Interview with Mia Van Allen, Founder of Color of Music Collective
Mia Van Allen is a 2020 graduate of The American University in Washington, DC. Mia graduated, cum laude, from the School of Communications with a major in Public Relations/Strategic Communication and a minor in Business and Entertainment. Mia worked in her field, alongside her academics, during all four of her college summers. She has direct artist management experience, public relations research and writing experience, recording studio experience and vast social media/artist promotion and networking experience. In May of 2020, Mia founded Color of Music Collective, a bi-weekly virtual networking panel geared toward amplifying POC and LBGTQ+ voices in the music industry. Although not an artist herself, Mia considers herself a “music evangelist” because she believes in the calming and healing power of music in every genre.
The music business isn’t easy — for anyone. Our industry has long been critiqued for its lack of diversity and representation of people of color and the LGBTQ+ community, both for artists and business professionals. It is too easy to feel like the only one in the room. We want to encourage younger generations that they can be different and succeed in the music business too. That’s why we have created this space to expand the public discussion and promotion of underrepresented communities within the music industry. The Color of Music Collective was started to amplify the voices of people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals working in the music industry. Our goal is to change the lack of representation for these groups in music by uniting our communities. We want to hear from the crew, production team, photographers, A&R, artist managers, promoters — you name it. Let’s take this time to empower each other despite our differences, celebrate each other’s accomplishments, and grow the music industry together.
How did you get your start in the music industry?
My very first internship related to the music industry was at Pressure Point Recording Studio located in my hometown of Chicago. I worked directly with the studio manager, Chris Schneider. Chris has been working in the music industry since he was 17-years old. He is truly a veteran of this business and I had the privilege of learning all sides of the business from him. I started out by writing press releases on behalf of the studio and checking in our clients at the front desk. I started bonding with a pop/funk band called MNOR. I started helping them prepare for their first photoshoot by styling them and creating social media accounts for them. They saw how much time I was spending on helping them, so I was promoted to a manager within days. I went onto managing them throughout my four years of being a full-time student and also while studying abroad in London. I was able to make so many connections through just being a manager and I eventually discovered I wanted to pursue my career as an agent.
How has the current pandemic/crisis affected your work day-to-day, and what have you done to shift gears? What has been the greatest challenge? What has been the silver lining, if any?
As a recent graduate from American University, I felt quite lost during the beginning of the current pandemic. American is a type of school where every student thinks they have their whole life figured out from the start of freshman year. I was definitely one of those people. All I cared about was graduating in four years and getting a job before graduation. Like many people, I did not prepare for anything like this. I learned a lot about myself and struggled quite a bit at first. I didn’t believe there were hiring freezes at agencies. I kept following up with my Human Resources contacts until they all finally told me, “you will be the first person I tell when we are actively interviewing people again.” It was hard for me to accept it, but I had no other choice. I felt stuck. I started attending so many networking panels over Zoom. I really enjoyed going to them, but I felt like it was hard for me to relate to the panelists because there was never a person of color. Throughout all my internships, I’ve met so many successful people of color who never get a say or invited to these events. I decided to create my own company focusing on advocacy for POC and LGBTQ+ individuals in the music industry. Since May, we’ve now had over 6 panels, completely filled with just POC or LGBTQ music executives.
Tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted by the work you are doing.
Color of Music Collective, which I founded in May, 2020, relies heavily on a base of extraordinary volunteers. COMC’s first volunteer, Alana, a Filipino-American, is a rising senior at USC in the music industry program. Alana has attended many, many panels over the years, but it wasn’t until she turned into COMC that she found a panel she could really relate to. After the pandemic hit, Alana felt really weighed down by both the health concerns brought by the pandemic as well as the fear of a devastating economic downturn. Alana tells me that she was Inspired by COMC’s mission and the content of our panels. Through her work with COMC, Alana realizes that, although the road ahead will look different for the music industry, that she will be able to survive and thrive in her chosen field. Most importantly, COMC has shown Alana that she can be part of finding solutions to problems that have always existed but that have been brought to the forefront by both COVID-19 and renewed focus on serious racial inequity.
What is your favorite life lesson quote? How was that relevant to you in your life?
“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” I heard this quote from one of my favorite professors at American University. It was a basic introductory music business course and the professor opened our first class with this. I have lived by this ever since. I have never waited for anything in terms of my career. If I want something, I do everything in my capability to make sure I achieve it. I set out to achieve the impossible.
Make sure to follow Mia and COMC at:
www.colorofmusiccollective.com and Instagram
