How Benoni Tagoe of Raedio Is Helping to Make the Entertainment Industry More Diverse and Representative
An Interview With Edward Sylvan
Diversity is always important, from a cultural perspective and as a business strategy. The individuals creating the work in entertainment should be representative of the audience it is serving. So, if I were to break it down in three reasons this is what it would be: Authenticity, Range, Time.
As a part of my series about leaders helping to make the entertainment industry more diverse and representative, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Benoni Tagoe.
Benoni Tagoe is the President of Raedio and Head of Business Development for Hoorae Media (HBO’s ‘Insecure’).
Launched in 2019, Raedio is a first-of-its-kind audio everywhere company that serves artists and creators at the highest level, creating an audio ecosystem and talent pipeline that flows from music, original podcasts, and TV/Film. Since founding Raedio just over three years ago, Benoni has overseen an ever-expanding talent roster (TeaMarrr; Ncgonita; The Read’s Kid Fury and Crissles; Josh Levi); music supervision for over 50 sync projects (networks: STARZ, HBO, Netflix, HULU; shows: Sweet Life: Los Angeles, P Valley, Godfather of Harlem, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Love & Hip Hop Atlanta; Wu-Tang: An American Saga, And Just Like That and more) and countless groundbreaking creative music-centric partnerships & projects (Synchrony Bank’s financial literacy partnership; Insecure ‘The Sync Up,’ consumer contest; Raedio Creators Program supported by Google).
As Head of Business Development for Hoorae Media, Tagoe is responsible for conceptualizing and inking dynamic deals, also centered around music, including a multipronged partnership with the Kennedy Center.
Tagoe launched his career as the assistant to the Jonas Brothers; from there, he quickly became a part of the band’s day-to-day management team and through that experience developed a keen sense of entrepreneurship.
Tagoe has a recurring column for Rolling Stone Magazine, and has been profiled as a “Modern Man” in Black Enterprise for his work with his management and consulting company, The Bizz Plan, which has worked with various media brands, including Uninterrupted (LeBron James’ sports platform), beauty entrepreneur Peakmill, and financial expert Tonya Rapley. He has produced content for both TV and New Media on platforms that have collectively garnered over 20 million views. Tagoe recently completed Harvard Business School’s ‘The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports’ program where top executives and talent honed their competitive business skills.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
When I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be two things: rich & famous. Then, when I got older, I realized it wasn’t about being rich, it was about being able to have the life that I wanted and to not have to be in situations I didn’t want to be in because I needed the money. Ultimately, it was about having full control of my life. I also realized I didn’t need to be famous, what I really wanted was to have influence and impact. I wanted to be able to help others through my words, my work and my presence. Ironically, I found the entertainment industry helped me do just that. You may have never heard of me, but you’ve heard of the projects I’ve worked on and my associations so by default I have influence. With that being said, I still have to put in the work to continue to build on those things.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Honestly, some of the most interesting stories in my career always involve being in environments or meeting people that I used to watch on TV. I had and have a lot of respect for Dame Dash & Diddy and all of the things they built in the music space. Meeting them was so far from my reality I never thought it would happen. However, when I moved to LA within 2–3 months, I got a call from a friend that was headed to a music video set. I decided to go, but never really asked who the video was for. It ended up being for the Diddy / Dirty Money ‘Hello Good Morning’ video. Which was cool, because I got to meet Diddy AND appear in the video (I’ll never reveal the time code!). The other interesting thing is I randomly got a call from Dame Dash because I was trying to organize a motivational speaking tour and wanted to pair Dame Dash with Gary Vaynerchuk ala Verzuz but for entrepreneur types.
Ok thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main focus of our discussion. Can you describe how you are helping to make popular culture more representative of the US population?
This isn’t something one person or company can tackle alone; it will take a collective culture shift. Raedio is doing its part by telling stories and working with talent that is native to our backgrounds, experiences, and culture. We cast a wide net for the talent we hire, artists we sign, musicians in our music library, and what shows we work on to best tell diverse stories that represent the world we live in.
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted by the work you are doing?
There isn’t an individual, it’s been more of a culmination of people that have played different roles in various eras of my life. Honestly, I’m getting a lot of energy from Instagram these days. I spent 3+ years off Instagram but being back has been great because almost on a daily basis I’m able to share my thoughts on the music business, being an entrepreneur and leadership. I created a series called ‘The Bizz Plan’ years ago where I would interview entrepreneurs from various backgrounds including Issa Rae, Jabari Johnson, Lena Waithe, King Bach and more, but these were stories told from their POV. Now, I get to connect with an audience who is interested in these stories, but I’m able to do it from my own scope.
As an insider, this might be obvious to you, but I think it’s instructive to articulate this for the public who might not have the same inside knowledge. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why it’s really important to have diversity represented in Entertainment and its potential effects on our culture?
Diversity is always important, from a cultural perspective and as a business strategy. The individuals creating the work in entertainment should be representative of the audience it is serving. So, if I were to break it down in three reasons this is what it would be:
- Authenticity — Stories should be told by those who have an organic footing in the world that is being portrayed.
- Range — No one culture is a monolith and no one story should always be told, there needs to be a variety of stories told.
- Time — It’s just time to stop talking about diversity and do something about it.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
Leadership is a lot of things, but it’s mostly about flexibility. Knowing how to talk to communicate clearly in different ways to people who come from different backgrounds, have different skillsets and work experiences, but ultimately needing them to all contribute to the larger goal as a collective. To be a leader, you also have to be transparent saying, “I don’t have the answer, but here is the situation…” is worth its weight in gold.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
I’ve had a lot of lessons that I’ve learned since starting in the entertainment industry. Here are a few:
- When networking, provide value first then make your ask.
A lot of people think they need to take something immediately from someone they network with. You have to play the long game and be of assistance first in most circumstances.
2. There is no one person that is the end all be all to your career, journey or business. When one door shuts, there will always be another.
There’s always an assumption that if you meet one noteworthy person in your field, they have to love you or else you won’t accomplish anything. That’s frankly not true.
3. Always be learning, stay curious.
For any path that you choose, there’s always more to learn directly in that path and adjacent to that path. You should always be taking every chance to increase your knowledge base in the path you chose.
4. Ask ‘why’ all the time.
There are a lot of things in entertainment that is done because they are “industry standard” but you should always ask if things can be done differently, finding room for disruption.
5. Do the work first, putting yourself out there will come.
Our industry is saturated with the thought process that you have to build a personal brand, but you have to do the work first and have things that you can stand on before building any acclaim for yourself.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Sheesh — the pressure is tremendous on this one. The one movement I would start is creating opportunities for people to learn how to work in a specialized field that is easily accessible and at an affordable price.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Get It Out The Mud” — Various Rappers // This quote just means to do whatever it takes to accomplish your goals and execute your vision.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
The one person I’d like to have lunch with is San Antonio Spurs coach, Gregg Popovich. I’ve heard “Coach Pop” has an extensive restaurant and wine recommendation list, so I’m sure the food would be amazing. Outside of that, he is a true leader and I’d like to soak up all the knowledge he has on leading a team and winning at the highest level consistently.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
The readers can follow me on all social platforms @Nonibizz.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much!
