Read a Q&A with Teagan Raher, a CoMC graduate and marketing manager of Moody Center.
What is your hometown?
Frisco, Texas.
What is your major and year of graduation?
B.A. Electronic Media & Communications, Dec. 2014
M.A. Mass Communications, Dec. 2015
What was your first job out of college?
I interned with Live Nation in Dallas during my last semester of grad school and was
lucky to land a gig as a marketing coordinator two days before I walked the stage
at graduation. I worked my way up to marketing manager in that office and worked there
for six years until COVID hit. As one can imagine, COVID wasn't too kind to folks
in the live music industry.
What is your current job and location?
I currently work for Oak View Group at Moody Center in Austin, Texas, as the new marketing
manager.
When you came to college, what was it you wanted to do after graduating? How does
that differ, if any, from what you do now?
When I came to Texas Tech, I thought I would be pursuing something more in film and
I'd be living out in Hollywood as a film editor post-graduation. I took a few film
classes in my undergrad and quickly learned it wasn't my path. By my junior year,
I was more involved in my advertising and social media classes. I loved the behind
the scenes work of piecing a project together and being creative. I also started a
music blog where I went to local shows to photograph and review artists and bands.
My current role as a concert promoter is the perfect marriage of my love of music
& entertainment and my media schooling background.
What professional goals did you set for yourself as an undergraduate?
I really wanted to build my resume and get valuable work experience while I was in
college. It really took me trying different things, networking, and figuring out what
I liked and didn't like before I could really find a dream job worth pursuing. I've
always known I wouldn't settle for a job to just pay the bills. I've always wanted
to find a job that I love and that I'm passionate about while working for a company
that has a similar mission to my goals in life and does good for the community it
serves. I'm really happy with the role I'm in currently and with the company I work
for. The music industry is a lifestyle job with as many days and nights are spent
working events. I've been fortunate enough to have a team I love working with every
day which makes that work-life balance a lot easier.
What goals did you set for yourself after graduation?
Post-graduation I really noticed how dominated the promoter/music industry is by men.
It's been important to me to help foster learning opportunities for women in the industry.
I've been fortunate to work with a number of women interns over the past eight years
and have even seen some of them join the music workforce with great success. Paving
the way for others to get the opportunity to see what this industry is like is so
important, as that was not something I had the opportunity to see as a student.
What was the most influential transformative experience at the CoMC for you? How does
that experience factor into your life today?
There were a few:
1. Being in one of Professor Giovannetti's creative industry classes. We were asked to create an online portfolio outside of LinkedIn. I created this website which later turned into my music review website, which ultimately helped me land my internship with Live Nation. Through this, I've been able to form relationships with a lot of publicists and bands to cover their shows. Fostering music and artists from the ground up is so important to me so being in those really small rooms with Billie Eilish and Yungblud before their careers took off was really special.
2. I had countless conversations with Dr. Chambers about music and pursing opportunities in the music industry. He could tell I was passionate about it and encouraged me to apply for the Live Nation role. When I landed it, he was the first person I told. He's literally a rockstar.
What experiences outside of college helped shaped your profession? How does your profession
allow you to continue your passion?
I hardly ever turn down an opportunity to go to a concert or festival. I'm amazed
by the scale of these incredible touring productions each time. I try to learn something
from every show I attend in regards to crowd research and how I would market the show
if it were mine, or production ideas, cool tour activations, etc.. I mentioned previously
that I'm passionate about fostering artists from the ground up, so when going to
smaller local shows around town, I try to find opportunities for those folks at an
arena level. Whether pitching them to play for a private event or opening for a major
touring act that wants to include local bands on their lineup, I really enjoy helping
with these conversations. I've only been in Austin for a little over a year now, but
I have learned a lot about the local music scene and hope to continue to do so.
Considering your experiences in college and in your respective industry, how would
you describe your growth process?
I felt like during my time at Texas Tech, I really gained the understanding and foundation
to a lot of different aspects of my current role. However, it took going out amd trying
different things, fostering relationships, and saying "yes" to opportunities to really
figure things out. I try to learn things all the time, so I'd describe my growth process
as pretty gradual as opportunities have presented themselves. If I look back at 18-year-old
Teagan on the first day of school at Tech, I don't think she'd believe the cool music
projects she's getting to work on now.
What advice do you have for CoMC students graduating?
Try to get work and internship experience in the field you're hoping to work in post-graduation.
Try new things. Network as much as you can. Ask all the questions. If you're curious
about something, ask someone in that role if you can shadow them or interview them.
Try to find a mentor in the beginning of your career that can help in fostering your
growth as well as provide other networking opportunities as you grow in your experience.
What do you feel when you see TTU/TTU CoMC attire or swag out in the wild?
I feel a lot of pride. Now working on The University of Texas' campus, I don't see
this much, but out in the Austin wild, I'm always happy to see scarlet and black.
Wreck ‘em Tech!
You recently hosted Harry Styles at the Moody Center. Describe your role and experience.
As the marketing manager at Moody Center, it's my job to educate the public on the
events the venue is holding. This fall we booked six nights of global star Harry Styles.
Having six nights of one artist is highly unusual outside of a Las Vegas residency.
This tour in particular chose six major markets across North America to hold shows
at for multiple nights, with Austin, Texas, being one of those six. The multi-run
residency was called Harry's House ATX and our venue team (plus the 100,000+ fans
that came into our arena over those six nights) fully embraced the Harries lifestyle.
A lot of my focus was on the digital content and educational content the venue produced.
We had a lot of out-of-state and out-of-country people attend this residency, so we
had to organize a lot of time and effort to educating people on how our building operated.
Everything from organizing times for merch stands, parking, building out landing pages
on our website, organizing pre-show emails, showcasing our photo opps, creating social
graphics, running around the venue night of show grabbing video content for TikTok,
to filming aerials shots on our drone. Once fans were in the building, it was all
about capturing the fan experience and relaying that on our venue social media. Harry
Styles' fans all over the world tuned in to our social coverage over those six days
so we as a venue were really focused on capitalizing on the growth and engagement
opportunities we had.
Around the Harry Styles six-day residency, Moody Center also had other shows in the
building which made it challenging from flipping content from one show to another.
We had 12 shows in 13 days during this stint of time, so you can imagine how rewarding
it was to see all of these events happen with such success in large part due to our
incredible staff and crew at Moody Center. I'm very grateful and fortunate to work
for this crew and some of the best venue leaders in the country. As a new venue that
just opened in April 2022, we're really trying to make a name for ourselves and this
residency was a huge opportunity for Moody Center to showcase the grandness of Austin,
Texas.
