SISTER SWANS: YVETTE GAYLE

03 Jun SISTER SWANS: YVETTE GAYLE

YVETTE D. GAYLE
VP Publicity for Interscope/Geffen/A&M Records

Yvette D. Gayle

SISTER SWAN

1. What are you working on right now?
50 Cent, Keri Hilson, and a stable of new up and coming R&B, Hip Hop, and Pop/Rock artists

2. What book(s) are you reading?
Put Your Dreams First: HYEB. It’s inspiring ☺.

I have a 3 year old and am addicted to buying him books. So this week we are reading The Lazy Lion, Hungry Hyena and Laughing Giraffe by Mwenye Hadithi & Adrienne Kennaway.

My favorite books are: Celestine Prophecy, Tuesdays With Morrie and A Pilot’s Wife.

3. Share something you do for work that’s harder than it looks.
The RED CARPET – folks think it is such a glamorous thing and you just show up and saunter down the press line and your celebrity gets covered. What about the tough times you show up with a client that no one wants to talk to. You run around like a maniac pulling all the “favors” you can. It can be quite embarrassing for you and for the artist especially if no one is interested. Artists often want to walk the red carpet before they actually should be walking the carpet. You have to be newsworthy to be deemed important to talk to but everyone wants to be in the mix. Publicists often have to juggle several clients at once. We try to give them particular times to show up but most of the time they run late and more than one shows up at once. That’s horrific. It’s impossible to clone myself and make everyone feel like they are the most important artist. But that’s a big part of my job.

4. Describe a moment of sweet vindication.
When folks think my artist is down and out and they actually come out swinging and shut all the haters up.

5. What’s the most dangerous aspect of the waters you navigate?
When the beef between artists turns to the streets it can get a little heavy. Traveling on the road with 14 men in bullet proof vests always seemed to raise the “Are You Crazy” eyebrows from friends and family but oddly enough I felt more comfortable on the road doing what I do best.

6. Name two places you call home.
A Business Class Flight (it’s the only place folks can’t track you down). My actual home as I try to create a separate space where work doesn’t infiltrate.

7. Who are your influences?
I’d have to say that Yvette Noel-Schure and Miguel Baguer have been the biggest influences in my career. They gave me my first job at Columbia 15 years ago. Yikes. I wanted to be just like them and tried to be a great publicist just like them.

8. What is your favorite creative food?
My husband and I took a Thai cooking class in Chang Mai, Thailand a few years
ago. I’d say the Red Curry Duck is the most creative thing I can make. It’s
delicious!

9. What is your guilty pleasure?
Raw Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough