The “My Music Row Story” weekly column features notable members of the Nashville music industry selected by the MusicRow editorial team. These individuals serve in key roles that help advance and promote the success of our industry. This column spotlights the invaluable people that keep the wheels rolling and the music playing.

Elisa Vazzana is an Agent in the Music department at United Talent Agency, where she unites ideas, opportunities and talent. Based in the Nashville office, Vazzana represents many of the world’s leading musicians, including Megan Moroney, Chayce Beckham, Logan Crosby and Adam Doleac, among others.

She started her career at CAA in 2008, was later promoted to the trainee program in Los Angeles in 2012. Due to her sharp attention to detail and tenacity, Vazzana rose to Agent in 2013. After a nearly 14-year tenure, she was tapped to lead UTA’s Fair & Festival department, making her influential in booking the agency’s music clients at numerous events in the eastern territory of the United States and eastern Canada.

Vazzana has been at the center of major deals for her clients, including Moroney’s debut tour that sold out in minutes as well as appearances on ESPN’s College GameDay and The Paul Finebaum Show and more. Reaching beyond the traditional booking agent role, she was also responsible for Moroney’s first DSP playlisting on Apple Music, which launched the signing of a historic record deal with Sony Music Nashville and Columbia New York.

Devoted to helping others, Vazzana is heavily involved in charitable organizations. She serving meals to the homeless as a  Nashville Rescue Mission volunteer and works with the Pencil Foundation, which serves underfunded schools and their teachers. Vazzana is also a member of Justice Now, an internal task force within UTA’s Music department that aims to address systemic racism in the industry through four pillars of education, mentorship, empowerment and fearless imagination, as well as La Femme Majeure, a UTA event series that connects and empowers music’s next generation of women leaders. In 2009, she founded the Nashville chapter of Rhythm of Hope, a partnership between The Lollipop Foundation and Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital that brought songwriters and pediatric patients together to create one-of-a-kind songs.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I was born in Mandeville, Louisiana, which is right outside of New Orleans. I moved to Phoenix in the fifth grade.

Were you into music?

I was. My dad exposed me to a lot of classic rock, and my mom exposed me to a lot of hot AC. My grandfather was a symphony composer, and my aunts all played in their respective symphonies in their cities. I was the only one in my family that listened to country.

How did that happen?

I went on a camping trip with some family friends when I was around seven or eight years old, and my neighbor had the Patsy Cline Greatest Hits CD and a Mary Chapin Carpenter album. I remember singing “The Bug” and just really latching onto that. Absolutely obsessed with the genre, I came back from that trip as the only kid who listened to country.

Did you always know you wanted to pursue a career in it?

I knew I loved music and live shows, but I had no idea that being an agent was a job. As a kid, my dad kept telling me I should be an attorney, which made sense because I’m a great negotiator—I’m very direct and I’m aggressive. So I thought I could an entertainment lawyer. That’s as close as I thought I would get to it. Then when I was in middle and high school, I learned what A&R was from a How to Break Into the Music Business DVD. I really dug into that because I’m a sucker for a great song and a great voice. I wanted be the person that helps find the songs, create the album and identify the talent, but that’s not what I ended up doing.

How did you find your way into the business?

I went to school in Denver on a full-ride scholarship for soccer. I was working at a bar the summer before my freshman year for extra money and met an agent. I asked him what I should major in if I wanted to work in music. He said, “You don’t need a college degree. If you get to Nashville and you want help getting a job, you just give me a call.” So I left school.

When I got to town, I called him. He said, “You left school?” I said, “Yes, I am here. I don’t have any money. I don’t have a job, but you told me that you would help me if I got here. So I’m here.”

He said, “Oh my God. I can’t believe you did this. My brother has a band. They’re doing a music video and need a production assistant. Let me see if he’ll hire you to do that.” I think he felt terrible that I followed his advice, but that’s how I got here. [Laughs]

That’s incredible. How did you make it off the ground?

I started working as a production assistant in addition to bartending, waiting tables, cleaning houses and anything else I could possibly do to survive from the age of 19 to 22.

In that time, I was networking through these connections. A friend of mine called me and said, “Are you still looking for a job? My buddy at CAA needs an assistant.” I went in for an interview. It was $10 an hour, but you had full healthcare, so I said, “Sign me up!”

I thought I was going to use it as a launching pad to do something else because they’re so connected with every part of the business. Then I found a mentor there, Stan Barnett. He told me, “Look, I can’t teach you to know how well a song is written, or how to identify something at a writers’ round or hear something on a work tape and understand what it could be when it’s fully produced, but I can teach you deal math. I can teach you the basics of what we do. I think you would be very unique on the booking side because you can A&R from an agent’s perspective.”

Stan taught me how to be an honest agent without being a bully. He would say, “To be a great agent, you don’t have to lie and you don’t have to yell.” He didn’t look at it as sales. He looked at it as negotiating and enlightening people to what you believe is great. If not for Stan Barnett, I would not be an agent.

How long were you an assistant?

I was Stan’s assistant for probably a year and a half. At that point, leadership at CAA came to me and asked if I wanted to be an Agent. I was booking dates for the $2,500 acts on his desk. I remember begging people to send me $500 support slots for Kip Moore and Old Dominion. So I [took them up on becoming an Agent], but I wanted to do it in the soft-ticket world because I felt like that was where I could really use my A&R brain.

I wanted to enlighten these buyers 12–18 months in advance on something that I thought was going to pop by the time their event played. I was able to build up a rapport with a lot of buyers where they would ask me who I thought was next. I was able to help them curate lineups in a way that I thought was really interesting as a fan of the genre. That’s how I got into it, and I’ve stayed in the soft-ticket space because I love it. You can expose your artists to a giant audience they wouldn’t have otherwise and show that audience what’s next.

What did you book during that time that you’re proud of?

I booked Sam Hunt at Tortuga on a tiny stage. I remember the buyer saying, “You’re asking for too much for where this is today.” We were arguing over $2,500 or something at the time. I said, “Dude, I’m telling you… It’s going to be huge.” We get to the show and there were 15,000 people in front of this matchbox-size stage. That was the first time that I thought, “Oh, shit. I’m right about some of this stuff.” That was a really fun moment.

Tell me about your time as an Agent at CAA.

I became an Agent relatively quickly compared to the time that it usually took at the company. I got promoted right after I came back from maternity leave. I had my daughter, came back and went full speed ahead, but at that point, I was a single mom as well as a new agent. I really enjoyed my time there. I learned a lot.

How did you get to UTA?

Scott Clayton and Brandi Brammer went to join UTA. Brandi is my daughter’s godmother and one of my mentors. At the same time, we had just been through the pandemic and I didn’t know if I was burned out on being an agent, but I thought the only way I could find out is to go and do it somewhere else. I had friends and former colleagues at UTA, and there were people there that I think are just great humans. I met with Jeffrey Hasson and I talked to Brandi about coming over to UTA , and it was just the right move for me.

It was perfect timing. I had Megan Moroney in my back pocket, and I was working on a couple of other clients, but I decided to just bet on myself. I took Megan and walked into a place that felt familiar, new, comfortable and very team-oriented. I think when you bet on yourself, you get big rewards.

You and Megan have had quite a ride. How did you find her?

A lot of my friends in the early days were publishers and writers, so [her manager] Juli Griffith is a 20-year friend of mine. She and I have very similar tastes when it comes to artists, especially females.

Juli called me one day and said, “I’ve got an artist for you.” I said, “What’s her name? What’s her Instagram?” She goes, “I’m not telling you. Just listen to this song.” She sent me “Wonder” and “Hair Salon.” It stopped me in my tracks. I was leaving the gym and Juli said, “Can you meet us at Del Frisco’s right now?”

Megan had a few songs, but still had one foot in the influencer world while trying to break into music. I said, “I can advise you all day long, but if you don’t have anything for people to go listen to, it won’t do you any good if I put people in front of you.” She took that to heart, and Juli started getting her in the right rooms and creating the right music. She came back to me with the songs and I was like, “I’m in.”

I came over to UTA and found her some opportunities with Chase Matthew. Then we put her on Jamey Johnson, which was an incredible look for her from a credibility standpoint. Then it was really just hustling.

You guys sold out her first headlining tour in minutes. Now Megan is opening for Kenny Chesney. What are you currently focused on?

She is absolutely crushing stadiums, including her Nissan performance during CMA Fest this year. It was one of the best performances I’ve seen from her. Before the show, I said to Scott Clayton, “If she didn’t have the Kenny stadium experience, this might be terrifying for her because it’s the first time she’s played to a crowd this big.” She got off the stage and and was like, “If I didn’t have Kenny, I would be terrified.” [Laughs] She’s been a student of his show every night.

I’m so focused on building her as a global artist. She’s doing 5,000-capacity rooms that are sold-out around the Kenny dates, and is about to go on her second run in the United Kingdom. We’re then expanding into mainland Europe and Australia. I think there’s a big market for her in Asia. She just has such a mass appeal. It’s really endless for her, because we know what she’s capable of creatively.

What else do you do at UTA?

I’m Head of the Fair & Festival department. I was initially hired to start it, as it wasn’t a formal department yet. My old assistant at CAA ended up coming over and now works with me in this department as a coordinator. I love being able to build from a clean slate.

In addition to Megan, I work with some young acts like Logan Crosby, George Pippen and Ian Harrison, all of whom I’m very excited about. I’m not a collector of artists—I don’t have a large roster by design. One of the things Stan told me that always stuck with me was, “Don’t sign anything that you wouldn’t quit your job tomorrow to manage for free.” That’s how much you have to love it.

Do you have other mentors?

Brandi and Stan are two that I’ve gone to a lot. I love Scott Clayton. He’s such a great sounding board for me as a human, a parent and an agent. I also learn a lot from my daughter, who is 10. I believe there are so many things that being a parent teaches you, and I don’t necessarily think that mentors have to be older than you.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten?

Don’t take a “no” from someone who can’t give you a “yes.”

How have you balanced being a mom and a businesswoman?

I don’t know. [Laughs] You just do it. I’m stubborn enough to think I can do anything. When that is channeled in a positive direction, it’s awesome. All you have to do is tell me I can’t do something and I will prove to you that I can.