满帆 音乐行业 grad Javi Simons was working as a bartender and waiter in Austin, Texas when a drive to the airport changed the trajectory of his career.

“我的一个朋友是演出发起人, 他让我去机场接一个变装皇后,他说. “我不知道谁是变装皇后. 那时候，我根本没在看 保罗的加速赛车. 最后我成功了 汽车加速赛 Alyssa Edwards从机场发来.”

在见了艾莉莎，看了那晚的变装秀之后, Javi knew that he wanted to get involved in the entertainment industry.

“I called my friend the next day and I said, ‘Hey, I really don't know how you do this every week. It's so exhausting, it's so consuming, and you have to do so much for it. 所以，当你需要我的时候，请叫上我，”他回忆道.

哈维的朋友接受了他的提议, and Javi became an unofficial driver for 拖动艺术家 who were performing in the Austin area. Today, 哈维的书通过他的公司拖人才和音乐表演, 皇后娱乐之王, 并担任预订经理 汽车加速赛 表演者尚格拉的公司说什么娱乐.

Starting out as a driver had a lot of benefits for Javi: He learned about the industry firsthand by helping out the drag queens backstage and observing the logistics between their management and the venue. He also developed relationships with drag queens like Alexis Mateo, 雅苒索菲娅, 还有辛西娅·李·方丹.

During a backstage conversation with the queens, Cynthia asked Javi to help her film a 汽车加速赛 submission tape – and that tape got her cast on the show’s eighth season. When Cynthia returned from filming, she asked Javi to become her assistant. He spent the next year traveling with her to shows in the United States 和拉丁美洲, 他从哪里获得更多的第一手行业经验.

“我开始看到她的经纪人发给她的合同. 我过去经常看邮件, 我想看看他们会怎么谈判, 他们要付多少费用啊, 我得花多少必要的钱啊,哈维说。.

Javi was developing a reputation for being a reliable source for performers and entertainment venues, and he gradually began negotiating contracts between venues in Texas and talent agencies. 他对变装艺术家的投入也继续得到回报.

“有一天，我和[汽车加速赛 [明矾]Tatianna进行了一次谈话. Tatianna looks at me dead in the eye, she goes, ‘You’re wasting your life. 明天我要和贝内代蒂集团的经纪公司谈谈. 你得到公司来赚点真金白银.’ I was like, ‘No, I don't even know the first thing about booking.’ She goes, ‘I don't think anybody knows what to do in this business. 我要这么做.’”

塔天娜信守了她的诺言, and a few days later Javi received a call from the head of The Benedetti Group. 他开始与经纪公司合作，并在德克萨斯州预订演出, 美国的西半部, 和拉丁美洲. He also capitalized on the relationships he was developing to build his own affiliated agency, 皇后娱乐之王. As Javi began networking with people from the “big four” talent agencies, 比如创意艺术家经纪公司和联合人才经纪公司, 他意识到很多特工都有大学学历. When the live performance industry shut down during the pandemic, Javi decided to take the next step in his career and get an online degree through 满帆的音乐商业项目.

“These [other agents] had all gone to college, a lot of them had master's degrees. 尽管我一直在他们身边陪着他们, 如果我上了大学，看起来就好多了,他说. “The knowledge that I had [about booking and talent buying] pre-满帆 was just in the beginning stages. 当我从满帆出来的时候, I was able to understand why I was doing the things I was doing, 以及如何增强这些东西. Branding, marketing, fan retention, logistics, and advancing bookings have been key. 这是我欠满帆的，百分之百.”

获得学位, 专注于人际关系, and traveling with his artists have been essential for the development of Javi’s business – he’s recently booked headlining acts for Denver Pride, WeHo骄傲, 和拉斯维加斯的骄傲. 他还预定了流行乐队Aqua的首次美国巡演.

“I have been able to secure exclusivity with so many festivals around the country, 就因为我能和我的艺术家们一起出现. 这确实有很大的帮助... 下次你(在那个场地)预约艺人的时候, 错误的发生是最小的, 因为现在他们明白你的工作方式了, 你知道它们是如何工作的,哈维说。. “一天结束的时候, I'm trying to establish [the performer] as a reliable artist and to establish myself as somebody that they can count on for any of their booking needs. 人际关系和人际网络是这个行业的一切.”

由于这些职业理想，哈维有很多事情要做. 除了通过皇后之王与人才合作, he recently became the Booking Manager for Say What Entertainment – a boutique agency run by Shangela, a 汽车加速赛 alum and one of the stars of HBO’s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning reality series 我们在这里.

Javi’s path was paved with a lot of late nights, long flights, and in-depth conversations. He says that putting in the work every day is crucial to success in the industry.

“If you're going into entertainment thinking that you're going to be a millionaire and everything's just going to fall in your lap, 这是错误的做法. 这是一份工作，就像其他工作一样. 并不是这个行业的每个人都是百万富翁. But if you are passionate and you respect your job, you're going to do great in this industry.”