Best Day Ever: A conversation with talent manager extraordinaire Shab Azma
Episode 18: The one where we go to Hollywood.
This week’s guest Shab Azma describes herself, and her team, best: Some people can think that agents and managers can be a bit transactional. That’s not who I am. And I think we’ve just been really lucky to attract like-minded people, humans. And it’s really worked for us.
A long journey in talent management has led Shab to where she is today—leading a talent management agency for the future: Arc Collective. A big part of Arc’s landscape includes building consumer product programs for celebrities, so naturally we had a lot to discuss about where she sees the industry going. Given Shab’s background in merchandising, she so clearly understands the value of consumer products and building IP. She prioritizes advocacy and ownership for her clients, and herself. Here are three key takeaways for anyone building a brand with a celebrity. (Hint: the paradigm is shifting.)
1. Ownership: That’s the number one priority for us. We want to help our clients develop their consumer products, businesses, and have even created joint ventures with our talent, where we are actually helping to fund the business we are helping to create. We’re not the typical management company where we’re just here collecting commissions. We are really, truly investing and putting our own sweat equity, and money into building these things with our clients and changing the typical model when signing with a management company.
2. Conscious consumerism: It’s our biggest focus right now. We are not here to just put another product out there in the marketplace that people don’t need. As an example, how can we highlight a chef who can create more awareness around what indigenous food looks like? Our client, Eric Adjepong, who’s West African and on Top Chef, was the first to ever introduce West African cuisine… took a risk himself. And that actually is what put him on the map in a meaningful way. And we’ve launched a whole business for him. He's in Crate & Barrel right now everywhere nationwide with his line that is showing and highlighting that culture.
3. Back off. The other thing that I’ve learned is not to force things. I tend to be very persuasive and passionate and I come from a good place, but I have learned that you cannot force things. You can try to guide and you can try to share your point of view, but at the end of the day, if you feel like it’s something that you’re having to force, it’s probably not meant to be. And you should probably just let it go.
Shab also shared a grand master plan for the future of celebrity CPG and I’m super here for it! What is your dream celeb product line? Drop in the comments below. ⬇️