Righteous Babe Records is the independent label founded by Ani DiFranco in Buffalo, NY. I joined as Assistant Artist Manager in late 1996, during a period of explosive growth — the label was charting on Billboard, the touring schedule exceeded 150 shows a year, and the press coverage had gone from alternative music outlets to Spin covers, Ms. Magazine features, and MTV.

During my three years at the label, the discography I supported included four Billboard-charting studio albums (Dilate, Little Plastic Castle, Up Up Up Up Up Up, To the Teeth), two collaboration albums with Utah Phillips (The Past Didn't Go Anywhere, Fellow Workers), the live album Living in Clip, two EPs, and a produced album for Dan Bern. Three of these projects received Grammy nominations, and one won.

From Buffalo, I coordinated the moving parts of a constantly touring operation — working across the artist, label president, booking agents, tour manager, lighting and sound techs, travel agency, venues, and publicity. I served as the primary liaison for six U.S. and six international tours across Europe and Japan, and traveled with the tours about 15% of the time. I managed logistics for high-profile television appearances including Letterman, Conan, MTV, and VH1, and media engagements with Rolling Stone, Spin, Ms. Magazine, and Billboard. One of the tours was with Bob Dylan.

On the publishing and rights side, I oversaw music licensing and copyright matters, including sub-licensing agreements in Australia and Japan. I also negotiated the song placement for My Best Friend's Wedding — working directly with Sony Music and our entertainment lawyer on the deal after director P.J. Hogan initially approached DiFranco about writing an original song for the film before commissioning her performance of the Bacharach-David classic instead. I helped coordinate the contractual agreement for DiFranco's voice role on King of the Hill.

Some of my favorite work was less predictable. For the Fellow Workers recording sessions at Daniel Lanois's Kingsway Studio in New Orleans, I coordinated logistics and — on a few days' notice — pulled together a live audience from the local music, press, and activism community for what became a week of live recording sessions. I was there for the full week as artist management.

I also built the label's first relational database system, archiving press, photography, and audiovisual materials — which, looking back, was the earliest version of the data and systems work I've been doing ever since.