Meet Vivian Rayos | Artist Manager & Founder of Switchboard Management

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vivian Rayos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vivian, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking

The way I think about risk is by asking myself, is the risk I’m taking aligning with where and what I want to be? If it ultimately feels right on the inside, I’m usually one to take that leap of faith.

My career started by taking an immense risk. I entirely changed career paths just ten months after graduating college. I opened up an artist management company that had nothing to do with my recently earned journalism degree. Taking that risk ultimately turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. It was also one of the scariest things I have ever done. I opened Switchboard Management in March of 2021, just one year into the Covid-19 pandemic. I was opening up a business in the middle of countless people losing their own. I took an optimistic gamble that the music business would someday return to pre-pandemic days. Fast forward to today, live music is back full swing.

I’m tremendously happy in my career, and I wake up every morning loving what I do. I can’t say I would have been this happy had I not trusted my gut and just went for it. My ultimate advice would be, if it feels right, go for it.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?

Switchboard Management is an independent artist management company founded in March of 2021. Starting something from scratch without any help is always hard. One thing I can attest by doing everything on your own is how humbling of an experience it is. I play a bunch of roles being an independent manager, meaning I do it all. I am an artist and social media manager, creative director, producer on projects, booker, show advancer, and stylist. Juggling all these roles can be stressful, but I’m really grateful for it. I hope to bring on staff in the near future. I’d like to bring other people on to do a specific role like strictly social media manage or creative direct on a project. When I’m ready to expand Switchboard, all of these experiences combined will help in the hiring and training process of my future staff.

Two amazing things that came out of Switchboard Management are Switchboard Presents and Switch Fest. Switchboard Presents is when I produce my own shows and will throw on one of my artists along with different bands that we see fit on a bill. Throwing shows is really fun for me and also a natural thing that just happened. Talent would want to play a decent sized venue, and we didn’t really know of any local promoters working in our area and music genre. I took the liberty of stepping outside of management  and became my own promoter. My experience in promoting allowed me to throw my own mini festival in May 2022 called Switch Fest. I partnered with a local San Fernando Valley non-profit organization that gave me funding to produce Switch Fest. It’s something I’m really proud of because I was able to throw an all Latinx/e lineup for a community that I live and grew up in. I really want to expand and grow Switch Fest, it’s a platform for Latinx/e indie artists. It allows us to give back to the kids that live in the Valley and can’t make it Downtown at a venue that’s 21 and over. Switchboard Management has allowed me to expand in other areas besides management, and I hope to continue in doing so. Creating platforms where there aren’t that many or even exist, is what I’ve found that I love doing the most.

Although Switchboard Management has only been around for a year and half, I enjoy seeing my personal growth as a manager, a business owner, and as a person. I’m a self taught manager, and I get to grow every single day with my artists. Only four point three percent of Latinx/e people are in executive positions when seventeen percent of Latinx/e people make up the workforce. Those numbers are insanely disproportional. I really hope to make a difference in the music industry and that starts with being able to manage and represent Latinx/e artists. Switchboard Management is a place that holds space for those artists who may not have been given the time of day with another management company. The reason why I’m okay with juggling so many roles is because I want to see the artists I manage succeed. We always remind each other that we’re a team, and we share in each other’s successes. Starting from zero is scary but it’s also really rewarding when you are surrounded by people who believe in you. I can’t wait to see my company of one grow and flourish into something really amazing. It already is.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

I love to eat and enjoy a good cocktail so my recommendations are based on some of my favorite food/drink spots throughout the city. Echo Park, deep dish pizza at Masa and drinks at Bar Flores. West Side, food & drinks at Jonah’s vibes and food is ten out of ten. I love Bacari in Silverlake. They also have a location on W 3rd. They have great drinks and tapas and I love when they have jazz nights. A new place in Hollywood I recently enjoyed was Grandmaster Recorders. I’m a sucker for an aesthetically pleasing place, so these are some little gems throughout the city I’d take a friend to.

Things I’d do is go to a concert. Some of my favorite music venues are The Greek, The Hollywood Bowl, The Wiltern, El Rey, Resident, Lodge Room, and Zebulon. I love museums so I’d take a friend to MOCA, The Broad, and The Natural History Museum. Go to what feels like the hundreds of flea markets throughout the city. Attend a Cinespia event, take a picnic basket plus wine and see a movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Lastly and most importantly is go to the beach. No matter what time of year you can always find an occasion to take a nice drive to Malibu and soak in the beautiful place Angelinos get to call home.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The Latinx/e indie community deserves my recognition. Without it, I wouldn’t have found a sense of community and belonging. The artist, the fans, the team behind the artist, we all need one another’s support to keep our scene flourishing. Having an emotional connection with my clients that’s rooted in sharing the same community and culture is what makes me feel like I’m working with friends/family. There’s another deep-rooted layer that goes beyond the surface level of an ordinary work relationship. I wouldn’t have the friends, co-workers, and belonging if it wasn’t for this growing niche genre.

Website: https://www.switchboardmanagement.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/switchboardmanagement/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivianmarierayos/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/switchboardmanagemet

Image Credits
Evan Lopez