedication to drive their success and growth in the industry. With my focus on creating more seats for women, I will only be hiring women when I expand my working team, and will seize every opportunity to represent female identifying artists who align with the brand and vision. At the moment, artist management is at the forefront of the Collective, however, I have goals of producing events, creating resources and programs for developing artists to expand their musical knowledge and producing skills, and to then teach to others, and even a fully functioning music label down the road.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

The best source of new clientele has been immersing myself physically in the industry and networking with others. Attending events and chatting with those around me, and sticking around after the shows/at parties where people congregate to introduce myself and my business has been huge for potential new artists. I’ve met two potential clients, originating in regions outside of my home state, through attending a music festival called Lightning in a Bottle, in California in Summer of 2024. This occurred naturally through engaging in conversations about our lives and passions, and then onto work.

Any advice for managing a team?

Although I am still in the process of building my own team, my experience thus far has been successful because of excellent and open communication, staying organized, and knowing how/when to designate work. When you have so much passion yourself for a project you created, it can be difficult to trust someone else to complete work for you, however, collaboration truly is key, and we are not supposed to build something large and successful by ourselves. When community plays such a key role in so many industries, it only makes sense to utilize it as a resource to grow your business. When communication is effective, trust is also built between you and your team, which keeps morale consistently high.

Contact Info:

• Website: New.express.adobe.com/webpage/UR60Ht2MzkSJq
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/synesthesiaco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Synesthesia-Collective/

Image Credits

Collective Perspective Media
Grayson Hall Photography
Brother Nature Productions