Mara Frankel – CEO, companyX and Jessica Tranter ’17 – Associate Event Producer, NVE Experience Agency

The Bandier Program’s Rezak Music Business Lecture Series welcomes Mara Frankel and Jessica Tranter ’17!

Mara Frankel- CEO, company

Mara Frankel is a brand partnerships executive with 15+ years of music industry experience, ranging from PR, social media and strategic marketing. She is the head of companyX – a brand strategy agency representing music talent, founded in partnership with Arrival Artists and ATC Management, whose combined rosters include talent such as Cuco, Santigold, Hayley Kiyoko, Khruangbin, Mt. Joy, Kimbra and more.

She is responsible for cultivating strategic brand partnerships for a diverse roster of artists across categories including name and likeness campaigns, ambassador programs, branded editorial content, paid social media, video product placement and other third-party artist revenue opportunities.

She was previously senior creative director, brand partnerships at Atlantic Records, where she worked on a wide scale and scope of deals with artists like Lizzo, Charlie Puth, Hayley Kiyoko, GAYLE, Jax and more. Through Atlantic, Frankel served on the MyMusicRX Champions Board, a platform of the Children’s Cancer Association that brings music therapy to hospitalized children. Prior to Atlantic, Frankel started in the industry as a publicist for small labels and independent artists.

Frankel has been featured in Billboard Branding Power Players, Bustle, and Brooklyn Paper, and she has appeared at SXSW, Spotify Co.Lab, Digital Marketing World Forum, Brand Film Festival, SongKick Live, Vegas Music Summit and Hudson Valley Music Summit.

Her name is pronounced like “marathon”, and her hair is currently purple.

Jessica Tranter ’17 – Associate Event Producer, NVE Experience Agency

Jessica Tranter is a native New Yorker, experiential marketer and Bandier Program alumni. While at Syracuse she worked at local and historic New York City venues, interned in music management in Los Angeles and served as president of Syracuse’s student programming board – University Union. Post-graduation Tranter launched her career in Los Angeles as an executive assistant and label coordinator at Darkroom Records; a joint venture with Interscope and home to Billie Eilish. Tranter spent the following two years working as a day-to-day artist manager for NIKI and project manager at the Hip Hop label 88rising. There she worked on operations and marketing initiatives, producing experiential activations for Jonny Walker, GUESS and Tidal at the inaugural Head in the Clouds music festival.

Tranter relocated from Los Angeles to East Nashville in 2020 where she worked as an executive producer for Streamline Event Agency, producing events for clients such as Tik-Tok, The Getty’s and Chick-fil-A. In 2022, she made the transition to NVE, a creative marketing agency geared towards the entertainment space, where she produces on spirits and entertainment brands. In the past year she’s tackled programs for Billboard at SXSW, Art Basel with OJAS, and launched Don Julio Rosado alongside Diplo and Anderson Paak. Tranter is an active member of Billboard’s Women in Music as well as leading the internship program for NVE.