2026 Women Of Live: Alex DePersia

Alex DePersia
By The Way | Founder, Artist Manager

RIDE OR DIE ACT | “Usually I’d say Lauryn Hill but these days it’s Ms. Rachel.”

Try everything, because sometimes finding out what you don’t want to do leads you to your true calling.

Alex DePersia was “raised in a household immersed in music, from The Sound of Philadelphia to old school salsa,” so she’d make her life’s work in the music industry somehow.

“After graduating college, I moved to New York and applied to
what felt like a million jobs before eventually landing an assistant to Marsha Vlasic at ICM. After about a year, I realized the agency world wasn’t the right fit for me,” she says. “Coincidentally, that was also when I met Caron Veazey and I transitioned to i am OTHER. In that environment, I was able to grow and shape my own understanding of management – both what I wanted it to look like and the skills it would require.”

In early 2025, she hung out her own shingle at By The Way, setting off quite the year. 

“I had the chance to watch Gracie Abrams’ continued success as a live performer. The year became an extraordinary extension of the success of The Secret of Us, culminating in overwhelming fan demand that brought her back to several cities, including two sold-out nights at both Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum. It’s incredible to watch her command rooms that size while also having them feel so intimate,” DePersia says. 

“It then came full circle after a long-standing relationship with Pusha T and Malice, when I formally entered a partnership with them alongside Kevin McMullan – a milestone made even more special when they won their first Grammy for Best Rap Performance for ‘Chains and Whips,’ also produced by Pharrell. It was a family moment.”   

Gracie Abrams and Clipse might be disparate sonically, but each in their way embodies what DePersia calls “the sacred relationship between an artist and their audience.”

“That connection – and its ability to build communities across every kind of distance, geographic and otherwise – is what drives my passion for what I do. Achieving that requires patience and the belief that anything lasting takes time,” she says