Conversations with Tiana Raimist-Carter

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tiana Raimist-Carter.

Hi Tiana, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Tiana a music industry professional driven by passion, creative ideas and a good beat. She has worked in many areas of entertainment including talent agencies, publicity, TV production companies, on set on scripted television shows and in touring, festival and live events. She’s driven to connect talent with global audiences, brands and experiences.

Most recently, Tiana assisted in the music touring department at United Talent Agency (UTA) where she facilitated all aspects of the booking process from routing to advancing for 20M+ worth of guarantees in bookings. Her bookings ranged from the club level to stadium and arena world tours in domestic and international markets across the globe. She’s covered and booked shows in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Chile, Argentina, India, Japan and China for touring DJ’s/Producers in traditional CDJ performances and live/hybrid formats. Her work included tour routing, ticket counts, show coverage, advancing, marketing, itinerary, visa preparation and support of artist needs at UTA, WME and CAA, where worked her way up from intern to mailroom to floater to assistant. A recent list of acts she’s toured domestically and internationally includes A$AP Rocky, Jorja Smith, Amber Mark, Xavier Omär, ILLENIUM, Blanke, Inzo, William Black, Maya Delilah, Amorphous & Gavin Turek.

When the pandemic hit Tiana temporarily pivoted into the television industry, first working at the intersection of production and safety on the limited series AMERICAN CRIME STORY: IMPEACHMENT for FX Networks, Tiana then became a Coordinator/Creative Executive in Television Development at Pursued By A Bear, a production company with an overall deal at CBS. Through PBAP, she served as showrunner’s assistant on WALKER & 4400 (The CW). She also worked as an associate at Range Media Partners where she supported the music label and production company, NTERTAIN, where she organized pitches to networks for a Latin music focused family show with the Montaner family.

Tiana graduated with a B.A. in Music Industry, Visual Arts, and Activism with a minor in Entertainment Public Relations at the University of Alabama in 2018. Her college highlight was a study abroad Semester at Sea adventure where she traveled to 17 countries including Germany, Spain, Ghana, South Africa, India, Vietnam, China and Japan. On this voyage of a lifetime, she gained a global perspective and appreciation for culture, while living on a ship. Her senior research was a comparative study of music and cultures, through collected field recordings of music and culture, and the effects of music on community.

Growing up as a Los Angeles native with parents who worked in the music/film & television industry throughout her entire childhood, Tiana knew that she wanted to work in the industry at an early age. Getting her start as a Stage Manager at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheatre at fourteen years old, Tiana is destined to climb the ranks and ascend to music industry executive in the next decade.

Tiana is the proud Mom of Sushi, a puppy that is part chihuahua and italian greyhound. Sushi brings big love and energy, like her Mom. She’s excited to make the world a better place through music.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As a Black/Latina woman, navigating a predominately white & male led industry like the music industry has been anything but easy, but gatekeepers and roadblocks energize & motivate Tiana to work twice as hard and be three times as savy as her white peers. For three years, she worked as the only woman of color in her department which brought it’s own set of cultural challenges, but ultimately taught Tiana how to think like those currently at the top of the chain of command in the industry, giving her invaluable insight on what the lifestyle she’s been eagerly working towards since two years old is really like at this level.

Paving the way for the next generation of P.O.C. music agents and managers, Tiana used the knowledge she learned working in primarily white spaces to open the door for the next generation of mutlicultural interns, assistants and coordinators and always took the time to support young people curious about working at talent agencies. Without community, it’s easy to crumble in an unfamilar, and sometimes unwelcoming environment, but building those relationships with folks from intern to executive level reminded Tiana that persistence and consistency is the only way to change the landscape of the music industry and support more people of color and women/non-binary folks beginning their careers in this unforgiving industry.

Another major struggle was the period when live music subsequently “stopped” due to limitations on large gatherings during the pandemic. Many folks at the intern, assistant and coordinator level were let go within a week of the pandemic starting due to their positions becoming redundant given the current climate. In the face of uncertainty, Tiana didn’t waver and yet learned how to temporarily pivot into other areas of the industry. Rising through the ranks at major music companies isn’t always linear, and that is okay, don’t let it deter you from chasing your dreams.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Ever since Tiana was two-years-old sorting M&M’s for Snoop Dogg (yes, he only eats the green ones), Tiana knew not only that having a career supporting music artists was a possibility, but that she understood the steps she would have to take to one day launch careers of talented musicians.

Tiana is a music touring professional who has five years of talent agency experience routing tours for artists ranging from A$AP Rocky & Jorja Smith to Skrillex & ILLENIUM. In her role as music touring assistant at the top three premiere talent agencies (United Talent Agency/UTA, Creative Artist’s Agency/CAA, & William Morris Endeavor (WME), she learned the in’s and out’s of the logistics to put together a tour from intial conception of idea and gathering the first set of holds to concert execution and settlement. Specialized in tour routing, visa preparation, accounting/settlement preparation, marketing, A&R, contract development & redlining, designing one-sheets, crafting support offers, building artist driven/branded music festivals, building guest lists, and collecting/monitoring ticket counts for shows ranging from the club level at venues like the El Rey Theatre & Academy LA nightclub in Los Angeles, California to Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, Australia, Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles and Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. For the past three years, Tiana honed in on her skills to develop extensive exeperience working with nightclubs like Tao Beach Club, Zouk, & Omnia while working on a multi-million dollar three-year residency for well known DJ ILLENIUM. Tiana also has developed artist-driven/branded festivals Stay In Bloom (Dabin) & Ember Shores (ILLENIUM) where she learned how to develop festival lineups and coordinate logistics for destination festivals. With a portfolio of work ranging from Coachella & Ultra to Tomorrowland & Electric Daisy Carnvial (EDC), Tiana has a passion for music festivals and hopes to enter the curation space of popular music festivals in the future.

Tiana is most proud of signing Gavin Turek early on in her career and working side by side with Gavin and her manager “Chips,” Tiana developed Gavin Turek from traditional band configuration singer to include a hybrid-live and DJ set that were debuted at Gavin Turek’s residency at the Peppermint Club in Los Angeles, California and through the re-launch of her “Disco Boots” themed parties that originated in LA & NYC and with Tiana’s help, crossed over the pond and were brought to the Netherlands, Germany, France & the UK through a tour that Tiana curated and executed by herself. Another key moment in Tiana’s career was signing DJ Amorphous and developing a national pride tour for him (where he and Gavin Turek co-headlined The Patio at the Midway in San Francisco, California) whilst also supporting his creative direction for Beyoncé on her Renaissance world tour.

Tiana’s ear for A&R coupled with her burning desire to uplift Black/Brown & Queer artists sets her apart from her counterparts in the industry. Tiana is single-handedly working to change the face of the industry to be one more reflective of society where it stands in today’s day and age.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
Tiana came crashing into Los Angeles via the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center admist one of the record hottest days/heatwaves in the nineties – a warning that she would be an unstoppable force of nature.

Los Angeles is Tiana’s hometown and she is incredibily proud to be an Angelino through and through. From having the ability to hit three concerts in one night (shoutout the Hollywood Palladium, The Fonda, The El Rey Theatre, The Greek, The Roxy & Academy LA/Exchange LA), Tiana has nurtured her love for live music whilst supporting musicians and feeding into supporting the local economy. You can find Tiana at Amoeba or Supervinyl building her 150+ collection of vinyl records or meeting artist’s like Charli XCX who’s she’s been listening to since 2014 (SUCKER should’ve worn album of the year) for an album signing, Tiana is always support the music industry in one way or another.

Tiana also loves the electic bar scene in Los Angeles and has spent many a nights dancing at Silverlake staple’s like The Friend and Tenants of the Trees, or getting her R&B fix at Harlow (once the dancefloor opens up). On any given Sunday, you can find Tiana frolicking around West Hollywood bouncing from Revolver to Rocco’s to The Abbey and Mickey’s. Understanding what a privelge it is to have a safe, open and thriving space for queer folks to gather, Tiana is dedicated to supporting the local businesses in WEHO and misses Flamming Saddles daily. Tiana also finds it important to tap into BIPOC spaces like Black Market Flea, Ebony Beach Club and Everyday Ppl and always jumps at the opportuntiy to have her artists like Amorphous headline community events like the aforementioned.

L.A. isn’t perfect and has a long way to come with some things as basic (and necessary) as the Metro system (Tiana did an internship with the Arts & Business Council of LA and discovered all of the increible ways that art is infused into the city’s most unreliable method of transportation and urges the city to put more resources into elevating the Metro to be on par with NYC’s public transportation). Tiana loves her city with all of her heart.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tcraimist.wixsite.com/tianaraimist-carter
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tianadoes/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tcraimist/