Draft:Karleen Roy

Karleen Roy is a multi-hyphenate media personality and founder and CEO of The Vanity Group. Her company produces customized events for music and celebrity clients and collaborates with entertainment and beauty companies. Roy produces her own annual programs benefiting women, Grit Before the Gram and Owning The Block.

Early Life and Career
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Roy moved to Memphis, Tennessee, when she was eight. She studied at Howard University in Washington, D.C., graduating in 2004 with a degree in sociology and minor in public relations..

Later that year, Roy arrived in New York and began her career in the entertainment industry as an intern at Def Jam Recordings. In 2005, she was hired by Compound Entertainment as an artist management coordinator, where she helped represent American singer-songwriter Ne-Yo. The same year, she joined the Legacy Music division of Sony Music Entertainment as a copyright coordinator.

Roy also volunteered at hip-hop artist company Violator Management in the evenings until, in 2006, she became senior executive assistant to Sean Combs at Bad Boy Entertainment.

The Vanity Group
After a half-decade with Bad Boy, Roy launched The Vanity Group in 2013 in New York City. The company is now based in Los Angeles, California. Among The Vanity Group’s first clients were Rick Ross, Fabolous, and Wale. The company has produced events for clients including Atlantic Records, Cardi B, MMG, Sean Combs, Adrienne Bailon, Common, Def Jam, Idris Elba, Migos, Warner Music, Ne-Yo, Zac Posen, and YouTube.

In 2020, Roy launched an e-learning online platform called The Event Academy, an educational resource for event professionals to improve their skills. She has offered advice on event planning in publications such as Black Enterprise, Essence , Refinery29 and GQ

Music Industry and Television Work
Vanity Group events for music industry clients:
 * In 2016, the 40th birthday of Rick Ross was held at the rapper’s 109-room Atlanta, Georgia, estate for about 500 guests.

Music industry programs and awards: Television and cable collaborations:
 * In 2017, the Paris wedding of singer/actress Adrienne Bailon to Israel Houghton was held in a ballroom. It was photographed by Mon Conte e Fées, and the bride wore a Walter Mendez gown.
 * In 2018, about 40 people gathered in Atlanta for a baby shower for Cardi B and husband Offset in Atlanta. The Bronx-themed event featured a recreation of the rapper’s Bronx neighborhood complete with subway car replicas, a bodega, and the hip-hop group Orchestra Noi.
 * In 2019, Roy launched Owning The Block, an empowerment experience for ambitious millennials and members of Gen Z in Memphis. A second Owning The Block program was held in October 2022.
 * In January 2020, Roy conceived and implemented the first annual Grit Before the Gram in Los Angeles, California. The event honored black women of the music industry, and took place before the Grammy Awards.
 * The women recognized were Beyoncé publicist Yvette Noel-Schure who received the Bridge Award, and Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Nija Charles, who was given the Spotlight Award.
 * The inaugural Alliance committee, which serves as the host committee includes, creative director and choreographer Laurieann Gibson; Motown Records president Ethiopia Habtemariam; Roc Nation co-president Shari Bryant; Atlantic Records Executive Vice President of urban promotion Juliette Jones; Interscope Records head of media strategy Cara Donatto; Quality Control Music’s Simone Mitchell; Compound Entertainment marketing executive Afrika Lander; and LL Cool J Inc. COO Claudine Joseph.
 * Partnership with WW for a wellness journey, appearing on a WW commercial
 * Spokesperson for WW on The Real
 * Appearance on Showtime series with Desus & Mero
 * Feature appearance in a national TJ Maxx commercial for a Maxx Swap

Awards
In 2021, Roy was named to Ulta Beauty's list of Culture Creators as part of the company's MUSE 100.