ABOUT Nan

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           With skills garnered over four decades in the PR Industry, Nan provides writing and editing services; press release creation and distribution; arranging and coordination of media interviews; website creation and development, and more – wholly dependent on the specific Artist’s needs to achieve his/her objectives. 

          From 1974–1984, Nan learned the trade of marketing on Madison Avenue (New York City). She founded Entertainment Works in 1989 and represented recording and performing artists in Reggae, Funk, R&B, and African music. Nan represented Errol Blackwood (founder, Messenjah), Clinton Fearon (The Gladiators), Peter Broggs, Ras Midas, Prince Alla, Nasio Fontaine, Winston Grennan, Jerri Jheto, Friends of Distinction (“Grazin’ In The Grass,” “Going In Circles” – both Gold Records), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Bernie Worrell (Talking Heads, founding member of Parliament Funkadelic). Nan has also worked with Toots & The Maytals, The Skatalites, Israel Vibrations, King Bravo, Lord Tanamo, and other prominent Reggae artists and bands.

          Nan held the position of PR Manager and Marketing & PR Director at several companies, including The Reeves Agency and New Performing Arts Company (both based in Baltimore, Md.), Acoustiblok (Tampa, Fla.) and 2,000 seat performance arts venue, The Mahaffey Theater (St. Petersburg, Fla.).

She was on the Board of Directors as PR Coordinator for Reggae Ambassadors Worldwide (“RAW”), an international non profit organization promoting Reggae music and its makers, from 1992 to 2001. 

          Retiring in 2001, Nan re-opened Entertainment Works in 2012 specifically to again represent Jamaican recording and performing artist Ras Midas. That Nan was quickly again recognized by the media and by former colleagues in the music industry is a testament to Nan’s solid reputation for her professionalism, hard work, and dedication to her clients – and to quality music. 

      Marketing is the activity and process for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging information that has value to customers, clients and consumers; it is the process or technique of promoting, distributing and selling a product or service. Marketing is, basically, anything that a company does to get their product into the hands of a customer who will pay for it.

                           “If your target consumer does not know that your product or service is available,
                                                    the consumer will not purchase your product or service.”
                                                                                    - Nan Lewis
EW knows how to locate an Artist’s target consumers, and uses the media as the vehicle to reach the consumer. 

          Public relations is the professional development, management and maintenance of a favorable public image by a company. EW maintains and promotes the Artist’s image to the Artist’s public – his fans, music reviewers and writers, deejays, and concert goers - in a consistent and professional manner.
          Media relations involves working with media for the purpose of informing the public of an Artist’s concerts and album releases in a positive, consistent, and credible manner. EW coordinates directly with the media - television program producers, entertainment editors and music writers for newspapers and magazines, blog writers, website managers, radio station music directors and deejays - to maximize positive coverage in the media without paying for it directly (as one would do by purchasing advertising).
          Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject; it is the act of attracting media attention and gaining visibility with the public. The advantages of publicity are low cost and, very importantly, credibility. That the media is presenting news and information about the Artist translates as a third party endorsement: the media selected this certain Artist to publicize, so they must be good!   

     A publicist develops and coordinates PR campaigns, and are trained to provide the media with well written, concise, and correctly formatted materials which makes it easier for the media to use those materials - instead of the media having to create their own. A publicist generates and manages publicity for a product, public figure, especially a celebrity, or for a work such as a book, movie, or an album.

     The main function of a publicist is to "persuade" the press to feature their client in the most positive way possible, using the objective opinion of the reporter to tell the story. Publicists are adept at identifying "newsworthy" aspects of products and personalities, and they provide this information to the media in the specific format required by the magazine, newspaper, TV or radio show, or online outlet. Basically, publicists shape "stories" about their clients, present the stories to the media in the proper fashion, and encourage media coverage.            

     A seasoned publicist knows how to present a newsworthy story in a way that suggests and encourages editorial coverage in a certain direction. This is what is generally referred to as "spin," though it is not a negative connotation.

     A successful publicist has the very keen ability to present the right story at the right time – and to do so in a professional manner.