BRUCE KALMICK

CEO & FOUNDER

Bruce Kalmick is the CEO and Founder of WHY&HOW. Bruce first embraced his entrepreneurial spirit during his childhood in Charleston, SC. “At 10 years old, I had my own little lawn mowing company,” he recalls. “I’d go door to door to sign clients, and I was eventually making 500 bucks a month. My passion was for music though. By the time I got to high school, I wasn’t the kid playing guitar in a local indie band. Instead, I was the guy offering to do the band’s marketing.”

Bruce graduated from Texas State University. In 2005, Bruce founded the booking agency, KB Talent, employing seven agents and a digital department working a 50-act client roster including Whiskey Myers. The year 2008 saw him sell KB Talent and segue into artist management. Bruce founded Ambiance Artists, which merged with Triple 8 Management in 2012 and quickly grew his Nashville footprint, signing Chase Rice and opening an office on Music Row. In addition, his first move into Alternative came with the signing of Grammy-nominated Icelandic rock band KALEO in 2014.

Bruce was instrumental in Triple 8 Management's expansion into a major powerhouse of a 42-person staff across management, radio, tour marketing, marketing, branding, merchandising, and digital strategy with offices in Nashville and Austin. While at Triple 8, Bruce initiated the acquisition of Good Time, Inc., adding Judah & The Lion to the Triple 8 Management roster and welcoming seven managers.

In 2017, Bruce forged an alliance between Triple 8 Management, Thirty Tigers, and Sony Music and ignited the launch of Triple Tigers—home to breakout star Russell Dickerson, among others. Simultaneously, Bruce co-founded Hazel Street Records; a second joint venture with Bruce and Sony/Orchard.

Bruce was a Billboard Power Player in 2018 and 2019 and has been featured in Billboard’s “40 Under 40.” Pollstar nominated Bruce for “Manager of the Year” in 2014.

In 2020, Bruce parted ways with Triple 8 to start his own company called WHY&HOW, joined by 11 former Triple 8 clients, 7 former Triple 8 staffers and 6 new hires. WHY&HOW represents 15 artist clients and has team members based in major cities across the United States.

Since 2012, Bruce has invested, led rounds, and sat on boards for RBI BASEBALL, The Recording Academy, Mizzen and Main, CANTEEN, Treaty Oak, Waterloo #9, Aba Austin, Nevr-Nevr Nashville, Julius Son Gin and more.

Outside of business, Bruce spends the bulk of his time with his wife and two children at their home in Austin, TX. “The “WHY” and the “HOW” have always been the first steps to every partnership in this business,” shared Kalmick upon the company’s launch, adding “W (Wyatt) & H (Hazel) are two very adorable redheads that call me Dad; so, it’s a perfect name for this important and timely next step.”

EDDIE KLOESEL

VP, TOURING & SPONSORSHIPS I ARTIST MANAGER I AUSTIN

Eddie Kloesel is the Vice President of Touring & Sponsorships and an Artist Manager at WHY&HOW. Eddie has been in the music industry since 2005 and spent his first 8 years on the road handling just about anything that was thrown at him. Eddie has significant experience in tour management, production management, monitor engineering, merchandise management and tour accounting.

In December 2011, Eddie joined Bruce at Triple 8 Management as an Artist Manager for Chase Rice and Whiskey Myers. Fast forward to 2020 and Eddie joined Bruce at WHY&HOW, bringing his wealth of experience to those same clients as well as Read Southall Band and The Duck Family.

Eddie attended Texas State University where he pursued an Industrial Engineering Degree. With about 40 hours left to graduate, Eddie abandoned Engineering for a life on the road and the rest has been rock and roll history.

RACHEL CAVE

VP, LABEL RELATIONS I ARTIST MANAGER NASHVILLE

Rachel Cave is the VP of Label Relations and an Artist Manager at WHY&HOW. In addition to her VP duties, Rachel manages A Thousand Horses, Saint Motel, and ZZ Ward.

Rachel's career in the music business began 12 years ago working at a boutique booking agency in Austin, TX focusing on regional country acts and eventually expanding to worldwide touring acts. Since 2008, Rachel has worked alongside Bruce Kalmick building prominent artists' careers across multiple genres of music, including KALEO, Ruston Kelly, The Cadillac Three and her current clients, Belle Mt. and ZZ Ward. Prior to WHY&HOW, Rachel was an Artist Manager at Triple 8 Management for 8 years.

Rachel graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a degree in Vocal Performance.

HALIE HAMPTON MOSLEY

VP, ROSTER OPERATIONS | NASHVILLE

As the VP of Roster Operations, Halie serves alongside CEO Bruce Kalmick and the executive team to determine and oversee the goals and initiatives of the WHY&HOW roster and staff while managing multiple company wide projects. Striving to meet and uphold the company's strategic goals, mission, and values, Halie works closely with artists, staff, and leadership to identify, develop, and support artists and personnel with their career development and goals.

Halie is a Nashville native who began her career in the music industry in radio promotion for Arista Nashville before moving to Maverick Nashville, where she worked in management support roles for artists like Rascal Flatts and Brooks & Dunn while managing Rachel Wammack alongside Clarence Spalding.

She most recently served as the Day-to-Day Artist Manager for Diamond-selling duo Florida Georgia Line at Hit Farm Management in partnership with Full Stop Management led by Irving Azoff and Jeffrey Azoff.

CHRIS KOEGEN

VP, ARTIST STRATEGY & MARKETING I NASHVILLE

Chris Koegen brings 15+ years of label and artist experience in both the US and International music space. Chris spent several years working in music at Amazon in the US before relocating to the UK in 2013. In 2014, he joined Big Machine to lead international operations including launching Big Machine UK as a standalone label within Universal Music, working with Taylor Swift, Cadillac Three, Thomas Rhett and more on their international strategy.

Chris re-joined Amazon in 2017, working across business development and music publishing before moving to lead the Artist Relations and Original Content strategy for the UK. He has executed nearly 100 exclusive artist content projects with the likes of Ellie Goulding, Jess Glynne, Rita Ora, Foals, Sigala, Martin Garrix, Royal Blood, Bugzy Malone, Lewis Capaldi, and many more, securing two top 5 singles in the UK charts (Ellie #1, Jess #3) and executive producing two feature length film projects (Foals, Bastille).

EVAN KAUFMANN

VP, CREATIVE I AUSTIN

Evan Kaufmann is the Executive Creative Director at WHY&HOW. Throughout his career, Kaufmann has seamlessly blurred the line between the music and film industries, having directed content for major musicians, creative agencies, record labels and independent studios alike. His work has been featured in Rolling Stone, FastCompany, MTV, as well as top curated art/film blogs such as Short Of The Week, BoooooomTV, and FilmShortage. Evan’s unique insight and knowledge of both industries have made him a key commodity in curating and developing memorable and impactful creative content for clients and partners alike.

AVERY BASHAW

MARKETING DIRECTOR I CO-HEAD OF TOUR MARKETING I AUSTIN

Avery Bashaw is a Marketing Director & and Co-Head of the Tour Marketing Department at WHY&HOW. Avery has been in the music industry since 2012 and spent her first 4 years working jobs like Production Assistant, VIP Concierge & Tour Marketing Intern. In 2017, Avery joined Bruce at Triple 8 Management as a Marketing Assistant for Chase Rice and Whiskey Myers, among others. In 2018, Avery became the Marketing Manager for Chase Rice, Kelleigh Bannen, Tyler Braden and Seaforth. Fast forward to 2020 and Avery joined Bruce at WHY&HOW, where she is currently the responsible marketing director to those same clients along with Whiskey Myers, Danielle Bradbery, Wyatt McCubbin & the Duck Family.

Born and raised in Austin, TX, Avery graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and a Minor in Communications/Advertising from the Moody College of Communications.

MELANIE MOORE

MARKETING DIRECTOR I CO-HEAD OF TOUR MARKETING I HOUSTON

Melanie Moore is a Marketing Director and Co-Head of the Tour Marketing Department at WHY&HOW based in Houston, Texas. Melanie started off at a boutique artist management company in Austin, TX helping with marketing and concert promotions. From there, she went to the radio side and helped with digital and social marketing for one of the top country stations in the US. To hone in on her digital marketing skills, she then went to a small digital agency located in Houston where she was the senior strategist on all digital marketing efforts for new and existing clients. Getting back to music, she went to Live Nation where she spent 6+ years doing concert promotion for clubs, theaters, arenas, amphitheaters, and stadiums.

MATT STUBBS

ARTIST MANAGER I DALLAS

Matt Stubbs is a Day to Day Manager at WHY&HOW. Matt is a native of Houston, TX and currently lives in Dallas. Matt has over 5 years of experience in the music industry and works as a Day to Day manager for BRELAND, Echosmith, Nox Holloway, and Kyler Weston. Matt lives his life inspired by music and constantly displays it through his hard work and dedication.

Matt graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the Butler School of Music and a Business Minor from the McCombs School of Business.

PETE OLSON

ARTIST MANAGER I NASHVILLE

Pete is an Artist Manager at WHY&HOW. Pete moved from Rockford, IL to Nashville in 1999 and upon graduating from college in 2002, he was accepted into the agent training program at William Morris Endeavor. During his time at WME, Pete worked under Jay Williams handling the personal appearances of Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Eric Church and others.

After four years at WME, Pete was offered an agent position at Paradigm Talent Agency where he spent the next 2 years handling booking for bands like Brantley Gilbert, Old Crow Medicine Show, Montgomery Gentry and more.

Upon leaving Paradigm, Pete decided to take on artist management when he joined up with a former WME client manager to manage Sony recording artist Wade Bowen. After several years, Pete decided to start his own management company, Mastercraft Management, where he met current artist client, Tyler Braden, through a longstanding friendship with former Triple 8 Management Co-Founder Bruce Kalmick.

Fast forward to 2020 and Pete has joined Bruce at WHY&HOW where he currently manages Tyler Braden, Halle Kearns & Mason Ramsey.

Pete graduated from Middle Tennessee State University where he majored in Recording Industry Management.

ALLIE PETKO

ARTIST MANAGER I NASHVILLE

Allie Petko is an Artist Manager at WHY&HOW based in Nashville, Tennessee. Allie began her career on the marketing side at New Heartland Group, running point on all artist/brand partnerships and activations for clients such as Pepsi, Lipton, Fritos, MTN DEW, and Durango Boots. In 2019, she took on Day to Day responsibilities for Danielle Bradbery at One Bullet Entertainment, until joining the WHY&HOW team in 2022 as Danielle’s Manager.

Allie graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in Communication and Information Sciences.

HARRISON KLEIN

ARTIST MANAGER I NASHVILLE

Harrison Klein is a Day to Day Manager at WHY&HOW based in Nashville, Tennessee. Harrison has had a variety of experiences across the music industry. He started his career as an assistant to Doc McGhee and worked his way to day-to-day responsibilities within McGhee Entertainment. Since then, Harrison has worked in digital distribution, publishing, artist development and various day-to-day roles at Red Light Management before joining the WHY&HOW team in 2021.

Harrison graduated from James Madison University with a degree in Business Marketing and Music Industry studies.

STEVE MARKOFF

ARTIST MANAGER I CLARKSDALE

Steve is an ARTIST MANAGER at WHY&HOW. He is an entertainment industry veteran having worked in the fields of film, television and music most of his adult life. Steve joins our team from Live Nation where he served as creative director for their tour marketing division while managing the band REIGNWOLF. Currently, he oversees the day-to-day for KALEO.

KATHERINE KOEGEN

MARKETING MANAGER I NASHVILLE

Katherine is absolutely obsessed with music and worked in A&R for Warner many years ago with artists like Rilo Kiley, Hot Hot Heat and The Flaming Lips. After that, her career veered into the fashion industry working in buying, merchandising and editorial content. She was also part of the team that launched Amazon Fashion. After moving to London in 2013, she worked in a number of different industries like mobile telco and online gambling, even a freelance stint at Sony Music, working across all aspects of content management, copywriting and editorial.

KAISER CUNNINGHAM

ASSISTANT CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Kaiser Cunningham is the Assistant Creative Director at WHY&HOW. Based in Nashville, Kaiser has created and helped develop brands, companies and musicians through providing high quality, on time creative visuals for an array of clients.

In addition to creative direction, Kaiser is a touring photographer and videographer in the country music industry from coast to coast. He is also a published photographer that has appeared in print and social media pages and platforms across the country. Some of his work may be found in: People Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Tonight and several more.

CHRIS ALEXANDER

DAY TO DAY MANAGER I MOUNT VERNON

Chris Alexander is a Day to Day Manager at WHY&HOW. His career in music started in 2007 when Chris helped his good friends form the band known as Whiskey Myers. Since then, Chris has toured all over the world as Whiskey Myers' Tour Manager.

In his off time, Chris enjoys hunting and fishing and spending time with his wife Macy and their two sons.

BRENDAN MCCARTHY

MARKETING MANAGER - UK | LONDON

Hailing from Ireland with a background working in live events, Brendan’s passion for Country and Americana led him to Nashville where he worked at the distinguished Music Row PR company PLA Media, working on projects for Emmylou Harris, Lynn Anderson and as part of the team that launched The Johnny Cash Museum. During this time he ran PR for acclaimed venue Belcourt Taps, promoting nightly songwriters events which featured a who’s-who of future stars.

Since his move back across the pond he has worked in marketing, radio promotion and campaign management for a range of clients including independent label Fretsore Records. Brendan has worked with the Americana Music Association UK since 2015, joining as a member of the board in 2018.

Brendan joins WHY&HOW in February 2022 as part of the international marketing team.

AARYN CANTU

MARKETING MANAGER I NASHVILLE

Aaryn Cantu started in the music industry in 2017 with back to back internships with Bruce at Triple 8 Management. After graduation, she was hired as a Marketing Assistant for Chase Rice, Kelleigh Bannen, Seaforth, ZZ Ward, and more. In March of 2020, the pandemic put a pause on Aaryn’s career in music and she pivoted to a role in Digital Marketing. There she expanded her skillset working with retail clients and advertising on platforms such as Google, Bing, YouTube, and TikTok. In 2022, Aaryn’s passion for music led her back to the industry as she joined the WHY&HOW Marketing team.

An Austin, TX native, Aaryn graduated from Texas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Media & Mass Communication with a minor in Business Administration.

ALEXA FASULO

MARKETING MANAGER | NEW YORK

Alexa Fasulo is a Marketing Manager at WHY&HOW. She brings artist development and branding experience from the label, live, and merchandising side of the business. Alexa began her career in the industry interning at Republic Records, Bravado, and Live Nation. After graduation, she moved on to work in eCommerce & Label Services at Universal Music Group for Island Records and Verve Label Group. While there, she strategized and launched D2C campaigns for Shawn Mendes, The Killers, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas and more.

As a singer, Alexa has always followed her passion for music. Born and raised in New York City, she attended the “Fame” high school, LaGuardia, where she enjoyed collaborating with other artists and cemented her desire to pursue a career in the business.

Alexa graduated from the University of Richmond with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration - Entrepreneurship and a minor in Music.

LILLIAN JONES

DAY TO DAY MANAGER I NASHVILLE

Lillian Jones is a Day to Day Manager at WHY&HOW based in Nashville, TN. She has an array of experience in the music industry including working the 60th GRAMMY awards in NYC, booking a sold out show at Nashville’s Mercy Lounge and working countless red carpets. Lillian has interned for companies including Live Nation in Los Angeles, and Sandbox Entertainment and Triple 8 Management in Nashville.

Prior to WHY&HOW, Lillian worked as a Personal Assistant for WHY&HOW artists KALEO and Kelleigh Bannen. She also previously managed indie-pop artist Love You Later and has worked with many up and coming artists on their branding and development.

At WHY&HOW, Lillian manages FERBY and Kendall Brower. She will also be providing management assistance to a handful of WHY&HOW clients including Nox Holloway & BRELAND.

Lillian graduated from Belmont University with a degree in Music Business.

CHLOE' STRICKLAND

MANAGEMENT I AUSTIN

Chloe’ Strickland is on the management team at WHY&HOW. Chloe’ has experience interning for the Walton Performing Arts Center and Crush Music Group. She also has backstage experience with Twenty One Pilots and has assisted the Front of House Manager at the Wal-Mart Amphitheater. After graduating from college, Chloe’ moved to New York City to work for Warner Music Group. Prior to WHY&HOW, Chloe’ was a Promotion Assistant at Elektra Music Group. 

Chloe’ graduated from The University of Arkansas with a degree in Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations.

ERIC RADFORD

MANAGEMENT I AUSTIN

Eric Radford is a Management Assistant at WHY&HOW. Eric is passionate about developing artists and showcasing their art to share their stories. He has worked with Texas performers and producers across hip-hop, rock, house and techno. In partnership with Austin’s NPR station, KUTX, Eric produced recurring showcases as a platform for locally underserved genres and audiences. In addition to production planning, Eric has helped to secure underwriting and promotional opportunities with his network in Austin.

At WHY&HOW, Eric manages Texas based artists Deezie Brown and Hood Taylor, and supports other WHY&HOW clients including Whiskey Myers, Read Southall Band & Bones Owens.

Eric graduated from the University of Redlands with an International Business degree.

WANE LINDSEY

MANAGEMENT I AUSTIN

Wane Lindsey is a Management Assistant at WHY&HOW. Based in Austin, TX, Wane got his start by producing sold-out shows on the University of Texas campus. Wane is passionate about developing artists and showcasing their art to tell their stories. He has worked with performers and producers across hip-hop, rock, house and techno. In partnership with Austin’s NPR station, KUTX, Wane produced recurring showcases as a platform for locally underserved genres and audiences. In addition to event coordination, Wane’s creative direction experience helps artists produce and package content across all major platforms.

At WHY&HOW, Wane manages Texas based artists Deezie Brown and Hood Taylor, and supports other WHY&HOW clients including Brian Kelley, Chase Rice & FINMAR.

OLIVIA DAHLSTROM

MANAGEMENT I NASHVILLE

Olivia Dahlstrom is a Management Assistant at WHY&HOW. Born and raised in western South Dakota, Olivia always had a passion for music, which led her to attending college in Nashville.

Olivia graduated from Belmont University with a BA in Communication Studies and a minor in Business Administration.

At WHY&HOW, Olivia is focusing on providing management assistance to WHY&HOW clients including A Thousand Horses, Belle Mt., ZZ Ward, Tyler Braden & Halle Kearns.

RHIANNON FERRONETTI

MANAGEMENT ASSISTANT | NASHVILLE

Rhiannon Ferronetti is a management assistant at WHY&HOW. Rhiannon got her start in the music industry in live music, working at multiple historic venues such as the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom and the Ryman Auditorium. Following her move to Nashville, she began her career in management.

At WHY&HOW, Rhiannon provides management assistance to clients including Whiskey Myers and Chase Rice.

Rhiannon graduated from the University of New Haven with degrees in Music Industry and Theater Arts.

TATE HOTZ

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO BRUCE KALMICK | NASHVILLE

Tate is an Executive Assistant at WHY&HOW. Tate moved to Nashville from St. Louis, MO to pursue a career in music management. He has experience interning for Make Wake Artists, where he assisted on projects for Luke Combs, Niko Moon, Flatland Cavalry and some of their other clients. Tate began working for WHY&HOW in November 2022.

Tate graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Enterprise Leadership.