Women and Non-Binary People in the Music Industry: Maya Kaspi

Originally from Seattle, Maya moved to LA about two and a half years ago to follow her dream of working in the music industry.

Despite always being into music, she never really thought about it as a career, and it wasn’t until the beginning of her junior year of college, where she was studying to become a social worker, that she realized she didn’t wanna do anything else; she wanted to make music her full-time career and work closely with fans and artists.

She decided not to go back to school that year and moved to LA. She found an online certificate program and started studying music business and dipping her toes into the industry.

Once in LA, Maya started working with a non-profit organization. She started getting internships in the industry and this year she joined the publicity team at Crowd Surf.

"A lot of times we almost silence ourselves to be polite, but we have to be bold and take the first step, talk to people, reach out to people, be confident, give the message that we know what we’re doing and we are good at this and that we are not gonna stop until we get a yes"

What does a publicist do?

A job in PR involves many different aspects that range from media outreach to press release writing and much more.

“The coolest part of my job is definitely seeing the outcome, like getting a really cool article for one of my artists or being there with them during an interview. Seeing things come to life is what really excites me the most. Something that I don’t love as much is probably spending every single day sitting behind a computer, especially now that the live scene is on hold and in-person events are still very limited ” says Maya.

To young women and queer people starting out in the industry

Being a minority in the music industry can be very challenging. People tend to not take us seriously sometimes, and it’s up to us to show our worth.

“A lot of times we almost silence ourselves to be polite, but we have to be bold and take the first step, talk to people, reach out to people, be confident, give the message that we know what we’re doing and we are good at this and that we are not gonna stop until we get a yes. It’s always a no unless you try. Be patient. Nothing is gonna happen overnight,” Maya suggests.

Inspiration and Aspiration

We all need something - or someone - that motivates us and pushes us to move forward when it feels like we can’t handle it all; when we start questioning our purpose and dreams.

Maya shared her own experience with us, hoping to inspire struggling creatives trying to navigate the turbulent waters of the music industry.

“My grandpa, who’s not with us anymore, was one of the most supportive people in my life. Now everything I do is to make him proud. My mom also motivates me a lot. She's always been so supportive. The people that I work with have also always been so helpful. I’ve known most of them since before getting the job and they’ve always been very supportive and always believed in me.”

Despite being relatively new to the music industry, Maya has already achieved an impressive professional success and she’s ready to keep learning and discovering new aspects of the industry.

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