Secretly Hires Multiple New A&R Team Members

This week, Secretly welcomes multiple new additions to its esteemed A&R teams. Following the promotion of Eddie Sikazwe to the company's first-ever Senior Director of A&R this summer, Secretly Publishing has announced the hiring of Trinity Hood as A&R Associate and Tony Messina-Doerning as A&R to its Los Angeles office. As the most robust, dedicated A&R department to date for Secretly Publishing, Hood and Messina-Doerning continue a period of tremendous growth that has been mirrored across roster, catalog, synchronization and administration. In addition to championing, connecting and helping to cultivate the careers of brand new signings, Hood and Messina-Doerning will further serve a long list of trailblazing artists and songwriters such as Faye Webster, Grizzly Bear, Japanese Breakfast, Leith Ross, Lonnie Holley, Jorge Elbrecht, The War on Drugs, Whitney and more with the same tireless, transparent approach and dynamic dealmaking that has made Secretly Publishing one of the most influential, personalized publishers in independent music. 

Both Trinity Hood and Tony Messina-Doerning will report to Eddie Sikazwe, Senior Director of A&R at Secretly Publishing, who says, "I'm thrilled to welcome Tony and Trinity to the Secretly Publishing family as part of our A&R team. Their addition is another display of our commitment to providing first-class service to our writers. After multiple conversations with Tony and Trinity, I have no doubt that they'll bring exciting and unique concepts to the team."

A native of Southern California with years of experience in the live music space, Trinity Hood arrives at Secretly Publishing from the Music Touring team at United Talent Agency, as well as a stint at GRAMMY Award-winner Derek "MixedByAli" Ali's Noname Studios. She has booked shows for acts such as Caroline Polachek, Ian Sweet and The Marías, interviewed and hosted the likes of Kelsey Lu, Molly Burch and Puma Blue, and she says, "I'm thrilled to join Secretly Publishing and work alongside Eddie and the rest of the team. Secretly Publishing is home to numerous artists I've loved for many years - I'm especially excited to contribute to projects with those artists and new ones we'll love in time to come."

"I've been a long-time admirer of the artists and music that Secretly Group has developed and championed over the years," adds the Southern California-based Tony Messina-Doerning, who served as an A&R across the label roster of Ricky Reed's Nice Life Recording Company for the last four years. "I'm thrilled to be joining the team at Secretly Publishing and look forward to supporting the incredible creatives we have across the roster, as well as bringing new folks into the Secretly community."

On the label side, Secretly Group recently hired Laura "Lau" Frías as the newest Brooklyn-based A&R Director for Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, Saddest Factory Records and Secretly Canadian, where she brings her experience championing artists and paving new paths for underrepresented sounds, spaces and music scenes. Having moved from Lima, Perú ten years ago, Frías joins Secretly Group after six years at Kobalt Music Group, where she worked on global initiatives across Synch Licensing, Publishing A&R and, most recently, Records A&R at AWAL. In addition to signing Djo, Yeek, Carol Ades and more at AWAL, she has been a fundamental voice for the Latinx community of artists such as Omar Apollo, Cuco, Inner Wave, Loyal Lobos and more. Lau has a natural gift for worldbuilding and creative direction. Lau Frías reports to Jon Coombs, Secretly Group's VP of A&R, who - along with Chris Swanson (Co-Founder and President of A&R) - was named one of Billboard's 2022 Indie Power Players. 

"I'm delighted to join the Secretly family – the company is unmatched when it comes to true artist development," says Lau Frías, who has lately been involved with Dead Oceans' signing of fast-rising Asheville, NC band Wednesday. "I have the utmost respect for Secretly Group's commitment to expand and diversify the independent space. I'm excited to bring a new perspective and be a voice for those who, like me, grew up very far from the industry and aspire to be part of the change."

Jon Coombs adds, "Lau has been an incredible addition to our A&R team here at Secretly. We've long admired her ability to find, champion, and develop future-thinking artists who are driving culture forward. She's the perfect addition to the team and I look forward to her witnessing future successes at Secretly Group."