Byron Atienza is an award-winning Filipino-American Executive Creative Director and Filmmaker, based in Los Angeles, CA. Previously running creative at Spotify Studios and the VP of Global Creative at Capitol Music Group, Byron is now the Founder & Director at A Bunch of Savages. He has worked with the likes of Paul McCartney, Halsey, Chris Brown, Queens of the Stone Age, and ASAP Rocky.

Byron has lived, worked and roamed the byways of South Africa, Mexico City, and the Philippines. As a Director and Photographer, he has shot various campaigns for Nike, Absolut, Jameson, Chivas, VICE, and W hotels. His Fashion Films have debuted on Vogue, Lʼofficiel, and Flaunt and his music videos have been featured on MTV.

The son of an acrylics & oil painter and a business woman, Byron has an innate understanding of creativity as it intersects with commerce.

Caroline Yim is a Partner and Co-Head of Hip-Hop/R&B at WME. Yim’s extensive roster features Grammy award winners and nominees, including Jhené Aiko, Daniel Caesar, Giveon, Kehlani, Swae Lee, Silk Sonic, and Ella Mai.

Yim began her career at MCA Records, and then transitioned to ICM Partners where she became a leading music agent. Yim has received numerous accolades for her achievements within the music industry. She was named to Billboard’s “Women in Music” list from 2015-2018 and was included in Billboard’s 2015 “40 Under 40” list. She was also featured on Billboard’s " Hip-Hop Power Players List" for the past five years in addition to being recognized as one of Variety’s 2016 “New Leaders.” Most recently, Yim was named to Pollstar’s “2021 Women of Live” and “2022 Impact 50” lists.

Yim has been an active supporter of Big Brothers Big Sisters LA, starting off as a Women in Entertainment mentor before joining the board in 2018. In early 2020, Yim co-founded the Asian American Collective, a community organization that fosters growth, education, and connection for current and future Asian American creatives. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in Political Science.

Eric Wong is President & Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for Warner Recorded Music. Wong serves as the head of worldwide marketing, spearheading a one-company mission to expand careers for global artists and elevate local artists to the global stage. A key member of Warner Recorded Music’s senior leadership team, he works closely with the company’s labels around the world to create and drive comprehensive marketing strategies, as well as overseeing Warner’s international A&R function, which helps achieve close collaboration across Warner’s network of local repertoire centers.

 

Wong was named to Billboard’s prestigious Power list in both 2019 and 2020. He was previously featured on Billboard’s list of “Forty Under Forty Power Players” in 2012 and 2015, and in 2017, 2018, and 2019 he appeared on the magazine’s “Branding Power Players” list. In 2018, he was featured in Variety’s “New Power of New York” list and Billboard’s “From the Desk of…” column.

 

Prior to joining Warner, Wong was Chief Operating Officer of Island Records, where he oversaw operations, strategy, and marketing for the label’s entire roster, including artists such as Shawn Mendes, Bon Jovi, The Killers, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, Elton John, Jessie Reyez, and Fall Out Boy. Wong was promoted to COO in 2018 after spending four years as the label’s Executive Vice President/General Manager, leading the way in shaping a new identity for the company during a time of rapid evolution in the music industry.

 

Wong holds an MBA in Marketing, is a certified life coach, and resides in New York City.

James Roh is probably most well known as a member of music group Far East Movement (FM). The band hails from Koreatown, Los Angeles but has always had a global outlook on music. FM attained platinum hits ranging from the US, the United Kingdom, China, to South Korea. Since becoming the first Asian American group to hit #1 on the Billboard Charts with their smash hit “Like a G6”; and following up with another Top 5 on Billboard with “Rocketeer”; co-written by Bruno Mars, they have kept the momentum going most recently with two #1 hits (“Bamboo” and “Lovebird”) on China’s Netease platform in 2018.

James is also a graduate of Loyola Law School and his current focus is as the COO of Transparent Arts (TA), an entertainment company he built with his childhood friends. TA’s roster includes global pop icons BI and James Reid, rapper Dumbfoundead, and DJ/ Producer Yultron among others. TA also has a joint label with Trap City, one of the largest dance music channels in the world (14 million subscribers), named BredNButter with a myriad of releases having amassed millions of plays in a little over a year of existence. James also serves as a Board member for nonprofit organizations Pacific Bridge Arts Foundation and Gold House that support the arts and entertainment.

Kevin Nishimura is co-CEO /co-founder of Transparent Arts, an entertainment media company focused on bridging Asia continental artists and content globally. As a founding member of the Far East Movement, the first Asian American artists to hit #1 on the Billboard charts, Kevin has over 15 years dedicated to championing the AAPI community in entertainment and creating new business paths in Asia through his transition to the co-CEO role at Transparent Arts. Currently representing some of the most influential Asian talent in the world, they also provide a global platform for upcoming talent through tv & film production with the launch of their major network K-drama tv series titled ‘IDOL: The Coup”, and through their Identity Festival with Amazon Music thrown annually during Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Kevin’s community outreach extends through his work as co-chairman of the Pacific Bridge Arts Foundation which gives AAPI students opportunities for a career in arts through art/ music scholarships and gives the AAPI community a stage to showcase their art globally through the Identity Festival. As a co-founder of Gold House (the premier non-profit collective of Asian & Pacific Islander founders and leaders) and recently elected to the Recording Academy (Grammy) LA Chapter board as governor, Kevin is pushing for representation and support for the AAPI community in music & entertainment through the facilitation of Grammy U AAPI scholarships and the Gold House Grammy membership panel.

A hip-hop lifer born and raised in New York City, Marisa Pizarro has worked her way from a college internship at The Source to being a Senior VP of A&R at Def Jam to starting a producer driver record label with 6 time Grammy winner, Mike Dean. In the process, she’s been named one of Billboard’s top female music executives, and developed some of the biggest artists of the 21st century.

Pizarro was instrumental in the resurrection of the once dormant Epic Records, signing generational stars like Future and Travis Scott and overseeing A&R operations as it became a hip-hop powerhouse. Her relationship with Scott led to a connection with legendary producer Mike Dean, who she now manages.

As an A&R, Pizarro stresses the importance of loyalty to artists, and finding musicians who have a clear vision of what they want to become. She also says there’s no way to shortcut the developmental process, and that she didn’t get into the industry to turn a quick profit off the latest trend.

While working at Def Jam, she’s worked closely with a wide array of talent, developing charismatic newcomers Fredo Bang, Kaash Paige, ilham and DaniLeigh and even helping Kanye West put together the rollout for Jesus is King and DONDA. Now with her new company, MWA she will continue to nurture young talent. The daughter of Filipino immigrants, Pizarro had to constantly think outside the box to find her place in the industry and was often one of very few women in label meetings. She’s made it a priority to build a diverse team at Def Jam, and to empower female A&Rs however she can.

“Now that I’m in the position where I can provide opportunities for people who wouldn’t necessarily have them, I do,” she says. “It’s about trying to change what these rooms look like.”

Puja Patel is the editor in chief of Pitchfork. Patel has previously served as the editor of SPIN, the culture editor of Deadspin, and a columnist for the Village Voice and MTV. Her writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Washington Post, VICE, and FADER. Patel serves on the board of NYU’s Clive Davis Institute and is a founding board member of Building Beats, a non-profit organization that provides music education and developmental skills to underserved youth across New York City.

Ron Chiu serves as Chief Strategy Officer for AEG Presents, one of the world’s leading live entertainment companies. Mr. Chiu leads the efforts on the company’s strategic planning, business development, analyzing new business opportunities, and identifying operational improvements through analytics. He is also the co-executive sponsor for the Asian Pacific Islander @ AEG Employee Network Group.

Prior to joining AEG Presents, Mr. Chiu served as the Vice President of Strategy and Operations for Live Nation Entertainment, where he managed the strategy and analytics team to provide strategic planning, financial and operational analysis and execution. Prior to his position at Live Nation, Chiu was a strategic management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, where he led client teams and executive client relationships for Fortune 500 companies in the media, entertainment and consumer industries.

Outside of AEG, Mr. Chiu sits on the board of the Pacific Bridge Arts Foundation which gives AAPI students opportunities for a career in arts through art/ music scholarships and gives the AAPI community a stage to showcase their art globally through the Identity Festival.

Mr. Chiu graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of Science in Cybernetics and Master of Science in Computer Science. Mr. Chiu also received his Master of Business Administration from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

Ronny Ho is the Head of Dance & Electronic Development at Spotify, where she leads audience growth and engagement, oversees curation and programming, and develops innovative programs across the diverse array of dance and electronic genres.

In her previous role with Spotify, Ronny worked directly with the co-heads of the global Music team to identify audience and genre trends that informed the launch of global initiatives such as RADAR, track IDs, K-Pop, cultural moments and ultimately led to more inclusive programs and decision making.

Ronny also founded Spotify’s Asian Employee Resource Group (ERG), where she worked across the organization to help build the framework of Employee Resource Groups at Spotify. She led the Asian ERG for two and half years, building internal programs to foster community, as well as spearheading external programs. She also built new content brands such as Jasmine, Dope AF, tapioca, the Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and the global Stop Asian Hate hub to discover, foster, and build the Asian creator community,

Ronny joined the Spotify Business Development team in April 2016, where she analyzed partnership opportunities to drive subscriber growth around the world, including Samsung, Vodafone, AT&T, Telia, and more. Before Spotify, Ronny worked at Citigroup Equity Capital Markets, where she was instrumental in executing IPOs and equity raises across the financial, energy & power, and technology industries.

During her free time, Ronny enjoys baking all sorts of things, catching shows at the local venues and traveling. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and human computer interaction from Carnegie Mellon University.

A leading player and presence in the music industry, Sulinna Ong is the Global Head of Editorial, at the helm for all curation and programming for Spotify. Together with her teams she is responsible for the biggest and most influential playlists in the world, such as Today’s Top Hits, Rap Caviar, New Music Friday, and many more.
In a diversified career, Sulinna started her journey in A.I. and robotics, moving on to work in almost every major sector of the music industry, spanning artist management, record labels, the live concert business and streaming. This background makes her uniquely positioned to inherently understand the convergence of entertainment and technology coupled with deep experience in music and artist development.
As the daughter of a Chinese father and Persian mother who fled the Iranian revolution when she was a baby, Sulinna is committed to using her position and experience to bring equality to the industry, in terms of both the artists promoted and those working behind the scenes, and to push for greater representation in the music industry. Sulinna’s values – diversity, creativity, innovation, collaboration, critical thinking, integrity, and being direct and transparent – are a critical part of her leadership.

A career-long champion of new and developing artists, Sulinna’s contributions to the music industry were recognized on a mainstream scale in 2021 when she was deemed one of Vogue’s 25 Most Influential Women, and received Music Week’s Women in Music – Music Champion Award , which shines a light on women working in a public-facing capacity who encourage the use of music as a force for change, inclusion, education or improvement.

An unprecedented track record of breaking artists in every corner of the globe and a personal journey that led her from Singapore to leadership posts at the music industry’s top companies affirms Wendy Ong as the preeminent modern music executive. As President of TaP Music, she oversees a diverse roster of artists, including Dua Lipa, Ellie Goulding, Lana Del Rey, Noah Cyrus, Dermot Kennedy, Hailee Steinfeld, and more.

 

“Living in so many different places and collaborating with such a wide variety of people allows you to be in tune with the pulse of what’s happening globally,” she says. “In my career, I’ve also had the rare opportunity to work in nearly every genre of music from hip hop to classical. I draw from all of that when working to realize my artist’s vision.”

 

Her first job was at BMG Singapore, specializing in Soundtracks, Jazz, and New Age. After two years she moved to Hong Kong where she took on supervising pop releases for Asia Pacific.

 

Upon relocating to NYC she embarked on the seminal role of International Marketing at Clive Davis’s Arista Records. Over the next decade, she went on to launch OutKast worldwide and traveled alongside Diddy, helping to expand his empire internationally. She worked extensively with artists such as P!nk, Alicia Keys, and The Strokes. Following Arista, she joined the Metropolitan Opera before EMI sought her out as Head of Classical in 2011.

 

Following stints at Capitol Music and Interscope Records, she joined Roc Nation as Head of Marketing where she drove campaigns for JAY-Z, Rihanna, Jaden Smith, and more. In late 2018, she became Tap Music’s Head of Marketing and was promoted to President of TaP Music a year later.

 

Wendy is based in the Tap Music Los Angeles office.