Yves C. Pierre

Agent/Member, ICM Partners/Concert Leadership Committee

ICM Partners agent Yves C. Pierre added another feather to her cap just as Pollstar was finalizing its Women of Live honorees list, being named to the agency’s Concerts Leadership Committee on top of lending herself to the creation of Diversify ICM.

The Concerts Leadership Committee was created not only to keep the department on the cutting edge of client opportunity, but to groom the next generation of department leaders. Diversify ICM is an organization that focuses on making sure ICM participates in diversity programs and events inside and outside of the company.

“A group of my colleagues across all levels came together with the support of upper management and identified that there was intentional need for this type of work,” Pierre tells Pollstar. “We were honest with where we think inequities lie within the company – our first act of business was diversifying our College Intern program.  We are now partnering with an organization called HBCU in LA Internship Program to create a pipeline specifically for HBCU students to join our program.”

The conversations Pierre was having with others in the ICM Presents ecosystem led to the creation of Diversify ICM. 

“We came to the conclusion that we needed to create a collective internally, which was Diversify ICM,” she says. “It’s to make sure that we are hitting our benchmarks, that we are participating, and that we are really in the game. You need to know that you have somewhere to have those conversations and then you take it as far as it can go. And then you know that you have a couple of other people that then will take it further. That power really can implement change.” 

The work goes hand-in-hand with ICM’s Leadership Committee, which strives to provide a mentorship program and act as an advocate for young staffers working their way up the company ladder. 

“As you elevate into these positions, your frame of mind has to change in terms of how you interact with your colleagues and how you interact with the other department heads,” Pierre explains. “You know, with change comes responsibility, and you can’t always approach situations from the same lens. 

“To have a team of folks that help you stay true to yourself, it’s like a barometer and sort of shows you another perspective as you elevate into different positions as you’re making decisions. We’re super excited about it.”

Of course, 2020 was not only the season of COVID, but marked as well by social uprising triggered in large part, though not only because of, the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police last May. She knew how important her voice was.

“Knowing in my heart that diversity was important to me, after everything that went on with George Floyd, and making sure that my voice was heard as we figured out how we were going to get involved as a company, there were department heads across all departments that I could go to and say, ‘Hey, this is important. Maybe I could find someone to advocate for me,’” Pierre says. 

Along with her other committee members and the assistance of now-Head of Music Robert Gibbs, Pierre took that idea and now are advocating for others. 

“We doubled down on our efforts to support existing employees in the process of the steps necessary to being a successful agent,” she explains. “One of the first steps was helping fine tune skills on how to identify talent and participate in signing meetings.”

Pierre also puts her money where her mouth is. In the last year she contributed to several organizations that included back to school drives, financial literacy programs and giving of her time to organizations including Power 2 Inspire, She Is The Music and Femme It Forward, as well as participating in industry panels for the organiztion Culture Creators. 

Like everyone else across the industry, she’s got an eye on how concerts and other live events will return to something that resembles normality.

“I think the industry comes back in stages – fortifying the streaming landscape while simultaneously taking steps to safely perform shows in club-size venues,” she says. “I think going forward we will see the livestream model incorporated into all room sizes.”