Meet The IMA Team
Martin is proud to be one of the 73 million people who discovered The Beatles’ during the band’s first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in February, 1964. Finding new artists and new music remains a lifelong passion.
Among the many roles he plays on the Music Resource Group stage are: Director of The Independent Music Awards (IMA) and Publisher of The Musician’s Atlas. He leads the company’s sales, sponsorships and partnership efforts and is a frequent speaker at national music conferences. He graduated from Boston University’s School of Public Communication with a B.S. in public relations. Indeed! He left that industry many moons ago to help found Music Resource Group, parent company of The IMAs and The Atlas.
When not sporting a pair of headphones or getting as close to front and center in a concert hall or club as possible, you might catch him pursuing his other passions which include cooking, reading and spending quality time with his family & friends.
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Jude is 1/2 of the celebrated husband & wife team of Folkman & Folkman, who in a former life as principals of the NYC PR/Marketing firm The KITA Group, helped Ban The Box to save the music industry & the planet from drowning in wasteful CD packages.
As Chief Strategy Officer & Director of Marketing, Jude wears many hats (and shoes) at Music Resource Group. An omnivore, Jude cooks and devours creatures great & small (with gusto – not pesto); is a sinophile, tree-hugging political junkie who reads anything she can, whenever she can.
Bereft of any musical talent, Jude may be the only one on the planet who has no shot at a musical career. However, she is often heard applauding from front row center.
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Lauren is the Program/Event Coordinator of The Independent Music Awards and Managing Editor of the Musician’s Atlas. She is a graduate from Fairfield University (CT) & The Lorenzo de Medici School (Florence, Italy) with a degree in Marketing, Music & Women Studies. Lauren has spent the past decade of her career working in many facets of the music industry including: Performance, Licensing, Retail, Teaching, CD/DVD Distribution & Marketing, for companies located in the NYC area.
In addition to her position at MRG, she is on the Board of Directors for the NYC-based organization Women In Music (go join now!). She is also the co-founder of Hydrogen Licensing & Marketing, LLC – a Music, Fashion & Art licensing firm dedicated to finding new avenues & breathing new life into artists’ mediums.
She is a self-proclaimed germaphobe who enjoys Morningstar Farms products, 80s cartoons & finds most things awkward. She can be seen around the office displaying OCD tendencies, having 17 beverages on her desk at all times and closely monitoring the indoor climate system.
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Robert is the Clubs Editor for The Musician’s Atlas & the Talent Buyer Relations Manager for The Independent Music Awards. He has a BA in Music Education with a concentration in Percussion and over a decade of teaching and performance experience. He has proudly been a member of several independent bands which have garnered an impressive list of accomplishments, including an Independent Music Award for Best Pop Song.
His interests also apply to other dynamics of the music world including music technology, composition, journalism and pop musicology. No one around the office is safe from Robert’s pranks and bad jokes. In his free time, he enjoys being creative, spending time outside and hunting down the elusive Bigfoot.
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MySpace: www.MySpace.com/RobertMusiciansAtlas
Follow: www.twitter.com/ClubCzar
Adam loves listening to music. He’s probably listening to your music right now.
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Website: www.ThoseMockingbirds.com
Dorian likes movies and music, which is why he works for IMAtv. He’s a Brooklyn, NY native, leaving only briefly to study Film at Boston University.
It is usually impossible to get Dorian’s attention in the office, because his headphones are blasting the likes of Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, or Flying Lotus. Outside of The Independent Music Awards office, Dorian makes short films and shoots music videos as a freelance cinematographer and editor.
Dorian is the only employee of The Independent Music Awards to have ever skateboarded to work.
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Lee is the Head of Licensing for the Independent Music Awards Publishing Group. She has a Bachelor of Science in Music Industry with a minor in Business from Drexel University in Philadelphia (her hometown). Prior to heading up the IMA Publishing group she headed Mad Dragon Publishing and her own company, Lee Music Publishing, that she established when she was 21.
During her time away from the office she manages an emerging filmmaker, Leah Shore – check her out! She dabbles in singing and playing bass guitar, upright bass, guitar, piano, and trombone. She enjoys all genres of music that don’t scream at her but especially enjoys female singer songwriters, indie rock, beat driven electronica, and Mississippi blues.
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Tory is the Artist Relations Representative at the Independent Music Awards and in charge of Artist Spotlights and News postings. She has a BA from Montclair State University in Violin Performance, where she trained with violinist Weigang Li (Shanghai Quartet).
Tory has been playing music since she demanded a violin at the age of 3, and since then she has experimented with guitar, drums, piano, voice, cello, and upright bass. She has performed with numerous ensembles and artists in a wide variety of genres, such as The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (Classical), The Montclair State Symphony Orchestra (Classical), The Matches (Rock), Hot Rod Circuit (Rock), and Joanne Shenandoah (Native American), performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Interlochen Arts Academy, and WARPED Tour, and worked with such producers as Tom Beaujour (Founder of Revolver Magazine, Nuthouse Studios) and Tim O’Heir (My Chemical Romance, All American Rejects, Headgear Studio). Tory was also a Radio DJ on WRIU and WMSC, and a DJ at the Loop Lounge (NJ) for 2 and a half years. She is co-founder of the indie label L.E. Records.
When she is not working at the IMAs Tory teaches violin at the Montclair Music Studio, performs in the band Those Mockingbirds (SideCho), and plays with ferrets.
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Website: www.ThoseMockingbirds.com