We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Suzanne Hilleary. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Suzanne below.

Suzanne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

In 2003 I was sitting in the office of the VP of BMI, a publishing rights organization in NYC. I had already envisioned a company that welcomes recording artists who could not find record deals,
or were dropped by their record companies. I had found that many were lost and needed help, post September 11, 2001.
Digitizing their music into an easily streamed format was my idea, this was a year before iTunes launched. I wanted to be able to deliver it to Hollywood and beyond for licensing purposes in film, TV and advertising.
As I was talking to Charlie about my clients, I told him this idea. He said “Wow, that’s a great idea”, as the phone rang, he said, “what are you going to call it?” When he got off the phone, I had it, right there on the spot! WACBIZ, because business is WAC!
I like that, he said, but what does it stand for? “Writers Artists Cooperative Biz”, I love that said Charlie!
So it was, and today it is simply a cooperative of “Writers Artists Composers” and their Business.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

As I run my own business, I use my intuition, and fearless nature, to try anything! One of my core stories was back in 2012, I was consulting with a video producer on the United Nation’s World Environment Day campaign. They had Don Cheadle and shot him on the shores of the sea, as he reached down and pick up a bottle. The company had a terrible indie demo track from LA, I immediately said, NO, this is Sting’s signature song. I told them that I wanted to get ‘gratis” rights for this song from Sting, they couldn’t believe that was possible, and welcomed me to try. With a simple call to his management, and a link to the campaign, Sting immediately said that he approved and agreed. They sent me a re-master, a clear recording of “Message In A Bottle”, and got the publisher to allow this usage. It was a super empowering moment, it made me realize the high odds of success for us all. The odds are great 50:50 in fact, when you ask for anything it is a simple YES or NO.

Skip to the next year, 2013, I was sitting with the President of Entertainment at Madison Square Garden. He was interviewing me to consult to the talent bookings for all National Anthems and Halftime shows for the; NY Knicks, NY Rangers, and NY Liberty. His final question was about risk and a success story about me that I could share. I relayed the story above, explained my fearless approach in my business, asked about working together with such great odds of 50:50. They were sold, I booked for them for 5 years!

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

Without a doubt, what launched my career was my first job, working for the amazing Tony Bennett. In the five years working daily at RPM Music Productions, learning from him and his son Danny Bennett, gave me a foundation for a life time. When I started my own business, I could get meetings with the likes of Clive Davis, it helped for decades, even with securing the MSG job. I will also add that my Moto to “Never burn your bridges”, really is true. I feel that I have a solid reputation in this market, my network is loving and secure.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wacbiz.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suzannehilleary8/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suzanne.hilleary/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilleary-suzanne-5b0929b0

Image Credits
photos are by me; Suzanne Hilleary -Asher Belsky took this selfie and posted his Warriors event I booked. -Darryl McDaniels DMC took this from my 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop Christmas with the Warriors 2023 -Neal and Michaele Schon at the “Don’t Stop Believing” Christmas with the Warriors 2022