Guest Speaker Brandon Frankel

Today we had the privilege of having Brandon Frankel in our class.  Brandon is a 2003 grad who went into the music promotion business.

Brandon had so much to share that was sociological.

First, follow your passion and don't be afraid to veer off the beaten path or even fail.  Brandon explained that he did not grow up in an extremely wealthy and well-connected house, but he really wanted to be involved in the music business.  He sought out any way to do that.  He got a small magazine to sponsor him to take picture at concerts.  He was able to turn that into an internship at Atlantic records and then a job there.  It took work.  It took years.  But it was his passion and he followed it.  After Atlantic he tried being an agent but it wasn't for him.  He was not afraid to try and it was okay that it didn't work out.



Eventually, Brandon travelled around the world and using a sociological imagination he was able to connect with friends in Colombia and close business deals in Japan.  He talked about the importance of not being ethnocentric and how paying attention to the symbolic meaning in Colombia or the norms of business cards in Japan helped him close deals.  He talked about the culture of India and the importance of Cricket to the culture.  And he even talked about microsociology and how he always asked people their name first and treated them nicely even though that's not the norm in L.A.

Brandon also talked about how he has tried to stay sociologically mindful to make the world a better place.  

He helped a Swedish rapper get a modeling job that helped to promote a more realistic looking model.  

He also helped Rose McGowan find her voice and speak out against the assault that she experienced.

He also explained the importance of the media and how it finds ways to influence the culture - indeed he himself was even deemed an influencer.  Digital social media attempts to influence brands and culture through likes and retweets and proliferation of an idea.  And sometimes this can even be false/fake - like when the tabloid media reported that he was dating Rose McGowan but they called him John Latin!

Thanks Brandon!  Follow him at @brandontour on instagram and twitter.

Click here for Forbes article.