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Chase Your Dreams

Danielle Manifold ’11

I’m a First Generation college student in my family. I didn’t think much about school until my mom encouraged me to pursue higher education at the end of my sophomore year at Carondelet. She told me that I could do anything that I wanted as a woman - that my future was my decision, an opportunity to establish a career, that I deserved a chance to sketch out my dreams and then chase them.
Danielle Manifold '11
Danielle Manifold ’11

Submitted by Danielle Manifold ’11

My earliest memories of music were at home. My parents loved The Beatles and John Denver, Prince and Madonna, Sheryl Crow and Journey. Saturdays were for chores, errands and blasting Outkast’s “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” album in the house. I remember picking up albums like Usher’s “Confessions” and pouring over the liner notes and the lyrics while I sat alone on my bedroom floor. Music has always narrated my life. It’s been the glue throughout all my high’s and low’s, within all of my relationships and throughout all moments big or small.

I’m a First Generation college student in my family. I didn’t think much about school until my mom encouraged me to pursue higher education at the end of my sophomore year at Carondelet. She told me that I could do anything that I wanted as a woman – that my future was my decision, an opportunity to establish a career, that I deserved a chance to sketch out my dreams and then chase them. By the time I graduated from Carondelet in 2011, my wildest idea was to move to Southern California and work in music. I didn’t know what that meant or what it would look like, but I told myself I’d find a way to do it.

In 2015, I graduated and received a Communications degree with a concentration in Entertainment & Tourism at California State University, Fullerton. Over my four years of school, I held internships working in licensing at American Idol, music publicity at Big Hassle Media, music television at Nickelodeon, and more. I volunteered at events, booked concerts on my campus, and had a part-time job at the House of Blues. I kept myself busy and hungry for more, with my sights well set on having a job by the time I graduated.

This coming July I will be hitting my six-year work anniversary at Atlantic Records. As a marketing manager at the company, I’m responsible for building release plans and timelines, plotting creative shoots and ideas, booking tours and live opportunities for a roster of ten artists signed to the label – ultimately achieving to get an artist’s music heard by as many people as possible. The biggest goal is to have a person be blasting an artist’s album on a Saturday-chores day or pouring over liner notes and lyrics just like I used to do when I was a kid.

I love my job. I love seeing fans write online how much a song means to them after an artist of mine releases something new. I love hearing my artists on the radio. I love watching my artists play festivals and see fans singing and dancing along. It means the world to me to play a small role within a fan’s music discovery story, and to be a helping hand for an artist’s journey to their mainstream success.

It is also important for me to recognize where I came from. Growing up in a household with a mother who so fiercely supported my dreams and a bright future, to attending a high school that championed the strength and wellness of womanhood, to now working for a music company led by a woman who is a loud voice for women’s rights and power within the workplace. It is most important for me as a woman to support other women, and to stand up for women everywhere who wish and work to chase their dreams too.

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