Tell us a little bit about yourself, Nate! How did you end up in the music industry, and the position you’re in today?

Music has always been synonymous with community for me as a New Orleans native. From honing my vocal talents amongst church family as an 8-year-old choir member to earning my place in a historic brotherhood connecting lauded musicians like Jon Batiste, Luke James, Trombone Shorty, and Terrance Blanchard as a section leader of the St. Augustine Marching 100. The privilege of creating music has always provided me with a close-knit group of artists who inspired, educated, and protected each other. 

Sounds like music and the community spirit of it runs deep in your person. What other initiatives have you played a role in that you are particularly proud of?

I take on His duties as a cultural curator with pride. My commitment to collecting, documenting, sharing, and creating history through music underscores the work I do in artist advocacy and empowerment, economic development, and event production. Doing my part to sustainably grow both the talent and the environment necessary for artists to support themselves creatively is my life’s work. In partnership with my wife, Krystle Sims-Cameron, we co-founded Them People Productions, an organization that provides artist support services and produces Black artist-centric events designed to strengthen community ties and promote cultural healing. 

As the former director of Ropeadope Record’s Artist Advocacy Group, I empowered modern music makers to connect with talent brokers and venues worldwide so they can build and maintain  fan-based communities across the globe. As founder of The Oakland Second Line Project, I created free cultural community experiences that bring the authentic African roots of Second Line History and spirit of community building from New Orleans to POC communities of Oakland, Ca. And, most recently, having returned to my hometown after nearly a decade of immersing in, learning from, and supporting artist communities throughout the country and abroad(Cincinnati, California, Amsterdam, Germany, etc.), I’ve begun a new chapter of mentoring and preparing local creators to take advantage of the economic frameworks I’m concurrently helping to develop. 

The glbl wrmng collective co-founded by emcee Pell and myself not only helps New Orleans artists release music but connects them to community and sustainable artist development and opportunities.