3 Under 30: Blair Miller 14

Music executive

Let’s say you’re a talented young musician who posts videos of your songs on social media in hopes of being discovered. And then one day—miracle of miracles—you are discovered. One of your songs goes viral, racking up views and shares. You’re overcome with excitement but also feel a measure of fear. What exactly do you do now?

If you have Blair Miller ’14 in your corner, you have a good chance of making the most of the opportunity. Blair is the founder of Chaos Creators, an entertainment marketing agency based in Nashville. Whether helping artists build their brand in the studio, on a music video set, or on tour, Blair is skilled in the art of sustaining viral moments and in harnessing the power of social media to give creators’ work maximum exposure.

Blair traces her love of music back to car rides with her mom, who would always blast Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross during the commute to school. She played violin, viola, and piano from an early age, participating in Youth Music Monterey through high school as well as in Santa Catalina’s chamber ensemble.

Wanting to stay close to music, Blair attended Belmont University with the intention of studying entertainment law. While there, she had eight different internships at major music companies, including Atlantic Records, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Nashville, and the Country Music Association. As she learned more about the different sides of the business, she turned her focus to marketing.

After graduating in 2018 with a music business degree, Blair worked at a marketing agency supporting the social media efforts of clients such as country stars Brad Paisley, Chris Young, and Vince Gill. Also on her roster was a new pop artist managed by Kevin Jonas Sr., the father of the Jonas Brothers. Blair and Jonas Sr. started working together during her first week on the job, and their partnership went so well that he brought her another client, and then another. One day, Jonas sought her advice for a non-client artist who was beginning to go viral on TikTok; with Blair’s help, the artist was able to keep the momentum going. “At that point, going viral on TikTok was a new phenomenon, especially to artists,” Blair says.

A few months later, Jonas called Blair on her lunch break and asked if she wanted to start a marketing agency with him. “He said ideally—this is on a Wednesday—ideally you quit your job by Friday and you’ve moved and started working with me on Monday,” Blair recalls. So Jonas Group Media was born. As the creative director, Blair oversaw the marketing strategy for a range of artists and creators—whether it was promoting new albums, engaging with fans, or launching campaigns for social media influencers. And, of course, she continued to help clients capitalize on viral moments. In one of her proudest accomplishments, she led marketing strategies that helped land a record deal for singer/songwriter Lanie Gardner, whose cover of “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac blew up on TikTok.

Being at Catalina and meeting so many different people with so many different backgrounds helps me relate to the artists I work with because everyone is so different.

After two and a half years at Jonas Group Media, Blair was ready to strike out on her own. In early 2022, she launched Chaos Creators with the goal of disrupting the traditional entertainment marketing landscape. Blair explains: “A disruption to me is some form of unexpected change or unexpected way of doing things that really makes people stop and look and contemplate [how things are currently done]. So when it comes to social media and marketing campaigns, it’s just being fearless and being outside the box and trying something new, even if it’s not the industry standard.”

Blair says Chaos Creators has experienced a smooth start. She currently has an extensive client roster, primarily pop and R&B artists. “It’s been fun to pick the artists I want to work with and to work on projects that I’m extremely passionate about,” she says. Chaos Creators is a small shop right now—just Blair and one staff member, with occasional interns—but she is in the process of building the company with additional employees in marketing and content creation. One goal is to have a studio where artists can come to create content and collaborate with each other.

As a leader, Blair places great stock in collaboration. It’s a skill she attributes in part to Santa Catalina, where she learned the value of teamwork on the varsity soccer and track teams, as well as in the chamber ensemble and in the communications office as a STAR intern. Catalina’s boarding student population is another experience she draws on as she navigates the music industry. “Just from being at Catalina and meeting so many different people with so many different backgrounds helps me relate to the artists I work with because everyone is so different—everyone has their own perspective and thought and tone,” she says.

As a graduate of Catalina, she also deeply understands the importance of community; some of her favorite memories are of simply hanging out in Study Hall with her friends in the morning. That value is reflected not only in the relationships she builds with artists and their fans, but also in the ways she contributes to the circle of women and people of color in the industry. She has served as a music mentor with the conference/ festival South by Southwest (also known as SXSW) and has been a speaker at events hosted by Women in Music, Berklee College of Music, The NAACP, and the Music Business Association.

Blair’s confident ascent in the music business was born of struggles to be taken seriously earlier in her career, and she hopes others can learn from her journey. She says, “It can definitely be hard being a woman in the music industry, and then on top of that being a minority. When I was first starting out, especially in Nashville, I typically was the youngest in the room, normally one of the only females, and definitely the only black person or black woman. So that was always hard to navigate. I’ve just learned that even if there are preconceived notions, if I come into the room and I know what I’m talking about and I can really back up everything I’m saying, people do take notice. I hope I can pave the way for future women of color and women in general to have these leadership roles, especially at a young age.”