Learn more about Bianca and how she’s making a big wave in the US music industry
We had a moment to chat with Bianca Rugimbana owner/CEO of BMRPR agency. One of our top picks for public relations services. Ranging from individuals, small businesses, celebrities etc her amazing work ethic and deep industry connections can most definitely take your business and/or music to the next level.
Check out her full interview below and be sure to Submit to Jukebox Culture and follow us on instagram.
Where are you from and explain life growing up?
Born and raised in Newcastle, Australia, I lived the typical Australian
lifestyle as a small town country girl. Growing up with my parents and
younger sister, I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to play
sports, enjoy activities outside of school hours and grew up in a stable
household, blessed to have a lot of the things that not every child has –
which I now know and see as an adult.
Being from Australia, how did you end up going to Georgetown College
in Kentucky?
Since the age of 7, I played tennis and always wanted to go to the US to
play college tennis. In 2006, I received a scholarship to play in South
Georgia and attended ABAC college in Tifton. I was there for about a year
before transferring to Georgetown College, where I played tennis for the
remainder of my college degree before receiving my Bachelors of Arts in
Communication.
When did you decide you wanted to start your own business?
Since graduation I have always worked in Communications, Marketing and PR for other companies and one day I woke up and thought “everything I am doing for someone else’s organization, I can do for myself”, so while
working full time I started to build a brand which started out as a blog
where I shared ideas and it wasn’t until my first tour in 2016 with Fat
Joe, that I decided to work on my own PR brand and it slowly developed into BMRPR.com over the years.
What exactly do you offer as far as services and why would a company / artist want to work with you?
BMRPR.com is an agency specializing in public relations, marketing and
branding. BMRPR has worked on a variety of projects and collaborations at
all levels and is dedicated to ensuring the success of each individual
person and project we have the opportunity to work with or on. My business has built a solid reputation and have developed great relationships and contacts within the entertainment and music industry.
Personally, I pride the business on the fact that it was built from the
ground up through nothing but hard work, late nights, personal research and being relentless each day – no matter how many “NO’s” or failures came my way. Being based in Australia and working solely with US clients, means working around the clock, sometimes meaning traveling back and forth to the US and often meeting deadlines that require 24 hours with no sleep. In this industry it’s tough to find SOLID teams to work with and people to support you so I certainly pride myself on being able to deliver those results despite the distance and to support artists in all they do. No matter what has to be done, BMRPR.com won’t stop until we’re able to achieve that result for each client which is why we have been able to successfully help so many artists.
How do you plan on continuing to grow?
Come 2021, my brand BMRPR will add BMR Records to the business. This will be a way for me to directly work with artists to develop them, invest in
them and provide them with opportunities to break records, network and grow in all areas as an artist. This will include learning the business,
financial advice and daily support besides just making music as a creative.
On the PR front, we hope to lock in more partnerships for the business to
assist influencers and current clients.
Has the current COVID-19 situation effected your business in anyway?
Excitingly (and a major blessing!) COVID-19 has increased business. More
people want to use the down time to build their brand and grow, so business has been through the roof. As a business, I am now looking at ways to give back to people who are struggling or have lost jobs because of this
pandemic.
What was the most difficult part of starting an agency from scratch?
People would think that being in Australia is the biggest roadblock, but I
have used my location and nationality to my advantage in a lot of ways.
Being taken seriously and being a woman in this male-dominated industry can be difficult. People are also used to business being done badly in this
industry, so changing peoples’ mindsets and showing them that good business and loyal people still exist has been a challenge. Building a solid network and reputation for BMRPR is far more important to me than any kind of money.
How do you deal with bad clients?
Clients in the music industry can test you, however, normally that’s
because their focus is “being creative” and not so much on the business
side of things. It’s important to educate each artist you work with, on how
they can prosper from the business side of things also. I have found once I
shed light on these things or break it down in a way they can understand,
it becomes easier to work with them and assist them. Any professional will
know when a contract or business relationship needs to end, but there are
always ways to fix these things before getting to that point. At all times
and under any circumstance, it’s always important to remain professional
and respectful even if parting ways is the only solution.
What’s your biggest goals for the year?
Getting BMR Records prepared and ready to roll for 2021 is the main goal
alongside that bank account having 7 figures in it (Ha!). It’s important
that you maximize and organize your time as much as possible and that has
certainly helped in being able to achieve each small goal over the past few
months. Slowly but surely, these major goals will be achieved by end of
2020.
What other life goals do you have outside of your current business?
I have always been a compassionate person and wanted to financially be in a position to assist more people. Being able to open a homeless shelter and
also a shelter for women to escape domestic violence and rebuild etc. is a
dream of mine. To be able to give back in some form or fashion to those who only needed a chance or opportunity to rebuild is so important to me. No one is perfect and sometimes we all need to be given a second chance at
life. I hope one day to be able to do that.
What advice would you give to a young entrepreneur who wants to start their own business?
DON’T GIVE UP. DON’T STOP. DON’T FOLD. You will literally wake up some days and think “what in the world am I doing and for what?” It’s important you stay focused on the long term benefits during these times. This is a
marathon not a sprint and the things you do today will pay off tomorrow. I
am living proof of that.
Follow Bianca on instagram
