2024 Women Of Live: Rachelle Jean-Louis

CEO/Artist Manager | Tell Your Friends

You may not have heard of Rachelle Jean-Louis before this year’s Grammys, but by the end of Victoria Monét’s Best New Artist acceptance speech you very much wanted to.

An ebullient Monét began her speech by graciously thanking the champagne servers and then explained her long journey which began in 2009, when metaphorically she planted herself in L.A.’s “music industry soil.”

“I’d like to thank my team of visionaries who could see through that soil, Rachelle, thank you very much,” said Monét, overcome with emotion. “I just want to tell a small story. There was a binder I made to take to this really important meeting at a label. I thought I was going to be signed. I was an independent artist with no team. I just thought maybe my music would stand for itself. But that binder was left collecting dust in an office at a label. Rachelle found that binder. She decided to take a chance, leave that label and be my manager. So thank you so much for seeing me. Thank you.”

Kudos to Jean-Louis for recognizing the now three-time 2024 Grammy winner’s talent and for working as tirelessly on her behalf. “[Monét’s] by no means an overnight success and put her 10,000 hours in before her breakthrough year,” she said, “and this team mirrors that dedication.”

Though Jean-Louis served as a Next Gem Femme mentor, she never herself had the benefit of someone guiding her. “My path in music was anything but linear. I didn’t really have true mentors, though I wish I did,” she said. “A lot of the time I didn’t see women in the positions I wanted to be in. More than anything, I found solace and community in like-minded, passionate people who collectively pushed me forward … One of the most valuable pieces of advice I got attending an Issa Rae panel in which she encouraged us to look to our left and right rather than think our only opportunity would come from those ‘above’ us.”

Jean-Louis says there’s new Monét music and festival plays ahead. And her company Tell Your Friends, with business partner Austin Thomas, has a new rising star: “We’re working with an incredible artist Saint Harison with an unforgettable, powerful voice. He was just named one to watch by Apple Music, Amazon and Spotify.”