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

Michelle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Understanding your “Y” and what makes you tick drives your mission and gets you up every day. It’s the root of you and lays the foundation of all you do. Cultural entertainment combined with impact is the common thread that drives my passion and purpose. I’m a builder and creator that loves to serve and build community and connect people. With a focus in culture marketing across entertainment, music and sport, I helped build strategy for my artists and launched global marketing campaigns while always serving communities and impacting change.

Building, serving and propelling collaboration through a lens of community impact and civic engagement has shaped my 20+ career as a culture marketer as well as a founder and business owner of The XX Project, a leading women in business membership platform and my non-profit work with Music Unites, empowering youth through music by funding after-school music education programs. My board roles includes the Compton Educational Foundation, Angel City Sports and UCLA Law MLS Alumni program. I’m a builder, creator, strategist that lives a life of service.

I’ve curated and produced monthly events with my leading women in business platform The XX Project. I’ve worked on large-scale productions across Grammys to music festivals, conferences, charity fundraisers and the Uninterrupted Film Festival, the first sports film festival in collaboration with Tribeca Film. Most recently, I launched Salsa Way, a monthly series on the Santa Monica Pier as part of Local’s Night connecting people through the power of dance and Latin music.

In my new role as Arts Commissioner, I’m looking to help build and shape culture and community in Santa Monica by bringing arts and programs to our city. I’m excited to immerse myself into the cultural fabric and community and create opportunities for all ages and stages, as I know how instrumental arts has been and the transformative effect it had in my life.

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?

The common thread in my career has been to build community, and provide creative and strategic solutions to my clients. Everything I do and create is through a lens of diversity and inclusion. My diverse leadership roles across talent management, record label, as well as creative and talent agencies, have enabled me to work with diverse talent from Mary J. Blige, Anderson Paak, H.E.R., Josh Groban, Tina Knowles, Jon Batiste, Wu Tang and Rick Ross.

Earlier in my career, I curated high-profile events for, and worked as an editor at publications including Vanity Fair, OK Magazine and WWD. Whether through brand campaigns or launching major event initiatives on behalf of clients, storytelling is key to what I do and I’ve continued to expand upon topics I write on and currently am a correspondent for SBJ and CSQ on passion topics across the sports, women’s leadership and health/wellness.

I love providing creative solutions and producing unique experiential events that engage diverse like-minded people together driven by cause and mission that can leave a lasting impact on a city landscape. It’s all about the experience and package storytelling to impact change on a global scale.

After graduating UCLA Law last May, I wanted to combine my marketing, law and policy work with public service. My career has been about driving IP for talent and brands across major global tentpole moments and events. At this stage in my career, I wanted to help shape and build arts and culture in my community. As part of the Arts Commission, I’m looking to build public and private partnerships that leave a long-lasting imprint in my community and across Los Angeles. With the World Cup and Olympics on the near horizon, I’m passionate about the build of these major sporting events and economic imprint, opportunity and legacy in our city.

Have you ever had to pivot?

During the pandemic, I made a career pivot by going to UCLA Law to get my masters to acquire a new skillset to help me in business to offer a legal expertise outside traditional marketing and partnership. While in law school, I continued to grow in my roles as VP Brand Partnerships at Epic Records and Head of Partnerships at LiveOne. I wanted to broaden my ability to service clients in entertainment and music, and apply my passion in marketing to the sports space. I am a student of life with a growth mindset and always ready to embrace a new challenge.

During law school I took an International Sports Law course by Professor Stephen Bank that ignited my calling to work in the area of major sporting events from FIFA to Olympics. Graduating 4 days before my 40th birthday at the top of my class was one of the hardest things I have ever completed, but one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. My 60-page capstone on NIL interviewing over 30 leaders in this space gave me a unique expertise which led to me covering the landscape as a correspondent for SBJ along with teaching a course at Northwestern Law starting this January.

I took this same approach and applied it to a recent project with the Centre of Sport & Human Rights (CSHR) as the West Coast Lead. We are working with host cities across the three North American nations hosting the FIFA World Cup 2026 to broadly inform on and advance child rights while supporting host cities to take concrete actions and commit resources to ensure the protection and promotion of the rights of children, and the inclusion of their voices, during the life-cycle of the World Cup and beyond tied to major sporting events.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

During COVID, I realized my true purpose and calling and for the first time took care of my mind and body in way I never have before in my life. While working full-time, I attended law school in addition to training daily and competed 9 times as a competitive sprinter becoming a two-time All American sprinter placing 6th nationally at the USATF Masters National Championships. My coach Richard Rucker always told me, “It’s not the age, it’s the stage.” They always say, when the student is ready the teacher will appear and grateful for the motivation and support from my coach to push me to discover a whole new me.

Recently someone said to me – your either living, learning or earning. It’s my mission to continue to grow and live all these things in balance while embarking on my career journey. Learning this all in my mid-thirties and finding my true passion and calling, I hope to inspire others to live their best lives and share the knowledge I’ve learned over the past few years.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thexxproject.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michme12/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michelle.edgar.31
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-edgar-86b5ba1/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXjqCJlt1C8
• Other: https://smdp.com/2023/08/26/eager-edgar-takes-key-role-in-culture-epicenter/ https://www.apbspeakers.com/speaker/michelle-edgar/ https://csq.com/profile/michelle-edgar/

Image Credits
Photo Credits: Jerrit Clark Al Hester