Member Spotlight: Lauren Blitzer-Wright
This month, we have the privilege of spotlighting an experienced leader, activist, and entrepreneur from our community. Lauren Blitzer-Wright is not only an accomplished professional within our music community but also a podcast host, author, mother, and wife. We hope that you find her as inspiring as we do.
What's a song or artist you're excited by right now?
I am a huge ’90s hip-hop fan, so it’s no wonder I’m excited about Doechii. Not only is she part of the queer community, she also intertwines her own struggles with mental health, addiction, homelessness with her stunning storytelling ability. She is authentic, talented, and dominating as a female artist. I am rooting for her, big time.
Tell us a little about yourself. How many years have you worked in the music industry, and where?
I am a diehard New Yorker, not only born and raised but also attended NYU and STILL call the city my home. My wife and I live in Gramercy with our twin boys and love spending time both in the city and in the Hudson Valley. Since coming out in 2001, I’ve been a vocal advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights.
In 2005, I co-wrote the book Same Sex in the City, published by Simon & Schuster, with the goal of building conversations and community for young gay women who might not have resources and support. I went on to work at GLSEN in fundraising and special events for several years before landing my 14+ year career in the music industry.
I started off at RED, then moved to Sony Music in Marketing, grew a department, and eventually transitioned to VP of Business Development, working across the company to unlock revenue opportunities in more non-traditional areas like Gaming, Web3, and through different strategic investments.
Since leaving a year ago, I’ve created the Lone Wolves Community, become GM of Keychange, and continue to work on other music-related projects.
The cover of Lauren’s book, Same Sex in the City: (So Your Prince Charming Is Really a Cinderella), is published by Simon & Schuster.
Can you tell us a bit about the Lone Wolves Club? How can QC members get involved?
The Lone Wolves Club & Community started as a response to the very widespread layoffs happening within the music, tech, and entertainment fields. What started as a place for 40-50 people to connect and support one another has turned into a 450+ member Slack channel that not only connects but really highlights the incredible institutional knowledge that sits within the community.
The Lone Wolves members represent expertise in all key verticals of business from Global Distribution, A&R, Digital Marketing and Sales, to Licensing, Sync, Publishing, and everything in between. We leverage this talent in a few ways. We use the Slack channel as an open forum for anyone to ask for help with a project, problem, connecting with a company, expertise, etc. We also leverage our members for content pieces on our socials. No better person to respond to Taylor Swift buying back her masters than the former EVP at Warner Chappell.
We have also developed a Talent Directory for those who are actively looking for work (freelance, part-time, full-time) with a low barrier membership structure for companies to gain access. Our goal is to continue to grow the community, provide free resources, and be a healthy and positive part of the inevitable shift we see within the industry.
We would love to invite our QC friends to join by clicking here.
Lauren at a Lone Wolves Club town hall in NYC this May.
What industry trends or news are exciting to you right now?
AI is both terrifying and exciting. From 30,000 feet up, you see the dangers of copyright infringement, deepfakes, and the devaluation of human artistry. And if you zoom in, you can identify how AI is helping the productivity and careers of independent artists with rights management tools, streamlining workflows, Marketing and Audience Engagement, and more. Frankly, it feels like a threat to majors and, in some ways, accessible label services for the indies. And for that reason, I find it fascinating. I’m very interested in ensuring musicians and artists can create and be paid on a living wage.
And my shameless plug, check out our Daily Drop on TikTok for your daily industry news!
Lauren, pictured with her family.
How do you think your being Queer has impacted your experience working in the industry?
I’ve always felt a responsibility to be my true authentic self, even very early on when being gay was still something people didn’t talk about. It was at my first job at Teen Vogue Magazine in 2003, that I made that choice. I had kept my personal life relatively quiet, as you can imagine it was a high fashion, high stakes, don’t-look-Anna-Wintour-directly-in-the-eyes kind of place, and I wasn’t sure how I would fit in.
My girlfriend at the time sent me flowers for my birthday. She signed the card with her initials. My boss asked me over the course of the day who they were from, joking about several different boys’ names. Finally, after feeling anxious all day long, I decided I wasn’t going to play this game. I told her, and her response was simply, “Well, why didn’t you just say that?”! It was the first of many coming outs in the workplace.
Even now, when I mention my kids, someone will ask, What does your husband do. I gently say, “I have no idea, but my wife is a musician”. We are all going through the same motions, especially as parents. The more I can share and show my life is no different than a straight person, the better.
Lauren pictured with her wife, Chely Wright.
What advice do you have for other Queer professionals working in the music industry right now?
Keep being yourself. I know this is cheesy, but you are made exactly as you should be. Take the energy and time to make sure you are being an advocate for the community and supporting someone who needs to be supported.
There is power in numbers, and if this community has shown me anything, there is more love and people who want to help and support than not. We are our best selves when we are living how we feel we should authentically be.