We were lucky to catch up with Stacey Morales recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Stacey, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

As someone who had little to no insight into the music industry, I had to pave my own path. I found the opportunities and I made it work for myself. I made sure my name was associated with “Concerts/Live Events”. I made a tiktok called “Staceyontour” where I shared my experiences and how I was able to obtain them. The more content I made, the more I saw a need. There were many young students (15+) who were very interested in my realm of work but had no outlet to pursue this. I thought, “Why aren’t we catering to the next generation of music industry professionals?”. Is it because of their age? Is it because no programs will allow their age group? Well, why don’t I make a program that is FOR these aspiring professionals? thus, 1520 Vision was created with younger students in mind. All mentors have said “I wish I had this when I was starting out.”

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

Being in the music industry was a career goal for me that came very recently. I went to one of my first KPOP shows in 2018 and saw people working at these events. I thought, “Wow, that looks so fun. I want to do that.” For me, if I want to do something, I try with all my might to figure out how I’m going to do it. And that’s what I did here. I researched and dug deep to realize these concerts were put on by Concert Promoters and they give volunteer opportunities to people who want to experience Live Events. A whole new world opened for me as I volunteered for several KPOP promoters in LA. But one gave me the first chance and that was Ashlee from AtLocal. She had me work my first show ever on-site and trusted me to “take over”. She knew it was my first show but my passion shone through and she had absolute faith that I could pull it off. It was at that moment that I knew I needed to be in this industry as my career and dedicate all I can to it.

Since then, I knew I needed to put myself in these spaces and let people know this is what I wanted to do. I needed people to see my passions and relate my name to this industry. I networked, networked, and networked. My form of networking was also content creating and showing people online about the opportunities I made for myself to show everyone that they could do it too.

I know that networking is scary to some and sometimes not possible for the majority of people due to multiple factors. I know that a majority of people do not know that this industry exists. I know that students are interested in breaking into this industry. I knew that I shouldn’t keep my resources and tips to myself,

I had to build everything from the ground up in order to establish myself in this industry as I had no prior connections, no family members in this business, and no music industry degree. I wanted other students to have the confidence to step into a new career with the help of my mentorship program.

1520 Vision takes pride in having mentors who all wish they had someone to mentor them when they were younger. We provide a safe space for ALL ages to learn from each other. No matter if you’re on the executive team, an intern, a mentee, or a mentor… you will learn something new if you are a part of our community. My vision for this community was that the next generation of music industry professionals would all connect and establish relationships now so that in the future when we are all working in this industry and cross paths one day, we would already have that great bond that the generation before probably didn’t have.

I want to hear phone calls in offices, on-site, and at concerts hearing. “Hey! Nice to hear from you again. How has it been since 1520” or “This is my colleague, we met at 1520”. — This next generation will be built because of the 1520 Vision platform and 1520’s partnerships with other organizations that support our vision.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I had my own platform on Tiktok distributing my own resources online on how I came to be in this business, so that ensured some success in creating a program that did the same. What I believe set me apart from others was my willingness to share this information whenever it became readily available. My content not only showed what I did in live events, I told people how they could do it too. Whenever people create on short-form media like TikTok, they usually leave a lot of stuff out or “gate-keep” just to show people that they’re doing cool stuff.

But they never want to show how they got there and it leaves people always commenting “How?”, “Please show us”
but never getting an answer.

In turn, me providing those tips when they asked allowed this space to be opened where creating a program that literally provided all those same tips from people that WANT to give it to them was just a no-brainer to those wanting to be involved.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I am forever blessed and grateful for the volunteer staff that devotes their time to 1520 Vision. My volunteer staff is made of 15-18 student interns who all believe in the same vision I put out there which is to help build the career path of the next generation of music industry professionals.

All the candidates that have applied to be an intern were all talented individuals and I was honored that they wanted to spend their summer with me to help build this program.

I think that’s step one, to build a brand that everyone believes in so that your team is ready and willing to stand alongside you. All candidates that have interviewed with us said they have been following me for a while and were inspired by my own story and wanted to be part of that journey.

Step 2 would be to constantly encourage their growth, praise their hard work, and be there when they are in need.

I am always in constant communication with my interns and let them know I appreciate what they do for the program. Whenever they need help, I make sure to see what their needs are and meet them whenever I can. I acknowledge the time they put into the program. And of course, everyone makes mistakes at some point, when they do I approach them just as I would want to be approached.

You lead by example, “do as I do”.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/1520vision
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1520vision/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1520-vision/