Meet Caitlin McMahon, the woman behind Charlotte’s newest multifaceted digital music news outlet Nü Echo Media

What originally attracted you to involving yourself in the music scene, beyond just casually listening?

When I was writing the answer to this question the first time, I was automatically writing my generic answer of how I grew up poor and I wanted to be successful. For the first time, I’d like to publicly speak about what really brought my attention to the music world. I had a childhood that is classified as “traumatic”, not including the sexual abuse I encountered as a little girl.

As I grew into a teenager, I had a small group of friends but yet found myself deep in some of the darkest places of my soul. I struggled immensely with depression, anxiety, shame and guilt for all of my experiences and often found myself alienated and without any adults who quite understood or wanted to listen to what I was going through and how I felt. This left me in limbo of having multiple, serious mental health issues, without ever knowing they were not my own fault. I always knew I was different but in a negative light - that I was a burden to the world and everything around me was my fault.

On top of being a big-hearted person, having many sensitive emotions didn’t mix well with growing up under those circumstances. I often contemplated suicide and spent almost all of my teenage years at home crying in my room and wishing I was dead. I guess I can thank Tom from MySpace because that’s when I discovered rock n’ roll and pop-punk - two genres that weren’t afraid to talk about these things without trying to hide it in metaphors.

All of my problems, while they were still serious, became more “normal” to me. I felt less like dying, and I began to feel more like I could make something beautiful from the pain of my life. I began to write poems, songs, articles and anything to take me away to another world. From then on I couldn’t live without music. I chopped my hair into a boy cut in 8th grade, found My Chemical Romance, put on horrible circles of eyeliner and never looked back.

Inspiration behind starting Nü Echo Media?

It began as just a digital music outlet, The Encore Media with myself and two other women I went to highschool with. We all had a passion for music and decided to put our heads together. We reviewed albums and shows and learned everything we possibly could. Once I graduated from college with a PR degree, I re-branded The Encore Media to Nü Echo Media and decided I wanted to be on the other side.

I wanted to be directly behind artists, discovering and pushing talent into the media so kids like me could make sense of their pain too. Everyone wants to live well and make money, but I want to be the adult I never had to these kids who feel like dying. I didn’t commit suicide and I think that the strength that pulled me through is the same strength I was created to share. Strength and love is found so deeply within music and I want to run an ethical business to make sure that never changes.

What is your proudest accomplishment so far?

My clients have everything to do with it. Knowing that artists trust me and NEM to handle their talent is huge for me, because their music is their baby, just how NEM is to me. I had a really hard time with trusting people to write for me at first, so I know what that feels like. Now that I have a solid team behind me, I still find it so incredibly cool that artists believe in the NEM brand to let me be their publicist.

What’s the most challenging part of the day-to- day as a publicist that isn’t commonly seen or assumed?

I think the most challenging part is the things that don’t necessarily make an artist money right off the bat, which is a lot of what music publicity is. I’m not on a street corner selling mix tapes out of my trunk, I’m sending millions of emails and doing more research than most people can imagine. Getting an artist’s name in the media is critical to success, no matter the genre or place, so sometimes I have to remind my clients, and even myself sometimes, that it is more than worth the countless hours of spreadsheets, radio calls or interviews.

Advice for those aspiring for the same?

Hustle. I currently work a full time job with an agency 9 to 6, five days a week. I go home, take care of my dog, take care of my body at the gym, and work for my clients. I am non-stop, but it’s so worth it to be able to do something you love. There are times when I sit and stare at the website and think about just quitting, to just throw in the towel, but I come back every time.

Whether it’s a five minute break or a five hour break, remember to rest and take time to marvel in your accomplishments. When I’m freaking out over a missed deadline and calling myself ugly names, I stop and remind myself of the 11-year old hearing someone sing about pain for the first time and I remember, “hey, this is all kinda cool, isn’t it Cait?”