It was my great pleasure and adventure to be co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Artiphon, a music technology company with a mission to make musical creativity accessible to everyone. I joined Mike Butera in 2011 – he had recently finished a Ph.D in Sound Studies and founded the new company to rethink what musical instruments can be. Together we built Artiphon from 2 to 40 people and released a range of hardware and software products that continue to bring musical joy to more and more people around the world.

In 2015 we launched the INSTRUMENT 1, an iOS-connected smart instrument, with a record-breaking presale campaign on Kickstarter. The INSTRUMENT 1 was named one of TIME’s best inventions of the year and it launched as an exclusive with the MoMA Design Store in NYC and Tokyo.

We went on to create Orba, a handheld musical sphere that can be a whole studio in your palm, a fun melodic fidget spinner, and everything in between. The New York Times’ Wirecutter called it one of the things that got them through the pandemic.

Along the way we raised investment from Eric Reis (author of The Lean Startup), Steve Case (co-founder of AOL), 500 Startups, as well as strategic investments from Shure Microphones and Warner Music Group, one of the world’s top record labels.

We partnered with some amazing brands including The Ace Hotel and worked with Snapchat to create magical musical augmented reality lenses. Our work was applauded in TechCrunch, The New York Times, TheWall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, and many others. And oh yes, we were on TV with T-Pain.

Artiphon’s latest creation is Chorda, a fantastically fun new way to tap, strum, and slide your way into creative play. I strongly suggest you check it out.

After ten years growing Artiphon I stepped away to take some personal time and find my next mountain to climb. I’m immensely proud of everything we created, the team we fostered, and what we continue to offer the world.

We collaborated with the iconic Ace Hotel’s wonderful Artist in Residency Program, bringing four artists to the hotel over the course of a summer to create original compositions.

Mike and I were guests on the first episode of T-Pain’s School of Business on Fuse.

To launch Orba, we invited people to encounter the new instrument for the first time.

The one that started it all. On a shoestring budget we created this video for our first Kickstarter campaign, which quickly became a viral hit and recordbreaking success. Shoutout to all our friends who volunteered to be in it!

We launched the INSTRUMENT 1 as an exclusive with the MoMA Design Store in NYC and Tokyo. For the campaign we photographed our friends and installed the window displays ourselves.

During my time at Artiphon I developed and ran a number of key initiatives. Here is some more detail on these areas.

  • In my role as Co-founder I helped build Artiphon from a prototype-stage venture. I played an active role in cultivating angel and venture capital investment and engaging strategic advisors. I also led partnership development, building relationships with other companies in the music tech space as well as brand like The Ace Hotel and SXSW.

  • Building Artiphon’s artist engagement program was incredibly fun. It was thrilling to coordinate with major artists to put our products in their hands. To name a few of my favorites, these included Erykah Badu, Billie Eilish, Robert Glasper, David Lynch, Mick Fleetwood, Phish, MGMT, Anderson.Paak, Diplo, India.Arie, Del the Funky Homosapien, and OK Go.

    I also worked with a large number of independent artists and creators, from signed musicians to bedroom producers to social media creators, delivering Artiphon products and empowering them to create authentic, inspiring content that amplified both our brand and theirs.

  • I spearheaded Artiphon’s PR initiatives, earning press coverage in major news and industry publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, TIME, WIRED, The Verge, and many others.

  • Playing music is a profound force for cognitive development, self-regulation, and a wide range of therapeutic benefits. As Chief Marketing Officer I launched the company’s Education and Wellness division, coordinating with music education programs, music therapy programs, and adademic research groups. I especially enjoyed our Give One, Get One programs that let our customers donate products to outstanding organizations and practitioners.