How Meech Golden of Good Gold Agency Is Helping To Make the Entertainment Industry More Diverse and Representative

An Interview With Edward Sylvan

…What I am trying to do is tell more diverse stories through both talent representation, as well as content creation. I’d like to think that I’m on the front lines of that battle.

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 Meech Golden.

Meech Golden is an Emmy nominated producer, talent manager, and businessman who has established himself in the entertainment industry after a decade in the field. As the founder and CEO of Good Gold Agency, his passion lies in being the premier incubator for the next generation of talent in the entertainment industry. Meech’s keen eye and ability to nurture, guide, develop, and manage talent, paired with his experience of pitching to networks, streaming platforms, and companies, has afforded him the opportunity to work with top-tier talents such as Jackson State Head Coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, Actor Omari Hardwick, WWE Hall of Famers and reality TV stars the Bella Twins, Fox NFL Sunday host Curt Menefee, AEW Superstar Bryan Danielson, and Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Ro James meeting success in various avenues for each client. Production credits include the Apple + show, Behind the Cam, and ESPN’s 30 for 30 Deion’s Double Play. Most recently, Meech produced on Season 2 of the ESPN series More Than an Athlete, co-produced by LeBron James’ Springhill Company.

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?

I had just come home from my first semester of college, and I found myself at a turning point. I was enjoying working and making money, but I also realized that I hadn’t thought about anything outside of sports, and that was no longer a reality for my career. At the advice of a friend, I wrote down on a sheet of paper the things I could see myself waking up doing every day and the things that I did not want to wake up to do. On the former side, I was identifying with good music and motivating people. From there, I took that and typed it into AskJeeves.com, and all the results that appeared were related to Artist Management. From that day forward I put every ounce of energy I had into music. Fast forward until now, and it turns out music ended up bringing me back to sports in ways I couldn’t even have imagined.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I remember it like it was yesterday. One of my first roommates in NYC was a really talented producer and had an internship at Flux Recording Studio in the LES. She was having an event one night and invited me, of course, I pulled up, and when I arrived, I learned that it was a showcase for a management company called Music World Entertainment. For those of you reading this right now wondering what Music World Entertainment was, let’s just say they managed Beyonce (at that time). Do I have your attention now? Cool, so after a few performances (and no Beyonce was not in attendance), Matthew Knowles spoke in front of the crowd. I remember looking him right in his eyes the entire time he spoke, capturing every word. When he finished speaking a few people walked up to him and he politely said, “thank you” to all of them and beelined straight in my direction. He puts his hand to give me a dap (pre-covid) and says, “You have a look in your eyes son, you’re going to be special.” ARE YOU F’IN KIDDING ME?! MATTHEW KNOWLES JUST TOLD ME I’M SPECIAL?! I was losing it internally, but I kept it together and we had a really dope conversation. He ended up introducing me to the EVP, and I ultimately ended up interviewing with MWE. I didn’t get the job, but that’s a story for another day.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Oh, so I guess we’ll get storytime sooner than we thought. So, I lined up an interview with a big music management company, and now I’m panicking because I’ve only been in New York City for two weeks and I’ve never worked in music (at the corporate level anyway), but somehow found myself with a potentially life-changing situation. Thinking that the hiring manager was going to want to see a wealth of music experience, I created a resume based on the projects and things that I had done previously (which wasn’t much at the time). I show up to the interview and there are about six people from their team in the room and we get started. They begin asking questions and I just keep trying to tie everything into my music experience, which again wasn’t much, but I still felt confident that I was doing a good job. Fast forward to the end of the interview and as I was asking for feedback, one of the executives said, “you’re very green, do you have any administrative experience?” I was puzzled. I had no idea that a music management company would be interested in those skills. I then made my second mistake and asked if I could print the professional resume out for them– it was at this point I could tell I was losing the room. He proceeded to ask me why I had tried to doctor up a music resume if I knew that I didn’t have strong prior experience instead of just using my normal professional resume. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I didn’t have a good explanation. The part that stung the most was when he pointed to the professional resume and said, “this guy, I could hire, but this other guy, the guy you thought you needed to be, isn’t it.” From that day forward I vowed to be authentically me in any room I ever walked into again.

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?

First and foremost, I don’t like to say that I’m helping make popular culture more anything than what pop culture wants to be. What I am trying to do is tell more diverse stories through both talent representation, as well as content creation. I’d like to think that I’m on the front lines of that battle.

Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted by the work you are doing?

In 2018, I produced on an Apple+ docuseries called Behind the Cam. It was centered around Wiz Khalifa’s “Rolling Papers 2” album, his first album in more than five years. I had just been promoted to production and was new to the scene, but my colleague Ethan Lewis, who is now heading up Non-Scripted production for the Obamas’ (and yes I just flexed my friend), understood that music was my world and asked me to create a few loglines for potential episodes for the series. The one I came up with was called “Always Give Back”. The episode was basically a music competition in which Wiz told the story of his discovery while picking from three producers’ beats, of which Wiz would select one to record on and invite the producer to the studio to be a part of it. Ethan and Martin Desmond Roe (Oscar-winning director, and yes, another flex), loved the idea but wondered how we’d actually source the beats. At that point, I reminded them that I spent eight years in NYC doing just that. I ultimately submitted ten producers from all over the country and in the end, the list was whittled down to three (ironically one of my favorite up-and-coming producers was selected). Since this episode, he’s gone on to produce multiple records for Wiz and I have so much gratitude in knowing that I had a hand in helping someone realize their dreams.

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?

I believe that everything in life is a story, and when you add people into the mix each one of those stories now is different because no two people are the same. So, the first reason is because of our differences. It’s our individual differences that make everyone’s perspective unique. The second reason is opportunity. I didn’t realize until I moved out of DC and to NYC, just how little opportunity I had to really take in the cultures of people who didn’t look like me. And while I was open to embracing that, I think geographically there are those who are simply at a disadvantage of these opportunities. Lastly, I believe it’s important for companies to take a hard line in creating a workplace environment that allows people the chance to grow, and the only way to do that is through open and honest communication.

Can you recommend three things the community/society/the industry can do to help address the root of the diversity issues in the entertainment business?

This is simple, be open to learning, be open to sharing, and be open to listening.

How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?

Leadership to me is the act of accepting responsibility and bearing accountability. It’s a choice, whether given or taken. An example of this would be being given a huge group project at work when out of nowhere the project manager falls unexpectedly ill, but he or she already had a contingency plan in place of what roles everyone would need to assume in their absence. Or another member of the team stepping up to the plate to reassign roles to make sure progress stays on track.

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 wish someone had told me that the journey is the fun part. I’ve spent so much of my adult life chasing goals and knocking them off the list and not once has the feeling ever been sustained. I’m always looking ahead.

Attention to detail is the most valuable administrative skill. As an assistant, I would often put off things that I knew wasn’t a priority even if nothing else in that moment took precedence and it resulted in so many little mistakes like time zones errors in calendar invites, that when piled up is enough to make any executive lose it.

People skills are your strongest asset. It wasn’t until recently that I was able to tap into just how good I was at connecting with people. Growing up with separated parents I moved a lot early on, and I was constantly forced to make new friends. A big part of that was finding very quickly into a conversation some level of common ground and focusing on that as the bridge to the relationship, in spite of any differences.

What’s meant for you, will be. This is one of the biggest things I wish someone had told me before I started down this road because with social media it’s so easy to see what your peers are doing around you, and without an ounce of envy wonder why not me? But things happen when and how they are supposed to. This ensures that you get out of it whatever was meant for you.

And finally, don’t create a fake resume to try and get a job. See earlier question, ha!

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. :-)

Hmm, this is a tough question to answer because I don’t want to leave anyone out. As opposed to starting something new I think I would just amplify the voices of a group called the Cyber Collective, whose sole purpose is to empower people to critically think about their relationship with the internet. We have seen the good the internet can do. It connects us with people on the other side of the world, and even in real-time provides access to answers to questions we may have. But for all the good it has done; it can also be a very dangerous place when not used properly. This group is providing people with the tool and resources to make it a safer experience. I think this is vital to our future.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”?

When I first moved to NYC, I lived in a three-bedroom apartment with two other creatives with a long hallway you walked through to enter, and whenever we had guests come through we’d have them sign the wall. One of my good friends Matt Butts wrote “Whether you think you’re right or wrong, you’re right.” And it just stuck with me, anytime I’ve had a big decision to make I refer back to it and it gives me peace of mind that I’m charting the course I am supposed to be.

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. :-)

Yes, there is, Rich Kleinman. I’d just love to pick his brain. I think he is a brilliant mind. I have spoken to him a few times, but we haven’t quite been able to link up.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

You can follow me on all platforms @meechgolden and keep up with the latest and greatest of my agency and clients @goodgoldagency

This was very meaningful, thank you so much!