Meet Forbs West

 

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Forbs West. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Forbs below.

Forbs, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I got my strong work ethic from both of my parents. They are true go-getters that I’ve looked up to. Their drive is definitely engrained within my DNA. My great-grandfather immigrated to this country working for a small firm before launching his own. My grandfather founded his own autoparts store in Chicago and my dad started his own corporate communications firm. My mom has been very intellectually driven and has been an educator for high school and college students for a few decades.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Forbs is a 25-year old creative and analytical go-getter who is Programming Specialist at SiriusXM (under Pandora) basically creating playlists and conducting artist release interviews for genres expanding from Kids and Family to EDM and Gospel. He is also the founder of the Media Industry Guru Podcast which educates others on the different sectors of the entertainment business and provides accessibility and a plethora of resources to those that do not have them. Forbs also recently established his S-Corp, FORBZ Management, which provides consulting/artist development and management services to clients. Forbs currently has a roster of 4 clients spanning from LA to NYC.

Forbs is an anomaly in that during his undergraduate career at Tulane was able to garner 7 internships in the entertainment industry including at Live Nation, TikTok, SiriusXM, Red Light Management, Irwin Entertainment (under NBC), Warner Music, and WVUE Fox 8. During the day, he uplifts artists through curation and pitches new ideas to develop in the alt rock, classic rock, and especially within the educational sector of the kids and family suite. Forbs has amassed over 12K followers via LinkedIn through his hustle and drive. On top of his entrepreneurial and music industry endeavors, by night he is getting his MBA at NYU Stern triple specializing in Finance, Strategy and Entertainment, Media, and Technology. Forbs has been featured in publications including CanvasRebel, VoyageLA, Thousand Oaks Journal, and The Acorn. Additionally, Forbs has been featured as a Top 40 Under 40 Yellowbrick Professional as a part of the NYU Certificate Music Business Program. Forbs has always aspired to be on the Forbs 30 Under 30 list to pave the way for artist and aspiring industry professionals.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The most important qualities I would say that have made me successful include: persistence, dedication, and being inquisitive/open-minded. I would also say coming from a quantitative background has helped me a lot in the industry. It stands out when you have a double major in mathematics and music business and then in your MBA specialize in Finance. Furthermore, having a good narrative is key when getting into the music industry. And to be blunt, not giving up on your career aspirations. I haven’t shared this story much but I was rejected 3 times from SiriusXM’s internship before getting it my last semester of college the 4th time. Taking in rejection and learning to pave your way forward with other opportunities in the interim is key. A no isn’t a no forever, just a temporary not for now.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

Starting my own S-Corp and moving to NYC a year ago. I wouldn’t have imagined myself taking on artist management and also moving to NYC to start my MBA journey. NYU wasn’t on my radar like other institutions but mentors of mine and industry executives and leaders told me it would be an incredible and exciting move. I have no regrets!

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