A Note for Passionate Music Makers - and Those Who Love Them

You're on the road less traveled, looking for results inside of a career that most people don't achieve. Some people feel lost, but I say: You're free.

You have the option to create a life and a career path that is unique to you, on your terms, honoring your gifts and dreams.

I want to make sure you're making empowered, informed decisions along the way.

Maybe there are decisions to make about college, gap years, or how to support a music career alongside everything else. Maybe you're sorting through advice from every direction, and still not quite sure how to move forward.

This is the kind of moment where a thoughtful, focused conversation can make all the difference.

I’ve opened a few spots this month for private Music Career Road Mapping Sessions—1:1 working sessions designed to help teens and twenty-somethings build a clear, personalized path forward, whether they're in high school, college, or beyond.

We’ll talk about:

• The music you are most passionate about

• The direction the industry is heading, and what it takes to build a career in today’s landscape

• The role college, gap years, or other learning experiences might play

• Steps that feel most aligned with your goals right now

Along the way, we’ll make space to sort through the pressure and the noise.

A lot of what’s being shared on social media—and even by well-meaning adults—is outdated, overwhelming, or just plain confusing.

You don’t need a backup plan.
You need a real plan: one that supports your creative work, leads to a sustainable living, and makes space to enjoy the journey.

For close to two decades, I’ve worked as a vocal and career coach to Billboard-charting artists, major label performers, and independent creators breaking through on their own terms.

I also run a coaching collective called Music Career Mastermind, where working industry professionals mentor emerging music makers from around the world.

This work is about connecting where students are now with the real, evolving music industry—and helping them create a clear path forward.

August sessions are limited.

Love,

Mel

"You are so blessed to be in a room with Melissa and Mike and Coley and Skip because these are all people who have lived it and have succeeded in this industry…

People who actually played in it and clawed their way through… it’s another level of insight."

- Sam Hollander
Multi-Platinum Songwriter & Producer
Author of best-selling memoir 21 Hit Wonder

“I feel like I have so many ideas and so many sounds and interesting things going on in my head and I didn't know how to create them and because of Mastermind specifically I now know how to do that.”

- Reed Shannon
Actor, Recording Artist, Producer

Scotty, The Wilds (Amazon Prime)
Ekko, The Emmy-winning animated series Arcane
The voice of The Cartoon Network
Broadway

“Music Career Mastermind answers all the questions I used to have as a young aspiring musician. It gives artists a chance to move forward with their careers by establishing their own road map to success. It's also a place where you're able to collaborate and hear feedback in real time which certainly helps get through the inevitable writer's block since you're enveloped by a community of people who are just as driven as you...

I'm just so happy it exists now for creatives who deserve a chance to learn the honest truth and be able to grow without being hindered by the myths of the music industry.

Music Career Mastermind is the inner voice you need to tell yourself: I got this! My music needs to be heard! I am an artist that is in control of my career and nothings going to stop me from doing what I love!"

- Caitlin Kalafus
World touring drummer
(Cyndi Lauper, Seth Meyers, Almost July, Alison Ponthier, and so many more...)
"World's Fastest Female Drummer" since 2010
Recording Session drummer
Songwriter, Recording Artist

"Melissa...She's the best ever."

- Chelsea Cutler
Platinum-selling, world-touring recording artist
(Private vocal client and tour prep client with Melissa Mulligan)