Today we’d like to introduce you to Sabrina Li.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was a fresh graduate that had moved back to Hong Kong from the UK with the only intention of figuring out how to move to LA and work in the music industry. After tons of research and working multiple jobs to save up as much as I could, I was finally able to move to LA in 2020. Unfortunately, I moved the week that COVID got really bad and after two months I left back to London in hopes I could get my start in the industry so when I eventually returned to LA, I could hit the ground running. Once I moved back to the UK, I reached out to Emmavie who had been one of my favourite R&B artists for some time. A week later we connected and I joined her management team, unsure about what it meant I was learning and throwing myself into the industry. I started reaching out to more music industry people on every platform I could, trying to learn and gain as much experience as humanely possible.
I found myself joining the management teams of Devin Tracy, Anjali Taneja and taking up freelance work as a social manager/project manager. A year and a half later, I moved back to Los Angeles and was super ready to reach new heights. I found myself freelancing for Multi-Grammy Winning artist Frank Dukes overseeing and supporting his debut album ‘The Way of Ging’ as well as supporting 11 times Grammy Nominated artist Lucky Daye’s management team and joining the team of 8X Platinum Artist Che Ecru. I previously assisted the US tour of Grammy Nominated artist Kenyon Dixon and now I am working at a distribution company called Too Lost whilst still maintaining my management duties.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely had its ups and downs! I grew up mostly in Hong Kong, one of the most important international financial districts in the world, meaning I was immersed in a very corporate world. There wasn’t much exposure for realizing a career outside of the corporate space was possible but I knew I had to figure out a way to work in the music industry without realizing what that meant. As I grew older, my passion grew stronger and so did my curiosity. I started meeting more people with similar music tastes and it only reaffirmed my desire to find a way in. There were definitely struggles, the biggest one being the distance and wanting to find a career in an entirely different continent where I barely knew anyone. Another struggle was finding a way to have a sustainable career and learning to be patient and trust in the process. I learned to rely on the advice of those who have been in the industry for longer and realised that the connections I was making would make sense for me eventually.
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?
I am an artist manager, meaning my entire career revolves around wanting to support, develop and build artists in their careers and journey in the music industry. I specialize in supporting the roll-out of their music, project managing their music and every little detail that goes into an artist’s career! I’m most proud of being able to work in the space of music that I absolutely love, I told myself from day one I would only work and support artists who I really believe in, so being able to channel my work ethic to support artists has some really great rewards. I honestly think my international background and exposure to different places, people and cultures allow me to be able to read and observe people well enough to be able to understand whether I would work well with them and helps me understand artists.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I really believe in just being authentic as good people find good people. Reaching out to people or researching different companies/careers that interest you and connecting with people without any intention of hoping for a job and just wanting to understand their journey. Networking is just a matter of learning about people’s stories, if you connect both ways you’ll want to see each other win and it should feel very organic. Trust in your instincts and just be genuine!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sabrinali628/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/
