MBW’s Inspiring Women series profiles female executives who have risen through the ranks of the business, highlighting their career journey – from their professional breakthrough to the senior responsibilities they now fulfill. Inspiring Women is supported by Virgin Music Group.
In a relatively short time, Baroline Diaz has made a major mark on the music industry, having been responsible for signing some of today’s most successful hip hop acts, including Polo G and DaBaby.
In 2023, she launched her own label in partnership with Santa Anna, Great Day Records, with the mission to “bring back real artistry and artist development.” Now, she has ambitions to turn it into one of the biggest labels in music.
She says: “I’m a big fan of companies like TDE, Quality Control, LVRN, what [Santa Anna founder] Todd [Moscowitz] has done with Alamo Records and Grade A, the label owned by Lil Bibby and G-Money,” she says as part of a wide-ranging interview below.
“Companies that build legacy, have catalog, change the dynamic of music and have real fans for the artists. I want to have artists that change lives.”
Born in New York, Diaz started her career by founding a radio show and blog called The Formula TV while in college. An internship with the Women Entertainment Empowerment Network — a four-week course taught by industry execs — led her to work with Diddy’s then right-hand, Marilyn Van Alstyne, for her branding company.
That job entailed working with brands including Cîroc vodka and its owner, Diageo, going on tour for the Bad Boy Records family reunion and working on the VH1 Hip Hop Honours with Lil Kim.
After that, Diaz joined Def Jam, where she stayed for two years in the radio promotion department. That’s where she decided she wanted to work in A&R. Her boss helped her get a job by introducing her to Giant Music co-founder Shawn Holiday, who was at Columbia at the time and hired her.
Within a few months, Diaz had signed Polo G, which launched a raft of interest from other labels and resulted in her getting poached by what was then Interscope. “I’m this young girl, I was probably like 23, and all the biggest execs were reaching out to me,” she remembers. “I was just playing it by ear.”
Diaz ended up moving to LA where she was under the mentorship of Interscope Geffen A&M’s now EVP and co-Head of A&R, Nicole Wyskoarko. “She’s like a big sister to me, somebody that took me under their wing and taught me everything,” Diaz says.
Alongside Wyskoarko and the label’s then EVP, Joie Manda, Diaz signed DaBaby [pictured], Stunna 4 Vegas, Justin Rarri, Lil Poppa and worked on music from Moneybagg Yo and EST Gee.
Despite her outward success — DaBaby’s huge launch was a particular highlight — Diaz says she was very much learning on the job. “Imagine being an A&R at the beginning of your career and having one of the biggest acts in music in 2019,” she says. “I got Variety Hitmaker, I was on Billboard, I had all this press.
“It’s crazy because in the midst of all of this, I really didn’t know what I was doing. I was just always asking questions, I learned, I studied it and became the best executive I possibly could be. I had a relationship with every producer, every writer and amazing relationships with all the artists.”
After that, Diaz launched her own management company, where she looked after rapper Babyface Ray. Together, the two secured a tour with Jack Harlow, scored Ray’s first Gold record with the single Ron Artest, went on tour, had a No.1 album on Apple Music and secured the XXL Freshman cover in 2022.
When Diaz’s contract at Interscope was up after four years, she decided it was time to do something new. Great Day Records arrived when Moscowitz offered her her own label.
At the moment, Diaz is focusing on developing rapper FattMack, whose streaming numbers, she says, have risen 400% to 3 million during the last six months of working together.
Here, we chat to her about gut instinct vs. data, her ambitions for Great Day, and much more besides…
What would you say are the biggest lessons that you’ve learned across your career so far?
Always follow my gut and do what I think is best for me. Also, if I have an idea, just execute it. Sometimes we find ourselves being caught in our heads and thinking about the opinions of other people.
But it’s like, Baroline, you already did it so many times, what’s the worst that can happen? Sometimes we’re just trying to do more than we did before and then we are scared to chase different things or follow ideas.
“I know my story is not going to be like anybody else’s, because my story has already been crazy.”
I really don’t think I’m making any mistakes in my career. Right now, I’m in a place where I feel like, Why is it taking a little bit longer than usual? But I know my story is not going to be like anybody else’s, because my story has already been crazy. I have my own label at 29, that is amazing.
Everything happens for a reason. I’m so God-oriented that I think everything is because of him and I wouldn’t have this any other way.
What’s the best career-related advice that you’ve ever been given?
I have a mentor by the name of Emma Grede, she’s the founder and CEO of [fashion brand] Good American and one of the partners at [underwear brand] Skims.
When I met her, I was like, Well, I have this accent, I have this personality and people are not going to accept it. She always told me, ‘Never change who you are. I don’t care who you’re in front of, never change who you are, never dim your light.’
“Being myself, not being timid and not hiding who I am is something that has really stuck with me.”
I think I already was like that, but sometimes I felt like maybe I should change my appearance or change certain things about myself. But she said [those things were] the reason she fell in love with me. I was always scared about my deep New York accent and she was like, ‘Girl, don’t worry about it. You’ll be fine.’
That’s the reason I’ve been able to walk into so many rooms. I’ve never been scared to talk to the chairman of the company or tell my opinion to Todd [Moscowitz] at the office. Even when I was at Interscope, I wasn’t scared to talk to John [Janick], Joie or Nicole and say my thoughts. Being myself, not being timid and not hiding who I am is something that has really stuck with me.
What is your approach to A&R and getting the most out of the artists you work with?
I know good records and it’s the sickest thing ever because I don’t know how to do a lot of things. I don’t know how to ride a bike, I don’t know how to cook. But I know a hit record.
I’ve been so blessed that when I sign artists, even if they’re developing artists, I know how to pull the best out of them. I know how to go in the studio and be like, ‘You need to do the best thing ever, you need to give it your all. Let’s talk about these topics or let’s put this feature together’. I’ve always been good at putting artists together and I’ve had a lot of successful records by doing that.
One of the records that I put together that’s about to be certified Diamond is Pop Out by Polo G and Lil Tjay. When I put them in the studio together, they didn’t even know each other. Now, they’re huge. Also, keeping artists true to their sound. I never go to the studio and be like, ‘You should change this, you should change that’. I’m just opinionated on how it could be better.
What makes a hit record for you? Is it something you can describe or is it more of a gut feeling?
It’s a gut feeling and a record that I want to hear multiple times. My best records have been when artists are all in the studio together. Sometimes artists just send records to each other but when they’re in the studio together, or they have some kind of relationship, that [results in] the best type of records.
I really like to do producer sessions where I have all these producers come in the studio and cook up. It feels like a different type of energy. Now we’re in a world where if these producers know an artist has a specific sound, they’ll just send them beats like the sound they think the artist wants to work with. What if the artist wants to work on something else? When I’m there, when the producers are in the studio, I can guide them and be like, ‘This is what [the artist’s] mood is right now, this is what it should sound like’.
You founded Great Day in 2023. Is there anything you’ve learned across the evolution of the company so far that’s specific to starting your own venture?
Right now it’s following my gut when it comes to artists. We’re in a numbers game where people are signing artists for crazy amounts of money just because they have quick momentum or a viral moment.
I don’t think my company is built on that. My company is built on artist development. I’m not scared to sign the artist who has 200 followers because I know his music is good and I know what I could develop them into being.
Right now, we’re in a game where everybody just wants the hottest thing but I’m able to recognize that in my company, I know how to build an artist. I know how to create records. I know how to apply artist development when it comes to how an artist should engage in interviews, how his image should look, what the colouring of his theme, his brand is, before having them in the public eye. Building them gradually feels better to me.
I’ve only signed three artists since I’ve had my company, and to a lot of people, that might be like, ‘Wow, why is she not signing multiple things?’ But I don’t want seven artists and everybody’s just all over the place. I like to be very hands-on with every artist. I like to be on every call.
“I don’t want to have a company where artists sign to me and feel like they are not a priority. That’s not the business I want to run.”
I like to be there in person. I want to be in every studio session. I want to be a part of everything and feel like every artist is a priority. I don’t want to have a company where artists sign to me and feel like they are not a priority. That’s not the business I want to run.
Like you said, these days, it can feel like A&R is more about looking at data and chasing short-term goals. How do you achieve a long-term career with an artist in the kind of environment we’re in in 2025?
We’re in a weird place where you don’t know where the consumers and fans are. Fans can love you today, hate you tomorrow, and it’s about telling the artist to build these super-fanbases of kids that really support you.
Forget about the outside noise, worry about your fans and the people that have been with you from the start and just keep growing that. Those are the kids who are going to tell other people about you.
The artist I’m working with now, FattMack, has one of the most engaged fanbases I’ve seen in a long time. These kids are ride or die fans. They support by posting TikToks about him and telling people he’s the next star, or engaging by commenting.
That’s the type of stuff you want. These are the people who will buy the hard tickets, the merch, support and be there from the beginning. Worry about what you have now with your super fans and growing that and everything else will come.
Stay true to yourself and develop your own sound. These days, people love to compare. ‘Oh, this artist sounds like this person, this artist sounds like that person’. I always tell my artists, ‘You want to sound like you. Let’s build your legacy. Let’s build your name. What is your brand going to be?’
You’ve worked mainly in the hip-hop space, which has consistently ranked as the most popular genre in recent years. How can it maintain its foothold as the music world gets increasingly diverse?
I love when artists from other genres partner with hip-hop acts. Every year they say, ‘Oh, hip-hop is over and now it’s Latin and country.’
I feel like every genre has its moment and right now, hip-hop is at a great stage. A lot of artists are dropping music and staying consistent. A lot of artists are discovered every day, but it’s going to get back to real fanbases and building artistry.
With TikTok and social media and all of that, a lot of artists have quick records and are gone. There are artists being developed by a bunch of new labels and companies that, within the next couple of years, will be superstar acts. One of my favorite artists is Doechii, who you may see and think she came out of nowhere. But she’s been getting developed.
You may not see them at the forefront but there are artists who’ve been signed to record labels for years and these companies have been building them, building the music and making it amazing. I think we’re getting back to that.
What is the most exciting development happening in today’s music business?
The best thing happening is helping artists build catalog, taking more time and creating projects. Telling an artist, ‘This is your album, this is not just you putting together a bunch of records that you recorded and now you feel like, Oh, I want to put out music because I just want to rush out of my deal.’ No, everything that comes out to the consumers and the fans is a moment they wait for.
A lot of hip-hop artists have a bunch of songs that leak and I’m like, I don’t even want those records to come out, that’s something [fans] have already seen. Let’s build a project that people can anticipate. Let’s name it something. Let it look like this, let the videos feel like this.
Once you start developing those relationships with artists, the conversations can get heavier, you can see the growth and the development.
What are your ultimate ambitions for Great Day Records?
I want to have one of the biggest labels in music. I’m a big fan of companies like TDE, Quality Control, LVRN, what Todd has done with Alamo and Grade A, the label owned by Lil Bibby and G-Money. Companies that build legacy, have catalog, change the dynamic of music and have real fans for the artists. I want to have artists that change lives.
A lot of people know my work, but I want people to discover [my artists] without my attachment. People are going to do favors for me, but it makes me feel better, and makes the artist work harder, for it to happen [organically].
In my company, I jot down everything. Every month I set goals for my artist, whether it’s, ‘I want you to hit a million streams, I want you to get 100 followers, 1,000 followers, or I want your subscribers to go up’. We’re all doing certain things so we can hit these goals and we’re crossing them off.
Each month, the artist gets bigger and bigger and they can see the things they accomplished last month. We have a different way of working at my company. I’m taking pride in developing the artist and when it’s the right time for the world to discover them, they’ll discover and they’ll love it.
Sometimes I can fall into [a pattern of] wanting success really fast but it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s just been TDE’s 20-year anniversary and they are having the craziest year. My company has only been around for two or three years. It takes patience, it takes hustle, it takes recognizing that sometimes you make mistakes. The artists may make mistakes, but you can’t quit.
If you could, what would you change about the music industry and why?
Social media has changed everything. When I was growing up, artists weren’t so accessible. You had to pull up at a CD signing to see your favorite artists, or catch them in a magazine.
Now, you could love an artist today and they could make one mistake or tweet something that destroys everything. There are artists that I have been super fans of and they may post something that may not [align with my] beliefs and it’s shocking.
Even for us executives, we’ve got to be careful what we post. But the world evolves. One day we’ll wake up and not have Instagram or Twitter or whatever. Everything changes and it’s just about making the best out of it and keeping building superstars.
If you could go back to the beginning of your career and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?
Stay true to yourself and never change. I wouldn’t change anything about my story. I’ve been a hustler, I’ve applied and implemented everything that I wanted to be. I would tell that little girl, ‘Stay true to your vision, stay adamant and stay focused’. If I knew that I was going to be where I am today, I would have laughed.
I want to help and develop the next generation of female executives and the next girl from Washington Heights or the neighborhood where I grew up, Dyckman, who could be in music.
I came from a neighborhood where I was just supposed to have a baby, have a nine-to-five, have a family and still be there, trying to figure it out or working in clubs or whatever. I had a whole different path. It may not have been exactly how I wanted it to be, but it’s where I’m supposed to be. I want to help the next generation of women and minority girls to know that you can be whatever you dream of.
Virgin Music Group is the global independent music division of Universal Music Group, which brings together UMG’s label and artist service businesses including Virgin and Ingrooves.Music ComeOn
