Bre McDermott-King

Meet Bre McDermott-King who is an is an International Product Manager at music label, AWAL, working with marketing teams around the world to execute campaigns for independent artists.

Bre currently works at AWAL as an International Product Manager. She explains a bit more about her role and what it entails, 'In record labels, a product manager is typically the person who manages the artist and their releases (the product). At AWAL, artists have a UK and US product manager, who cover their respective markets, while the International product manager handles everything outside of the UK and US! I get to talk to music teams across the globe, as far as LATAM (Latin America), SEA (South East Asia) and AUS/NZ, about our upcoming campaigns and releases.

Since each country has its own cultural and musical landscape, you've got to adjust your campaign ideas so that they make sense to each individual market. It's an exciting and unpredictable job; I love it!'.

Bre previously worked in International Marketing at Sony Music UK, where she also headed up their diversity and inclusion committee, HUE UK – a title that won her a no.14 position on the Yahoo! Finance x The EMpower 100 Ethnic Minority Future Leaders 2021 list.

Her advocacy and enthusiasm for equality extends beyond her day job though: in 2019, she co-founded and runs a collective called Women Connect, which specialises in creating and promoting equal opportunities for women, non-binary and gender-fluid people working in the creative industries.

Study at Herts

Initially Bre didn’t choose to study at Herts but said that she felt a pull towards studying here.

‘There was something about Hertfordshire's culture on campus and culture amongst the students that I was really drawn to.
I was actually set up and ready to go to another university who had a similar course, but had a last minute change of heart, so applied for Herts through clearing. To this day, I'm not quite sure what gave me such conviction to change my mind, but I trust that it was all meant to be and I'm SO happy I did it.’

Bre has forged a successful career in industry which culminated in her recently being nominated for the prestigious Outstanding Map Graduate Award 2021.

She feels that her course gave her a fantastic grounding to go into the industry and says, ‘I feel so well-rounded and capable having really varied conversation in the industry because course touched on so many vital areas of the industry. I love that I can sit down with my colleagues in the Business Affairs team and talk contracts and royalties, then go and analyse marketing data on an international campaign - then head over to my friends who work at Publishing companies and also be able to hold a conversation there too.’.

Study abroad

Bre says she has too many great memories to pinpoint one but picks out her year abroad as something very special.

‘I am very grateful that the University and my course allowed me to study abroad in California. I knew a few other students who had studied abroad, but no one had been to California yet, so it felt like it was something that just didn't happen.
Luckily, I was able to go and I felt so prepared, so supported and that base allowed me to go away and have an incredible, life-changing year. I'll eternally be grateful for that opportunity.’.

The future

Speaking about what’s next on the agenda Bre is full of enthusiasm and ambition.

‘My next step is World domination! But in the meantime, I'm focused on becoming an expert in international marketing, I want to continue making music with friends and I'll absolutely keep advocating for marginalised communities within the music industry and around the world.’