We recently connected with Kayla Harvey and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Kayla thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?
Social media is sort of a challenge for someone like me who wears maybe too many hats so while I do have a hand in the management of my various business channels and do manage my own personal channels I rely heavily on an agency called Amethyst Virtual Solutions which is owned and led by an incredible female entrepreneur named Erin Hanson. One of the overarching goals of all my business ventures is to work with as many talented women as possible and Erin makes that really easy. I think social media is necessary for brand growth so while it can be a bit of a task for the average entrepreneur I do think it’s worth investing time and money into.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am the founder of an agency called Lunar Desk Management which manages independent artists and then handles PR and brand partnerships for artists and events like music festivals. I am also the co-founder of Slumberland Art & Music Festival which is a resort-takeover concept that immerses guests in house and techno music over a long weekend.
I got into the entertainment industry when I was in high school by creating press kits and managing social media (read: Myspace pages) for local bands. This led to promoting shows and creative collaboration projects in my local scene before going on to college for communications which I eventually let go of in favor of earning a business degree. I think what I am most proud of in my career is my ability to tackle new challenges with the same energy I had when I was seventeen and still learning. I think it’s important to remain a forever student when working in the entertainment industry because it is always changing, growing, and evolving with trends and technology.
In my career it’s very important to me to push initiatives forward that help shape the type of industry I want to work in. For me this centers on promoting the work of more women and people of color and ensuring that there is true equity in the spaces where I have decision making authority. When building what would become Slumberland Festival in 2022 my team was incredibly intentional about not only booking more women and POC for our stages but also making sure that women and POC were represented behind the scenes in all working departments which was the first time I have experienced that type of diversity in a festival setting even after 15+ years of working in the industry.
Since the time of this interview Kayla has joined Degy Entertainment as their newest agent and continues her mission of representing a diverse roster of creatives.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I started my agency with a hope and a prayer and zero financial backing! It was and always has been self funded and self sustaining but I do hope to move it toward acquisition in 2023 so that the mission of promoting under-represented creatives can continue to evolve with more support.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Meet people where they are, allow them to feel seen, and work together to solve problems. So often my teams will comment that I’m always surprisingly easy to talk to or the forever cheerleader/hype woman of the team and I think that’s because I see everyone I work with as a human trying to do a good job. I’ve noticed that particularly in entertainment there is this unspoken rule that you’re supposed to always be happy and upbeat and excited about every task because we are “living the dream” and we have jobs that so many people want or aspire to do but the truth is, we are just people who have our own struggles despite these dream jobs and we can only execute tasks as fully as we can show up feeling supported. I make it my mission to lead teams that have a human element and zero expectation that people show up perfectly happy and upbeat every day because this job is challenging and life, especially since 2020 for most of us, throws really heavy stuff our way. So if talented people are willing to show up for work I’m going to show up for them and offer whatever support I can. I want to give a shout out to organizations like Backline (@backline.care) and The Continuance Foundation (@continuealways) who are showing up in an official capacity to support music industry professionals.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lunardeskmgmt/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LunarDeskManagement
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lunar-desk-management/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lunardeskmgmt
- Other: Find Slumberland Festival on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter @SlumberlandFestival
Image Credits
Slumberland Images by Jaymee “Gem” Poitevien (@eemyaj.visuals) with permission from Slumberland Festival, LLC.