Yessian Music has brought on board Evelyn Brown and Katie Overcash as sr. producers in its New York and L.A. offices, respectively. Brown was most recently at Human while Overcash comes over from Elias. Additionally, Yessian promoted Emily Smith from producer to sr. producer in NY earlier this year.
Brown is a native of Austin, a music Mecca that’s shaped her career path. The daughter of a music producer/engineer and a graduate of Berklee College of Music as a songwriting major, she got her introduction to the industry working as a freelance production coordinator at MRM/McCann and music supervisor for Groove Guild. Prior to her stint at Human she was producing for Bang Music + Sound.
Smith joined Yessian as a producer in 2014. She’s a magna cum laude graduate of Ohio State University, where she studied biochemistry in addition to music performance. Deciding against medical school, she packed up and moved to New York after college and landed at Storefront Music as a producer before eventually moving over to Yessian. During her time there she’s also taken on the audio postproduction role in addition to her work as a senior music producer.
Overcash hails from San Diego, where she attended San Diego State University. Initially working in the finance industry, she migrated north to L.A. and landed at Deutsch, where she worked on the PlayStation account. When an opportunity arose to transition over to the Production Department for the agency’s in-house post facility she grabbed it, eventually leading the studio’s build-out and developing a roster of editors and effects artists to support its work. Since leaving the agency for Elias Arts she’s produced for such brands as Nike, Target, Taco Bell, Toyota, Starbucks and Google.
Eleanor Adds Director Candice Vernon To Its Roster For Spots and Branded Content
Director Candice Vernon has joined production house Eleanor for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. She has already wrapped several jobs at Eleanor, which waited to announce her until they had a body of work together.
Via Eleanor, Vernon made history as the first Black director on a Febreze commercial. The “Small Spaces” campaign marks a major departure from Febreze’s typical blue-and-white world. The home of the “Revolving Door” commercial is a beautiful array of bold sunset hues, African prints, and African art.
Vernon said, “I asked myself, what feels right to me? What feels new? I wanted to bring an essence of not just Black Americans but the full diaspora. I wanted to make a statement that we’re not a monolith.”
Following the success of the “Small Spaces” campaign, Febreze brought Vernon back for a comedy-infused trifecta exploring the hilarious situations that call for an air freshening hero.
Febreze Brand VP Angelica Matthews said, “About two years ago, we realized the consumers that were the most loyal to Febreze were the African American consumers. And the more we learned, the more we realized the richness that we were really missing. So we said we have to go beyond just Black casting, we need to get Black directors that truly understand the culture that truly understand how to bring authentic performances out on screen. We really looked around the industry and noticed there’s actually a shortage of African American directors who have experience doing commercials. When we all saw Candice’s reel, we could all tell the passion for the craft, passion for really trying to help us from where we are to where we’re trying to go.”
Vernon brings a unique lens to... Read More