P R O T E C T
Y O U R
BY: ADRENA WALTON
A
tlanta is a bustling entertainment hub, quickly catching up with New York’s and Los Angeles’ industries. Atlanta’s music industry is characterized as a highlight of this success, with many musicians and artists expanding both nationally and internationally, cultivating longevity within their careers. However, for an artist to reach this level in their career, behind-the-scenes work is of the utmost importance. We got the opportunity to speak with Moraima “Mo” Ivory and expand on what it takes to be successful in this ever-growing industry. Ivory was introduced to the music business and the work behind it while interning at Virgin Records during her undergraduate years at Spelman College, which grew her interest in entertainment law. After graduating from Temple University School of Law, she went on to work as a radio host for WHUR 96.3 in Washington, D.C. near Howard University and was then offered a job at Howard teaching entertainment law. Now, she is an entertainment law professor at the
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Oz Magazine - film. tv. entertainment.
Georgia State School of Law, offering her expertise to Georgia law students. Her courses are anything but average, however. Her current course: “The Legal Life of…” focuses on a new celebrity entertainer each semester, and she has even gone viral for these courses that have law students studying Ludacris’ business contracts one semester, and Kandi Burruss’ contracts another. “That is an attempt to bring more real life examples that students know. That makes it more interesting to study than just sort of large concepts that just don't touch their everyday lives. And so when I search for people that I want to study in this series, I look for people that have interesting careers beyond just the one thing that they may be most known for,” says Ivory when explaining the practicality behind the courses. “Currently, the classes that I teach are only available to Georgia State law students, but I am hoping at a future time they'll be available to the larger community.” When speaking about the study on
Ludacris, she explains how he fits into this model: “Ludacris was a perfect example of that because he, first of all, went to Georgia State for a couple of years and his experience working as a student in the music business program, I thought was instrumental to letting students know that he's not a typical artist, he had pathway to college.” In addition to Ludacris’ music career, he was in a movie, is the owner of a philanthropic foundation, and started a restaurant called Chicken + Beer that is currently serving at the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. This versatility of entrepreneurial endeavors throughout one’s career, Ivory deems as the key to longevity; “For both Ludacris and Kandi, we see them exploring businesses on their own that are not driven by music, that are driven by their business acumen and both of them having very successful opportunities because of that. So both being in the restaurant business, both having a philanthropy, are both being in television and movies, just really extending their
