Daily Inspiration: Meet Selena Rox

Today we’d like to introduce you to Selena Rox.

Hi Selena, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Do you ever notice a detail about your life that doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of your narrative? You ask yourself what the point of that part of your life was, especially if it doesn’t feel like the rest of the pages in your book of life. For me, I constantly wondered what the point of moving to DFW was for me.

Having grown up in coastal Maine, Texas was a completely different world, landscape, lifestyle than what I had known. I thought the point of my living there was the pure factor that I tried something new, gave it a shot, decided to let myself be uncomfortable, try a place completely different to anything I had known. I worked my first music venue job there, at a live nation venue. It was corporate-lite while also giving me the rundown on how the venue side of show production was. I had been touring for about three years at that point in my career. I worked at the venue for about a year, moved back to Maine and set off on my first international tour.

Shortly after that tour had concluded, I moved out to Los Angeles. They say people come into your life for a reason, sometimes that duration is short-lived, sometimes you find a lifelong friend, sometimes you find people that need to be in your life for as long as they will be to help you grow where you need to, get you on the path you’re destined to be on. While living in Texas, I had met a lot of people that came through the venue, one of those people that came through the venue became a friend that I would run into a few times over the course of the next decade— at the venue he worked at in NYC when he wasn’t on the road, finding out we had mutual friends and catching up whenever our lives intersected by pure coincidence. At festivals, the band he plays in was playing and I happened to be there with the artist I worked with at the time. We met up for lunch during the pandemic when I had moved back to the east coast to help my family take care of my grandma.

When I moved back to LA, I did a 9-week tour after a month-long feature film I did art direction on, and I got burnt out. Friends of mine had encouraged me to apply for a full-time position at The Echo in echo park, which panned out well as I ended up as the operations manager there for most of this past year. It was another one of those surreal moments where I was finally doing a job I had always wanted to do at a venue I really loved in a city that had become home. So it was weird to me that I wasn’t always overjoyed…it was hard adjusting to a full-time life at home again; I missed touring, I was having a hard time staying in one place and having to be a permanent fixture in the lives of my friends, rather than the tourist— the fun uncle that pops into your life every few months and then fades off into the night. I was feeling stuck, and even worse I was feeling guilty about feeling stuck. I loved my friends but I wasn’t happy.

Then one day when I was having a particularly hard time, I had broken things off with someone I had been seeing that I was into, and for anyone that knows me, they know I love to skip town whenever a romantic entanglement ends. I woke up to a text from that buddy I had made back when I lived in DFW, turns out the band he plays in needed a new production coordinator and asks me if I’m looking to get back on the road. Timing is everything. This full-time venue job had prevented me from accepting other touring gigs, which meant I didn’t have any conflicts and at this point, I had turned down about 10 touring gig offers. Until this one timing, the universe, the checks and balances of everything and anything — I said yes, had a facetime interview with the tour manager and the band’s manager, put in my 3.5 weeks notice at the venue and now I’m the production coordinator for interpol; a band that has inspired me sonically for years. There are certain countries I have been dying to go to on tour, and now all those career goals seem within reach. And to think, I was ready to retire!

All of this was a really long-winded way of saying: trust the process, be kind to everyone you meet, have fun with it and don’t take life too seriously. You’ll get to where you’re going.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The path is never smooth, and if it is, maybe you’re not in the right path. Some things are easy, but growth comes from the challenges we face. Like most femmes in the live concert industry, there have always been struggles, even dangers, entering into this career path. I am happy to say that it does feel like it is getting safer, more representation and diversity in the landscape of our industry.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
At this point, I’m focused primarily in International Tour Management and Production Management for Almost Monday, Production Coordinating and Hospitality Management for Interpol. When I’m not working for other people, I am ~slowly~ working on an EP of my own music. I’m known for problem-solving and handling things with grace under pressure. I’m really proud of the times I come in under budget (I was $14k under budget on one tour this year) and when the people I work with value the work I do and appreciate the energy I bring to a working environment. I try my best to take care of my people to the best of my ability and I advocate for everyone’s wellness and comfort whenever decisions are being made.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
There are too many people that I honour and cherish that helped me get to where I am today. I would like to thank Freddie, Laurel, Danielle, Brian O’Dowd, Tony Bones, Brad, Cassie, Ceara, Kiersten, Soup, Paaaaarker, Regan, Eugenie, Rich, Mack, BG and Phil; they’ve always had my back, been there for me and stuck by me when times were times.

Contact Info:

• Website: selenarox.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/selenarox
• Twitter: twitter.com/selenarox
• Other: instagram.com/spokenlater

Image Credits
Christian Peters, Cole Clisby, Rafael Vidal, Jesus Ernesto