Maria Alamillo

Maria Alamillo-Ramirez is a partner in Sol2Soul Public Relations. She has been a publicist for the past 15 years, beginning her career at Rogers & Cowan Public Relations. She gained international experience as the Director of Publicity for Prince and his associated companies, Paisley Park Records, the New Power Generation, the NPG Stores (in both Minneapolis & London) and the Glam Slam Nightclubs. She was most recently the Director of Media Relations & Artist Development for Warner Bros. Records Urban Music Division with a specialty in developing comprehensive media campaigns for emerging as well as established artists. Ms. Alamillo-Ramirez has excellent working relationships with editors and writers in both the urban, mainstream and Latino communities.

R. Vaughn Gill, Esq.

R. Vaughn Gill Esq. has spent his career as an attorney focusing primarily on the music business. He started his career in the law offices of Ron Sweeney with a roster of clients that included Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Public Enemy, Perspective Records, Ruthless Records, Tabu Records and their related artists. Mr Gill formed his own firm in 2000 and some of his clients, past and present, include Raven Symone, Jamie Foxx, Cedric the Entertainer, Montel Williams, Lalah Hathaway and Gerald Albright. As the distribution of music has changed over the years, Mr. Gill has changed with it and has now broadened his base to include other facets of the entertainment business from digital rights to film. He consults a number of organizations in the areas of digital rights and internet strategies. Mr. Gill is a graduate of UCLA (B.A.) and USC Law School (J.D.)

Karen Lee

Karen E. Lee is a partner in Sol2Soul Public Relations. She has had a varied career as both an independent and label media relations executive. She began her career under the tutelage of Henry C. Rogers, co-founder of Rogers & Cowan. Ms. Lee worked in both corporate and music publicity on a client roster including Bobby Brown, Tupac Shakur, Karen White and Quincy Jones.

She was most recently the Vice President of Media Relations and Artist Development for Warner Bros. Records working with artists including Jaheim, Eric Benet, Seal and Robert Randolph. Prior to joining Warner Bros. Records she served as Vice President of Media Relations for Prince and Paisley Park Enterprises where she worked on the team that supervised Prince's Glam Slam Night Clubs , NPG Stores as well as media activities for Prince, NPG Records and Paisley Park Studios, both domestically and internationally.

Patricia Shields

Patricia Shields is a partner in Black Dot LLC, an entertainment management and marketing company. The company represents recording artist Lalah Hathaway, music producers, special events & tour management. Ms. Shields' music career includes a stint as Vice President, Marketing, for the Black Music Division at Warner Bros. Records and prior to that Vice President of Artist Relations. During her tenure at Warner Bros. Records, Ms. Shields initiated the online presence of the WBR Black Music Division which debuted the website for one of the music industry's most creative icons, Prince. She serves on the advisory board of MOBE – Marketing Opportunities in Business and Entertainment, an advanced marketing symposium series.

Raymond A. Shields, II

Raymond A. Shields, II is the founder & Managing Partner of a multi-service entertainment company, Black Dot LLC. In addition to artist management, marketing and promotions, Mr. Shields is involved in the development of a media and technology center located in South Central Los Angeles. He has served in the capacity of artist manager, studio owner, executive producer and tour manager. He has coordinated and managed international concert tours for various artists, produced numberous benefit concerts, consulted on music soundtracks and participated in the production of music videos. Current and past clients include Lalah Hathaway, Derek Nakamoto, Gerald Albright, Chuckii Booker, Gary Taylor, Onaje Allen Gumbs, Billy Griffin, Cheryl Lynn and MeShell Ndegeocello.

Daryl W. Stewart

Daryl Stewart's background in entertainment combines a thorough knowledge of strategic research, planning and management with hands-on project administration skills. Most recently, Mr. Stewart has worked in corporate marketing and live event production with the Radiate Group. He was responsible for formulating strategies for the production and execution of client based promotional initiatives. Clients included NASCAR, Domino's Pizza, Miller Brewing, Lowe's, Kodak, Army National Guard, Sunoco and Nextel. Previously, Mr. Stewart worked as a theatrical talent agent for the William Morris Agency and as a talent manager for Ray Charles Enterprises and Dick Griffey Productions/ SOLAR Records.

Dexter Story

A graduate of U.C. Berkeley, Dexter Story's ability as a marketing executive has allowed him the opportunity to work with some of the major independent labels currently topping the charts. His marketing expertise has included working on projects at Priority Records (Snoop Dogg, Mack 10, JT Money, Ras Kass), Def Jam Records (LL Cool J, Musiq Soulchild, Redman, Dru Hill, 112) and Bad Boy Entertainment (Carl Thomas, Mario Winans). In an effort to continue his commitment to bringing great live music to varied audiences, he is currently the Talent Buyer at live music and DJ clubs Temple Bar, Zanzibar and Little Temple in Los Angeles.