Save The Music Expands Industry Advisory Board With Apple’s Ebro Darden, Motown’s Ethiopia Habtemariam

Variety Staff
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Save The Music, which is partnered with ViacomCBS and supports efforts to teach music in schools, particularly in economically challenged districts, has announced a new music industry advisory board led by Elena Diaz, senior vice president of talent and content development at ViacomCBS Entertainment & Youth Group, Leslie Fram, svp of music and talent at CMT, and Wanda Coriano, senior director of music at MTV. The board is tasked with creating a more diverse and inclusive future within the music industry and finding opportunities to connect professionals and students.

The ViacomCBS execs join board members Beth Heidt, vp and head of global entertainment relations at Gibson; Jonathan Azu, founder and managing partner at Culture Collective, Nicole Johnson, head of Urban marketing at Pandora, Natalia Nastaskin, general manager, global music group at UTA, Ebro Darden, global editorial head of hip-hop and R&B at Apple Music and Ethiopia Habtemariam, president of Motown Records, among others.

Said Save the Music executive director Henry Donahue: “We’re fortunate to have some very powerful music industry leaders on our board — starting with longtime Save The Music champions Elena Diaz from MTV and Leslie Fram from CMT. They’ve brought together a talented and diverse set of professionals with the goal of connecting them to our students nationwide. The idea is ‘you can’t be it if you don’t see it.’ If a student loves music and that helps connect them to their schoolwork, there’s an incredible range of potential career pathways out there. Our hope is that we can help create a much more diverse and inclusive pipeline of young people into the business.”

In addition, individual board meetings are participating in a series of Music Industry Masterclasses and Save the Music recently launched #MusicSaves, a new campaign celebrating music education programs that went viral on TikTok with over 140 million views.

More from Variety

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.