2025 Impact NextGen Honoree: Giovanni Vargas

GIOVANNI VARGAS
Tour Manager
monopoli projects & DMANI

AN INCREDIBLE CAREER PATH:
From New Orleans Jazz Fest to Weezy to Stones and Streisand.

Giovanni Vargas got his start in the live industry as a stagehand working at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, followed in 2005 by being “thrown into tour managing a group of artists on a reggaeton tour promoting a compilation called El Draft.” Three years later, he was on the tour management team for Lil Wayne.

These days, Vargas is a tour manager himself, while also working with veteran tour manager Marty Hom as a road manager and assistant tour manager for artists including The Rolling Stones and Barbra Streisand.

Hom, who was honored as part of Pollstar’s 2025 Impact List, nominated Vargas for Impact: NextGen, praising him for showing initiative, his good communication skills and judgment, as well as always having a great attitude and incredible work ethic.
Vargas points to joining Andre 3000 and his band on a very nontraditional tour as a career highlight of the last year, thanks to the experience of “playing nontraditional music, in nontraditional spaces, in front of nontraditional crowds.”

Over the years, Vargas has had many mentors, including Judy Cusick and Megan Grant, who he assisted in festivals early on and taught him the definition of hard work.

He adds that fellow tour manager “Tina Farris (who brought me on tour with Lil Wayne) taught me how to navigate in an industry that doesn’t always welcome people that look like me with open arms.

“Silbert Mani (who I’ve toured with since 2011) taught me to remember that we are employees and have to uphold a high standard consistently to remain employed. Marty Hom (who I’ve toured with since 2012) taught me to find the humanity in touring and the importance of our role in ensuring that we don’t lose ourselves when tirelessly doing our job for others.”

Vargas shares that his generation has the advantage of “understanding and adapting to foresight and hindsight in a time of immense change. We still write cursive when most youth are no longer being taught that skill. We are also extremely well-versed technologically and we are open to change.”

When it comes to helping make the world a better place, Vargas says, “I think we have to teach younger generations how to care, and that we care. And I think it starts with listening. Preaching isn’t a solution. The simple act of conversing with someone could change that person’s day, week or life. Or it could change you.”