For ole's Whitney Taylor, Music and Business a Natural Match

For Whitney Taylor, Executive Assistant to ole Chief Creative Officer, Gilles Godard, and Office Manager at ole's Nashville headquarters, music publishing was always a likely career choice. She loves music and at an early age, back in her hometown of Greenville, South Carolina, indulged that passion by singing and making music in church and on stage. But, her parents were both successful in the business world and that also colored her ambitions for the future. st.

Whitney would ultimately follow her musical dream to Nashville where she attended Belmont University. She would initially major in music but soon realized that she was as interested in the business side of things as the creative and soon minored in that. "Most creative minds are so intensely involved in the music and the creation that they are not always very business-minded," notes Whitney. "I decided that some of my strengths were in business so I should follow that but still keep music a part of it."

It was towards the end of her senior year at Belmont that Whitney's interest in music publishing was piqued. "I've always loved songs," explains Whitney. "I had Dan Keen, a VP at ASCAP, as a professor for publishing and heard a lot of great speakers come and talk about that side of the business. I decided that's where I would want to get involved."

There were a lot of good internship opportunities during college and Whitney worked with NSAI, Warner Brothers Records, and the Country Music Association interning in various departments, including public relations, promotions, radio and event planning. Belmont also held a number of internship fairs and it was at one of these events during her sophomore year that she had her first contact with ole in the person of Matt Turner who works out of the Nashville office. When she was coming to the end of her senior year at Belmont, from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Music and a Minor in Music Business, and finishing up her internships, she decided to go through the business cards she had collected and start networking with Nashville's music community. One of the cards she had kept was that of ole's Matt Turner who she subsequently contacted. Whitney joined ole in July of 2009 as a part-time Receptionist and Creative Assistant before becoming a full-time employee in January of this year. In February, she took on the duties of Executive Assistant and most recently added the title of Office Manager.

"It has been extremely busy at ole since January with new catalogues being acquired and new songwriters signed," Whitney says. "It's also fun because the songwriters come into the office and hang out – Nashville's such a friendly place. I grew up loving the songs that these writers created, so it's great to actually work with them and have them become friends. That's pretty cool!"

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