My First Job in Music: Ava Solomon
This month, Queer Capita is highlighting LGBTQ+ Music Industry Leaders through our series, My First Job in Music.
We continue the series with Ava Solomon (Any), the Artist Manager and Founder of NXTMG. Based in Brooklyn, Ava’s journey is a masterclass in intuition and early-career conviction. From DJing birthday parties at age twelve to facilitating major record deals by their freshman year of college, Ava has consistently prioritized authentic relationships over industry status quo. They open up about the pivotal moment they decided to drop out and go "all in," and the importance of finding a community that truly understands your vision.
Read about other LGBTQ+ Music Industry Leaders and Allies in our community.
What was your first job in music?
My first unofficial job was DJing kids' birthday parties when I was 12 years old. That's where I fell in love with music: figuring out what people were listening to, discovering new artists, and learning what made people react. From there, I started putting on shows with local artists in NYC and DC, but I'd say my first real job was managing artists. I started at 16 in high school, and in the first two weeks of my freshman year of college, I helped sign an artist I was working with to their first record deal. That’s when I realized that this could really be my job, so I dropped out and went all in.
Who was someone who supported you to help you get your start in your career?
There were a lot of people who took chances on me early, and I’m really grateful for that. But the first person who comes to mind is Marat Berenstein. I connected with him through a program at NYU when I was 16, and he genuinely introduced me to what artist management was—the real foundations of how this industry works. He introduced me to Zoe Ko when we were both still in high school, and we still work together today. From there, I had a lot of great people step up and guide me, and that made all the difference.
What was a lesson you learned at the start of your career that you still carry with you?
Learning the fine line between “fake it till you make it” and knowing when to ask what you don’t know. You have to walk into rooms with confidence, but the best thing you can do is be honest about your gaps and ask the right questions. I was lucky to have a couple of really great music lawyers in my corner early on who helped me understand what to look for and who to trust, and that shaped how I think about relationships in this industry to this day.
What was your favorite memory from your first job?
Getting to go on tour with an artist and watch them perform in front of a real crowd for the first time. It’s so special to work with an artist and see them bring a project to life and then get to see a crowd respond to it. That feeling is honestly still a big part of why I love management now.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Trust the path, even when it doesn’t make sense yet. Looking back, the thing that made the difference wasn’t some perfect strategy. It was finding people I genuinely trusted and building real relationships with them. A big part of that was finding a great community—people who really got me and where I was coming from. That sense of belonging made the hard moments a lot more bearable and honestly made the work a lot better too. I’d tell myself to prioritize that from day one
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