Fena Gitu: 3 Lessons From Music ’n’ Brains
Music ’n’ Brains Edition One with Fena Gitu- check!
Fena Gitu- musician, producer, songwriter, performer, founder and CEO of Fenamenal Entertainment- was an amazing guest at Music ’n’ Brains last September. We had an intense conversation about her experiences and lessons learnt working in the music industry. Find below key highlights-
Fena’s Three Gems (#fenagems?)
1. Learn your craft.
Fena spends the bulk of her time writing songs, reading widely, in studio experimenting with sounds. This puts her in a position where she doesn’t wait for anyone to write or create beats for her, achieving full creative control over her art.
For your art to speak to millions, it needs to speak with your voice, how only you can tell it. What parts of your music creation process do you need to improve? What can you do about this today?
2. Build the right team.
After going through five managers, Fena finally has her dream team on lock. Nicole, her 19 year old personal assistant; Michelle, her mentor and brand manager; a tour manager and Fena.
Key people lessons that Fena had to learn the hard way:
-Only have people around you who live and breathe the dream, just like you.
-Hire youthful, creative people who are willing to learn and to work hard.
-Trust is fundamental and a winning attitude is everything.
3. Brand’s the word.
Fena has worked with a multitude of brands among them Marini Naturals, Denri, Telkom, Nescafe, Infinix, Tecno and UAP Old Mutual.
Two vital parts of working with brands:
-Understand who your audience is: demographics, behaviours, metrics.. get your research on!
-Understand the brand’s values and only say yes where your values align to theirs.
Thank you to our partners, Creatives Garage, who share our mission to help musicians build sustainable businesses. Creatives Garage is a great place for artists from all walks of art to find resources, growth opportunities and support for their careers. Our favourite Creatives Garage project is Femmolution. A movement of female artists from all over Africa, using music, poetry and visual art to tell the story of a woman.
You can listen to the Femmolution album on Soundcloud, read the poetry collection here or buy the book on theMagunga Bookstore.
