Name: Angel Aristone
Hometown: Vincentown, NJ
Title: iHeartMedia, Inc.’s SVP of Marketing and Communications
Undergrad: Public Relations; Rowan University 2005
Grad: Masters in Strategic Communications and Leadership; Seton Hall University 2015
Awards: Named one of Radio Ink Magazine’s “Most Influential Women in Radio” four times
For those of you who don’t know, iHeartMedia is a leading global media and entertainment company. Angel Aristone explained it further, “iHeartRadio is a free all-in-one streaming music and live digital radio service that offers users thousands of Live Radio stations, personalized custom Artist Radio stations, and the top Podcasts and on-air personalities. Plus, iHeartRadio now features easy-to-use on demand functionality with iHeartRadio All Access Powered by Napster. iHeartRadio is available across 100+ device platforms including in-car, in-home, on wearables, across gaming consoles and more.”
iHeartMedia also runs events such as the iHeartRadio Music Festival and the iHeartRadio Music Awards. Seton Hall University Alum and Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Angel Aristone, oversees press at such events including red carpet, press room, interviews, b-roll, photos and more; pretty much everything press-related onsite.
“The moments that I realize I have such a cool job is during those events. I’ll walk in for five minutes and just stand there and see this huge arena full of people enjoying music and it’s just magical. How lucky I am to be part of that; one of the biggest festivals in the country,” Aristone detailed.
When asked if she contributes a portion of her success to her time at Seton Hall University (SHU), Aristone explained that it depended on which “success” was the subject of conversation.
“I was already in the field when I started attending Seton Hall, but I use a lot of the info I learned through the program and pertain that to my job now,” said Aristone. She felt that while SHU was not what sparked her interest in the field, it was one of the reasons her skill set was so developed.
Despite already being in her field during grad school, her current occupation was not something at which she was always aiming. After taking an intro to Public Relations class as an undergraduate with a great adjunct professor, she realized that was the writing-based field that she wanted to pursue.
If her collegiate self was told she was going to be named as one of Radio Ink Magazine’s “Most Influential Women in Radio” Aristone said she would be excited and shocked; “I would be surprised and really proud of myself.”
“At that time, I didn’t even know if I wanted to do [PR],” she explained, “Anytime you see your name on a list like that you get stoked and excited!” Aristone also included that her being named was, “all about the team.” She contributed her success to her loyal family-like team.
Naturally, event planning can be a daunting job; Aristone revealed that the tactical stress behind the iHeartRadio Music Festival was one of the biggest with which to deal.
“The tactical stress would be having 200 media people that all have their own needs and requests. Everyone wants to interview the big stars [at these events], but each artist has a jam-packed schedule so I only get 20-30 minutes (if any) with each [celebrity],” Aristone explained, “The hardest thing is to accommodate each outlet’s needs and requests and actually locking in the artists’ interview for them.”
Aristone also spoke about the dynamic qualities of the Public Relations field; she loved that it’s such an open field with so many jobs.
“Doing PR for the media and entertainment industry I get to be a part of the evolution of music. iHeartMedia connects music and artists directly to the fans and it’s an amazing experience with amazing moments,” Aristone explained. She loved watching what the company has done and its evolution.
“Get your foot in the door, there’s no job that’s below you,” Aristone said as a final piece of advice to current undergrads, “Also remember it’s okay to change what you’re doing. There are a lot of PR jobs out there and if you know how to do PR well you can do it across different industries.”
She also encouraged giving every job the 6-month rule before assuming you don’t like it!
“There are some interns that are more willing to be proactive and get their hands dirty,” Aristone said. She suggested being one of those interns!