Fireside Chat on Music Tech and Entrepreneurship: Jalen James Acosta, CEO of W.A.U. Records

Schedule

Check-in: 6 PM– 6:30 PM

Fireside Chat: 6:30-7:30

Jalen James Acosta is an Artrepreneur and motivational speaker, of Dominican origin based in Hollywood. His stories travel the world from the United States to Asia, Europe and Latin America to encourage, instruct and motivate anyone who wants to live with his passion and overcome the obstacles of the road

to success. The shocking stories of his life from his humble beginnings, when he slept in a Miami park, to his recent article in Forbes magazine, are full of contrasts. From being on the brink of suicide, struggling to find regular sustenance, to working on global campaigns for

NFL players, conducting regular business deals with tycoons, shak-ing hands with Bill Gates and producing New York's biggest social festival in Times Square; make for some inspiring anecdotes about life, struggle, effort and success, that James has taught in some of the world's most prestigious auditoriums, such as Harvard.

Years later he would open myfirstsingle.com, ahead of the current musical reality where single streaming is so predominant, creating a digital platform for musicians to promote their songs. This company achieved 5 million downloads in its debut month and produced the launch release event of Fat Joe's single for J.O.S.E. 2. The loss of the company and a family separation contributed to James’ lack of desire to live. But music provided the motivation to keep chasing his dreams, and at the bottom of his career he came up with an opportunity that would change his life forever.

He is currently co-founder and creative director of 555 Technologies, World Artists United (WAU) and Music Entrepreneur Conference, working with top division athletes, artists and entrepreneurs who have helped and influ- enced him, such as Odell Beckam Jr., Dwyane Wade, Laz Alonso, Avicii, Common, Jason Derulo, Rosario Dawson, Will Smith, among others. The company has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Barcelona, London and China, and holds events in Australia, France, Italy, Costa Rica, Japan and the United States. This year,

Jalen Co-produced the Music Industry Essen- tials program with Yellowbrick.learn for NYU’s Clive Davis Institute for recorded music part-nered with Billboard Magazine.