Trinidadian-born Natasha Andrews moved to New York in 1995, where she pursued a modeling career and a degree in digital media arts.
In 1998, she turned her attention to the Caribbean music industry. Under her management, the 12-member soca band, Cloud IX, then one of the youngest and most popular groups in New York, toured the United States and Trinidad and Tobago.
Soca artiste Postman independently released Andrews’ first album, which sold more than 5,000 copies.
In 2005, Andrews started Mastamind Productions, a music production and consulting company, with award-winning producer/composer Shawn Mastamind Noel.
In 2008, she became ill with ovarian cancer, but she never slowed down.
Andrews used her knowledge of the Caribbean music industry to counsel Caribbean artiste residing in U.S. pro bono to help jump start their careers.
Under her management, Mastamind Productions has released more than 30 albums, including several parang albums, becoming one of first people to release soca, parang, and soca parang music digitally on iTunes and many other digital stores.
She then went to work with JW Records Inc. and digitized their entire catalog of music.
Specializing in developing new talent in the Caribbean music industry, Andrews is a key advisor to many musical artistes.
She has worked with Young Voice, Ms. Alysha, Yung Fire, Ricardo Drue and Leon Coldero, among others. She now manages Shawn Mastamind Noel, Naki, and Lyrikal.
Andrews sits on the board of the Caribbean American Center of New York (CACNY), which provides economic, educational, trade and skills training, as well as social and other humanitarian programs for youth. She is also a member of the West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA).
HOME COUNTRY:
Trinidad and Tobago
EDUCATION:
TCI College, studied Digital Media Arts;
OCCUPATION:
Senior book production editor at John Wiley and Sons Inc.
PERSON I ADMIRE MOST:
Admires “quite a few people, so it’s hard to pick one. However I will mention Jean Alexander, director of the Caribbean American Center of NY. I do not know too many people who work has hard as she does. She is always willing to help others and makes every effort to keep the Caribbean culture alive.”
