Impact NextGen: Mandelyn Monchick

Lainey Wilson’s break-out over the last three years has been breathtaking. The country star tops charts, brings home awards by the wheelbarrow and had a critically acclaimed turn on “Yellowstone.” By her side during this format-crossing journey into multi-hyphenated success is her manager, Red Light’s Mandelyn Monchick, who’s been with Wilson long before she was a critical darling and commercial success.

“I was in college, trying to figure out what kind of job I could get that would help me figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I started interning for a local music company and was a runner for artists coming through the local country bar right off campus. I moved to Nashville the summer after my junior year of college, a little over eight years ago and got my first job in the industry as an assistant for an entertainment attorney,” Monchick says. “That’s when I met Lainey and started to help set up co-writes for her. She didn’t really have any sort of champion at the time and I just thought she was a great songwriter with something special. From there, we were hellbent and determined to see how far we could take it.”

And they’ve taken it very far indeed.

Monchick says it’s an exciting time to be working in country music, as the genre finds new shores and new heights.

“I’m excited about the global success country artists are having. From what artists like Luke Combs are doing in the UK and Australia to what Kip Moore has achieved in South Africa, it’s exciting to have so many markets with high ceilings for artists that would’ve traditionally felt their greatest potential for success was confined to North America,” she says.

To the next generation of NextGen-ers, Monchick says: “Keep your head down, dream big, and work small. It takes a lot of little successes to build something great. Don’t get too obsessed with the outcome.”

With Monchick by her side, Wilson’s big dreams may be that next great something.