Community Highlights: Meet Marta Trapella of Local LA/ Winston House

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marta Trapella.

Hi Marta, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in the North of Italy, in Torino, and moved to the South of France, Monaco, when I was four years old. I was always the musical and creative kid growing up. I played the piano and sang from a young age and at 17 years old, I enrolled in Berklee College of Music Boston. Within the first week, I realized how my whole life I was a big fish in a tiny pond, and I was now in an ocean where everyone had the same dream as me. After coming to terms with the fact that I couldn’t possibly be the best singer there, my inner perfectionist pushed me to find a new passion; still in music, but on the business side. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love. As a business major, I had to pick between one of three concentrations: Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship. I was so intrigued and eager to learn that I ended up doing all three of them and involved myself in every extracurricular activity I could. Between internships, working as an office assistant, producing school events, and helping my artist classmates release music, I found so much joy in this new path and was hungry to start working in the real world.

Job 1: Day to Day and Production Manager at Prodigy Artists

When I graduated in 2016, I moved to LA with my best friend, and together we started going out every night to meet as many people as we could. Having done it for pure pleasure in college, I knew I wanted to start my career in artist management. After a couple of weeks in LA, I got offered a job as a day to day and production manager at Prodigy Artists, a company for touring DJs and Producers like NGHTMRE, SLANDER, JOYRYDE, and more. I worked long hours in a very stressful, non-stop environment, where I took on a lot of responsibility and learned everything I could about that side of the industry. I put my heart and soul into the job and looking back at it now, I credit that environment as a huge reason I grew up so fast and am grateful for the way it shaped me as a businesswoman.

Job 2: A&R Coordinator and Manager at Wide Eyed Entertainment

After 2 years, I knew I needed a change and I left to join another management and publishing company called Wide Eyed Entertainment. Their roster included Julia Michaels, Becky G, A.CHAL, and numerous songwriters and producers with Billboard Top 100 credits. It was a completely new experience for me to work in the making of the music behind the artists’ careers. This opened up a whole new understanding to me of how the music industry functioned as a whole. I learned so much about music publishing, pitching, A&R, TV/Film and Sync. As thankful as I am for the education, I definitely felt like this job was too slow for me and the fast paced environment I was used to, which made me want to go back into the live side of the industry.

Job 3: Director of Brand and Programming at Local LA

After Wide Eyed, I decided to join one of my closest friends, Corey McGuire, in building a new business he was just starting up, in the live events sector, called Winston House. Corey had been building the Winston House brand for a few years, and I had been going to his “House Shows!” every Thursday since moving to LA. Each week he would transform his loft in Venice into a concert venue. He would invite friends and friends of friends to the shows, and in doing so created a strong, loyal, and loving community for the creatives on showcase and the local industry professionals. Artists like Justin Beiber, A$AP Ferg, Ed Sheeran, Billie Eilish, and many more played on that stage in his living room, and the best part was you never knew who was going to play next. In 2019, Corey partnered with Jake Mathews, owner of The Waterfront, a beach bar in Venice, to take Winston House to the next level, and launch an umbrella company called Local LA. That’s when I joined them to start working on the new project. Local LA now serves as an experiential marketing company that owns and operates hospitality brands and events spaces, where we connect loyal and influential LA consumers to their favorite brands and artists.

Through this role, I have been able to continue working with creatives, helping them through various opportunities from putting them on a stage and giving them a platform to perform, all the way to creating incredible content or partnering them with brands who can sponsor their next project. I was also able to learn a completely new skill set; pitching partnerships with premier brands, designing experiential marketing opportunities, as well as the management and operations of a start-up and its team. I feed off of learning and gaining more knowledge in what intrigues me, and I can’t thank my role at Local LA enough for all the incredible experiences I’ve had and lessons I’ve learned.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I was blessed with a really great childhood, and parents who supported my dreams and ambitions, so that shouldn’t be taken for granted. That being said, I worked hard for every job and every opportunity I got, and I’ve definitely had to overcome challenges along the way. I’ve had to demand fair compensation, stand up for myself and my team when treated poorly, and sacrifice my health from being overworked. Being a woman in a very male-dominated industry has undoubtedly added to the challenge, especially at the beginning of my career, but I’ve learned to embrace the struggles, find joy in overcoming them.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Local LA/ Winston House?
Local LA is a full-service experiential marketing company focused on connecting artists and brands to the LA consumer through events. We operate hospitality brands, like Winston House and The Waterfront in Venice, CA – spaces that allow us to organically connect with the local audience. Our in-house marketing, production, content, and hospitality capabilities makes Local LA a powerful partner to artists and brands trying to connect with the influential westside consumer.

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My family, as a classic Italian family, is very close. My mom, dad, brother and I did everything together and traveled a lot together. My best memories growing up are being in different countries, experiencing different foods, sceneries, people, languages, cultures, music, and all sorts of adventures with them. That is something I am very grateful for.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marta.trapella/?hl=e

Image Credits
Rukes.com Tom Bender