Jessica Rivera

Jessica Rivera is an American entrepreneur and music and entertainment executive. She signed Imagine Dragons and a pre-fame, 16-year-old Rihanna. As an A&R music executive, her influence can be heard on records by Eminem, Rihanna, Imagine Dragons, and Kanye West, among others.

Career

Early career Rivera began her career at several recording studios, including Soundtrack, Quad, Battery, and Hit Factory. This led to an opportunity to work directly for Kamaal "Q-Tip" Fareed of A Tribe Called Quest as his assistant. Rivera assisted Q-Tip with his day-to-day duties until leaving for an internship at the then-newly established Roc-A-Fella Records. She worked at other record labels, namely Bad Boy Entertainment and Def Jam. At Bad Boy, her first multi-platinum A&R project was the 2001 album Part III by R&B group 112. At Def Jam, Rivera worked with Kanye West. Kanye pays his tribute to Rivera in the song "Last Call", a 20-minute call-out song on his 2004 debut album The College Dropout, where the rapper name-checks some of the industry executives who recognized his talent early on. Rivera then joined EMI Music Publishing, where her first signing was Rihanna, then an unsigned artist.

Universal Music Publishing Group Rivera worked at Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) for 11 years. In 2015, she was promoted to Executive Vice President / Head of East Coast Operations and Creative.

YouTube At YouTube, Rivera was head of artist relations for YouTube's West Coast territory. In addition, Rivera contributed to the production of YouTube Originals shows like Stay Home with Yungblud with pre-famed artist Yungblud, and HBCU Homecoming 2020: Meet Me On The Yard, a global livestream event produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment and Live Nation Urban and aired in association with BET.

Other executive roles In 2021, she was named General Manager at the media company Mass Appeal. and the Humane World Action Fund.

Honors

2020: R&B/Hip-Hop Power Player,