Jessie LaBelle of AM2/Angry Mob Tells Brands: 'Do Your Homework' When Working With Musicians

The best partnerships celebrate what's already true

Jessie is director of creative sync at AM2/Angry Mob Music. She manages the sync team, leads business development initiatives and serves as a key public representative for both AM2 and Angry Mob Music at industry events.

With 15+ years in music supervision, Jessie’s brand experience includes Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Levi’s, Kohler, Visa, Capital One, HBO and Paramount. Her agency experience includes working on the Lollapalooza rebrand and the Adobe x Janelle Monáe collaboration.

She founded the Women in Music Chicago chapter in 2016 and currently serves as co-chair, creating vital platforms for mentorship and advocacy. As a Recording Academy member, she’s involved in legislative efforts including the HITS and NO FAKES Acts.

We spent two minutes with Jessie to learn more about her background, her creative inspirations and recent work she’s admired. 

Jessie, tell us …

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

I grew up in a suburb outside of Chicago called Park Forest. It’s famous for being home to celebrities like Tom Berenger, Kim Thayil, Craig Hodges, Julie Plec. Currently, I live just south of Chicago with my family.

Your earliest musical memory.

I’d memorize lyrics to songs my mom played at home or on the radio, or I’d just make up my own songs. I also loved making mix tapes and documenting top hits of the year. And I could never forget that my first real concert was B.B. King!

Your favorite bands/musicians today.

I keep coming back to the classics: Tina Turner’s absolute command, Al Green’s tenderness, Nina Simone’s fierce truth, Otis Redding’s raw soul, Edith Piaf’s devastating intimacy. There’s something about artists who achieved that perfect balance of emotional truth and technical mastery, giving them a timelessness that transcends era and genre. In a world that feels increasingly chaotic, these voices offer something steady and true and they remind me why music matters. Not as escape exactly, but as a way to feel deeply and clearly when everything else is noise.

One of your favorite projects you’ve ever worked on.

Leading the Lollapalooza rebrand with C3 Presents in 2023 alongside an amazing team at a small agency in Chicago. We honored the festival’s legacy while making it resonate with today’s audience by balancing heritage and evolution. Getting to shape the visual system for something that’s been part of my own musical memory was a dream project.

A recent project you’re proud of.

Building on Angry Mob Music’s reputation as a publishing powerhouse by helping develop AM2, their sync division. We’re creating new pathways for artists to connect with visual media, building industry relationships and positioning the division to serve musicians in ways that feel both strategic and authentic.

One thing about how the music world is evolving that you’re excited about.

How AI is becoming a genuine creative partner for artists, helping with everything from ideation to production to accessibility. AI tools can be genuinely useful, and that makes it even more urgent that we solve for fair compensation and consent in how these systems are trained. Both things can be true : this technology can assist artists AND artists deserve to be paid for the work that makes it possible.

A book, movie, TV show or podcast you recently found inspiring.

Rick Beato’s YouTube channel. His interview style is masterful. He’s genuinely curious, deeply knowledgeable and he asks the questions that get musicians talking about craft in ways you rarely hear. His breakdowns of what makes great music work combine technical insight with pure love for the art form. It’s inspiring to watch someone operate at that level of expertise while staying completely accessible.

An artist you admire outside the world of music.

Anyone who makes their living space into living art. Where plants aren’t decoration but co-habitants, where the space breathes and grows. That kind of integration between human habitat and natural systems inspires me endlessly. That’s not just design, that’s a whole way of being in and a part of the world.

Your favorite fictional character.

Ellen Ripley from Alien. She keeps showing up, keeps protecting what matters and refuses to accept “impossible” as an answer.

How musicians should approach working with brands.

FThe best partnerships happen when a brand discovers you’re already their authentic advocate. Force it and everyone can tell, including your audience, the brand—and you. When it’s real, the collaboration energizes your work instead of compromising it. That’s the difference between a transaction and a partnership.

How brands should approach working with musicians.

Do your homework! Find artists who genuinely love what you do. Your values, your aesthetic, your actual product should already resonate with them. If you’re approaching someone hoping to make them fit your brand, it won’t work. The best partnerships celebrate what’s already true. And they work because the artist has real creative input. It should feel like a true collaboration.

A mentor who helped you navigate the industry.

I mostly blazed my own path without mentorship. That’s why getting involved with Women In Music and The Recording Academy and becoming a mentor matters so much to me. I know what it’s like to navigate this industry without that support structure. I’m committed to making sure other women don’t have to do it alone.

What you’d be doing if you weren’t in the music business.

Living somewhere quietly beautiful with my family close to nature and tending a garden, hiking in mountains and soaking up life’s precious moments. Homesteading is something I’ve always found fascinating—like growing your own food, using nature’s resources and living a truly sustainable life.