Check Out Carita Miller’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carita Miller. 

Hi Carita, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
As a kid, I’ve always had dreams of being in the music industry. Mainly inspired by my mom who has been in the industry herself over 30 years. I knew when I was young, I had a calling when I was able to assist with getting the nationally known R&B group, H-Town, their very first national television appearance. During high school, I would often assist my mom with her Video Promotions company, promoting various nationally known artist videos. After high school, I attended Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts, following my mom’s path, and obtained a degree in video production. After graduation, I obtained an internship at Arista Records, under the direction of the late Lisa Coleman, who served as the Promotions Manager. I would only be in this role for a short while before learning I was pregnant with my 1st child, so naturally, I took a break. After having my child, I was able to secure an internship at one of the top radio stations here in Detroit, WJLB. There I served as the producer of the late Kris Kelley’s show. I stayed in that role for almost a year and I was given a different paying job offer in a totally different field, which I decided to take since I now had a child to take care of. I stayed in the customer service role and actually I still currently hold a full-time position, employed with the United States Government, so I haven’t been able to totally let that go as of yet since it is the main source that pays the bills lol. However, over the last few years, I found myself doing different things to create an additional source of income, especially since my son has now graduated high school and is attending college full time, I first started with a side gig as a tax preparer that lasted maybe a year. During that time, I decided to go back to school so I took a real estate course. I passed the course but have yet to become licensed. I also enrolled in college courses at WCCC with a major in business administration, once COVID-19 came into the picture and classed went virtual that went down the drain. I’ve never really been the one for online learning so I put things on pause hoping that one day I would return back to in-person learning. Now I know I’m contradicting myself when I say this but, lol, during the covid period I decided to take the real estate course again but this time online lol. I felt as though because I had the in-person experience already that taking the course again online would serve as a refresher so to speak, if that makes sense at all, lol. While studying for real estate things took another left turn, which was the turn that set me on the path that I’m currently pursuing and placed me back into a space where I was actually falling into the career I always dreamed to have. As stated before, I always dreamed of being in the music industry and I thought for a long time that I wanted to be an A&R for some big-time record label. So, one day a good friend of mine, Dave Tolliver from the R&B group, Men at Large asked me to do a Facebook live series called “Music Mondays’ where he and I would host and I was responsible for introducing him and a live audience to artist that I liked and thought they likely hadn’t heard of. This went on for about 3-4 weeks before Facebook shut our live down for copyright issues and is where I was branded with the name “The Lady With The Golden Ear.” Soon after that, I was approached by another friend who owns a Detroit based digital magazine called “Beautiful Machine Magazine” and was asked to put together a playlist for the month for his magazine, well he was so pleased with the playlist I submitted that, that has now turned into me being the magazines Associate Music Editor. We’ve even taken it to another level where I now incorporate concert & album reviews and even some artist interviews with nationally known artist have been done. Soon after that, I was approached by another friend, a local Detroit film producer who asked if I would be interested in putting together a movie soundtrack for his film. Of course, I graciously accepted the job knowing I had no clue what the job entailed, I never even knew there was a such person as a Music Supervisor who was responsible for these sorts of things. Well, now, just a little over a year later, I can confidently say that I’ve become a self-taught Music Supervisor and I absolutely love everything about the job. So far, I’ve supervised 2 movies that are available now on Tubi streaming service, He Said She Said and First Lady 3. I’m currently working on films 3,4,5 and will be contracting 6 very soon. Once I get my 4th film to turnover to streaming services, I will be allowed to join the Guild of Music Supervisors as a member which I’m extremely excited about. If that isn’t enough, shortly after that, I was asked by a former co-worker to head the A&R and Artist management departments of his independent label. I was overwhelmed by the amount of blessings flowing in during such a weird time in the world. Covid-19 was destroying lives but being such a blessing in mine. Needless to say since picking up all of these jobs in the entertainment industry, I have had no time for my real estate course. I will also say that I will not completely give up on that goal as I am totally fascinated by houses. Right now, my favorite place to house hunt I would have to say is the state of California. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest struggle for me was being a single mom with barely any support system. During my years of working customer service, I was always able to obtain the best of the best of jobs. The issue was maintaining the jobs as a single mom. Daycare providers cost half the pay and without a lot of help from family or even friends there were many days where I just wanted to give up but with 2 children looking for me to provide every need and want there was no way I could, so day after day, job after job, year after year, issue after issue, I still place my complete faith GOD and that is where I find my strength and assistance. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
In my line of work, the entertainment industry, there’s so many different roles that can be played and since I didn’t know how to get into a major label as A&R, I took on different jobs and that’s how I’ve been able to find my true niche. 

As A&R Director, my responsibilities include but are not limited to running the record label or music publisher department responsible for finding and nurturing musical talent, holistically planning artists’ careers, and supervising recording projects. Although my day-to-day duties vary, as A&R director I am united by a common mission: to shape the musical roster and release catalog to best achieve the company’s aesthetic and commercial goals. This could mean setting guidelines and directives for A&R managers and talent scouts, approving departmental budgets, liaising with other department heads to ensure smooth inter-departmental cooperation, advocating for the interests of the A&R Department in meetings with label executives, courting major unsigned recording artists, or developing valuable new resources and connections for the department. Keep in mind this was what I claimed to be my dream career early on. 

As I’ve fallen into the role of Music Supervision, I’m finding that this is where I belong. I love the entire process from start to finish. All the researching and frustrations even are well worth the return. Sitting in a movie theatre full of people and hearing the songs that I placed, seeing how they were placed and the type of effect it creates for the scene is beyond amazing, but what’s even more fulfilling is seeing my name glide across the screen when the ending credits are rolling, it’s just something I never ever imagined for myself. What makes me most proud is having someone who believed in me enough to give me such an opportunity and being able to say that “I’m a self-taught Music Supervisor.” 

My “Golden Ear” is one things that sets me apart from most and also what I’m known for. I thrive on finding the artist that no one hardly knows about and “promoting” them to people. I like to be the first person to know lol. Other than that, my work ethic is unmatched. Because I absolutely love what I do, it’s not even considered work. I’m always working, all day and night long, I also always find the most amazing programs to assist in building my network or to self-educate myself about various aspects of the entertainment industry. 

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Being able to wake up daily and realize my many blessings, and know that they come from GOD makes me very excited because I know he will continue to bless me if I stay faithful to and believe in him. Being able to spend time with my kids and seeing them grow makes me totally happy. Overall, seeing them happy and being able to be a huge part of that serves me well. Finally, being on the path of the career of my dreams makes me totally happy because honestly, I had given up on the idea of ever being where I am now and I still can’t believe how much I’ve accomplished and I still have so far to go. Being stable makes me happy because being unstable makes me uncomfortable. Being able to make my mom a proud mom makes me very happy. Music elates me! It’s unexplainable the love that I have for music. A song can set many different moods, a lot of songs are completely relatable where it feels like the artist is singing about a familiar situation, a song can make me wanna fall in love, it’s just so many things that I love about music and so many reasons why it makes me happy, honestly, it’s my real true first love! Being able to see my friends grow into different spaces in life makes me happy. Positivity makes me happy, I run from the negative vibes. Love makes me happy, giving and receiving! 

Contact Info:

• Email: cee_em_squared@yahoo.com
• Website: https://linktr.ee/caritamiller
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brwnsknqt213/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLadyWithTheGoldenEar/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrwnSknQT213
• Other: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm12703660?s=eebd56d3-791b-377f-e38a-854b5c581c04&site_preference=normal