Sonca Nguyen

Written by Sonca Nguyen and Sonnie Nguyen.

Behind all talented artists is a team of managers, executives, songwriters, and much more. In this case, we have a jack of all trades, Amisha Sarkar. Mixing business and friendship with rising star Audrey Mika, she has gained recognition as one of the youngest entrepreneurs in the business, and this is just the start.

Amisha Sarkar may seem like your average kid on the street but her days consist of meetings with major record labels, recording sessions, and all-around music-making alongside her best friend, Audrey Mika, who also happens to be signed to RCA Records with over 1.2 million listeners. Sarkar also reigns her newly introduced title as Artist Manager and Founder of her very own TRST. Records, established 2018.

To Amisha, the idea of creating a record label herself seemed out of reach. “Well, I’ve always wanted to start a record label since I was 12 but thought it was impossible.” So what drove her to make the impossible a reality? A given factor of support is her friend and artist, Audrey Mika. “Until I met Audrey, I was just a fan of her music. Music is a passion of mine. Audrey and I were exactly what we needed for each other. We became very close as we began to live our dream together.”

At a mere 18 years old, Sarkar is earning major recognition already at such a young age, but that comes with its challenges. ‘‘I would say that being 18 is harder than being a woman in my position. We haven’t really run into any issues in gender but definitely with my age. I have had a lot of people that don’t believe I manage Audrey. They don’t take me seriously because of my age. I was at a record label and the doorman wouldn’t let me in because he thought I was some kid off the streets trying to get in. I had to convince him that I was supposed to be there and I had a meeting. I just remind myself that age has nothing to do with my abilities. I know that as long as I do what’s right for my artists and believe in myself and my team, success will come.’’

One of her first moments of success was the release of Fake Heartbreak. ‘‘The song was on my phone and it wasn’t written all the way. Audrey and I came back to it, rewrote it, and just in the first week, it got over 500k streams. Now it has over one million. As a songwriter, seeing the song go from my back pocket to where it is now is so crazy to me. I feel like I have one of these moments every day. We appreciate every small victory that comes our way.’’

Scooter Braun has been a leading talent manager to many of the world’s top artists such as Justin Bieber, Tori Kelly, and Ariana Grande. The two crossed paths in which Sarkar marked a great first impression on him. ‘‘He is my idol and someone I always looked up to. Connecting with him was by far, an amazing personal achievement for me. He even called my mom, telling her that I should drop out of school.’’

As we finished up our conversation, Sarkar talked about what was in store for the new year. ‘‘Audrey and I are preparing to go on tour soon and I am now tour managing too which has definitely been a new experience. We have an EP soon to be released next month, and plan on working on an album maybe at the end of this year or the beginning of next. TRST. Records will also be releasing our first song under the label which is very exciting. Lots of things in the works.’’ The 5 A.M. Tour has already seen sold out shows in major cities and at the rate this past year has been going for them, this year is going to be even better.

We look forward to seeing more of Amisha Sarkar and continue to support her on her journey. You can too by streaming Audrey’s new single, ”Change Your Heart” on all platforms. Lyric video below:

Watch the ”Fake Heartbreak” music video below:

Check out Amisha’s artist, dhruv and his song, ”double take” below:

The Women of the 2020 Grammy Awards

Controversy over Grammy nominees have been swirling around since the situations involving the Recording Academy’s recently appointed CEO, Deborah Dugan, who had opened up conversation about misconduct, discrimination, and even voter rigging that could’ve potentially resulted in the rescheduling of the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards Show. As the day continued on, incidents following the tragic news of the passing of athlete, Kobe Bryant and other passengers during a fatal helicopter crash left the world somber and mournful. However, as the night was also for celebration of achievements, we wanted to recognize the winners that took home the trophy and also played a role as advocates for women in the music industry.

If you haven’t heard yet, Billie Eillish took home five Grammy awards in major categories from, Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album, to Best; Record, Song, Album of the Year awards, making her the youngest person ever to win in Grammy history. Even if you don’t listen to her music, at only eighteen years old, this is something that is incredibly impressive to accomplish for someone this young.

Artist and DJ Tracy Young had just made history being the first ever woman to be even nominated in this category for Best Remixed Recording for her remix of Madonna’s ‘‘I Rise.’’ Young, who had been working in the industry for over twenty five years reflected on her journey in the industry when she was awarded the Grammy in her speech, stated, ‘‘I proudly accept this on behalf of all female producers who have been overlooked.’’

For our folks in the audio world, we know the name Leslie Ann Jones. For those of you who do not, she holds her title as Director of Music Recording and Score at Skywalker Studios along with her previous work experiences at Capitol Records and ABC studios. Jones made a name for herself back then and still continues to be a role model and advocate for women engineers at sixty-nine years old. Jones holds an impressive list of accomplishments and firsts. From being the first woman as assistant engineer ever to be hired at ABC Studios to the first female national officer for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Her legacy continues as she took home her 5th Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Classical in Riley: Sun Rings.

Behind the scenes, Soundgirl member and fellow Women In Audio advocate Loreen Bohannon shared that she was the one mixing monitors for Lizzo during her opening performance at the awards show.

It is the victories like these that create opportunities for women everywhere. We continue to support those in the industry and hope to see more women winning at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards!