LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) – Fluent in English and Spanish, Johayna El Mouallem, better known as Jo, has been paving a successful path as a booker in the international show business. Passionate about music from a very young age, the 30-year-old Brazilian soon realized she wanted to work producing bands, artists, and festivals around the world.
If a career in the music industry is already challenging in her home country of Brazil, Mouallem decided to double it up. In 2020, she left a successful career at a digital influencer startup, where she worked for important brands such as Electrolux, and Coca-Cola, and decided to move to Los Angeles. Before that, she had worked in event production, booking artists and bands like Jota Quest, Di Ferreiro, Preta Gil, and Banda Eva, among others.
In the U.S., even without knowing many people in the music industry, she secured a spot on the team of the legendary Jason Evigan, a musician, producer, and songwriter known for his extraordinary contributions to the recording industry. Evigan has produced and written for artists such as Maroon 5 (“Girls Like You”), and Demi Lovato (“Heart Attack”), and is a Grammy winner with Dua Lipa.
Evigan, alongside his wife Victoria Evigan, is also known as the electronic music duo Elephant Heart. Mouallem worked directly on this project, taking the duo to festivals such as Coachella, Lollapalooza, Chicago, Bonnaroo, and Lightning in a Bottle, among many others.
The excellent work with Evigan opened many doors, and thus Mouallem secured a spot on the team of another living legend in the global recording industry and international show business: Mike Caren.
In over two decades of his career, Caren has crossed paths with and made things happen for some of the biggest artists of the current scene – artists of the caliber of 2Pac, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Charlie Puth, Kanye West, and Beyoncé.
Mouallem became Caren’s executive assistant, with the responsibility of facilitating the strategic actions of the Artist Partner Group (APG), created to provide a more personalized approach for certain artists. “It was a very enriching experience, with numerous challenges that I had to learn to deal with and that gave me a tremendous amount of experience,” she says.
“I believe one of my biggest contributions during this period was connecting the artist Odetari with the musical director AJ| Electronic Creatives (Alexander Ramirez), with whom I had previously worked on Elephant Heart and who is known in the industry for working with artists such as Daniel Caesar, Harry Styles, and Melanie Martinez. This partnership ensured an efficient and productive collaboration for the artist to kick off his tour. During my time, we also worked on creating and launching the soundtrack for the film Fast & Furious 10, not only in the United States but globally,” recalls Mouallem, who is trained in advertising.
Mouallem also worked on creating media and international visibility windows between the Brazilian fanbase and some of the biggest talents of the record label. This included, for example, Lexi Jayde, the 21-year-old pop phenomenon who is a huge success on TikTok with the song “Drunk Text Me.”
“It was these more strategic tasks that gave me the experience to understand the American market and the ways to operate in this ecosystem with so many variables and peculiarities,” she says.
Now, with much more experience, Mouallem has shifted her focus to helping Brazilian artists launch shows, tours, events, and even international careers in the United States. ‘’It is amazing to work for a company that can see the power of diversity and what the Brazilian culture can bring to the table. UAA (Universal Attractions Agency) has embraced not only me but all the opportunities that we can create with the evergrowing potential that’s the Brazilian music scene’’ she says. One of the artists she is currently working with is the group Gilsons, made up of the sons and grandsons of Gilberto Gil, an immortal member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.
Having been successful in Brazil since the release of their debut EP, Várias Queixas, in 2018, the Gilsons are in the final stages of preparing to start their international tour in the United States. “We are already working with some of the top Brazilian artists who want to perform in the U.S. The idea is that, as we gain more space, we will bring more of our culture to the American scene, helping to build festivals and international careers. Brazil still has a lot to show the world,” Mouallem summarizes.
André Uzêda is a Brazilian journalist.
