“I love what I do,” says Krista Starzynski Mettler (ABJ ’89), who lives and works in Fanwood, New Jersey, a small town near New York City. “I get to talk to people about music all day!”
Although not yet 40, Mettler is already a veteran music publicist, with 16 years of experience providing editorial services, media relations and graphic design for a host of independent bands. She spent five years at RCA, working with such artists as the Dave Matthews Band, Bruce Hornsby and The Smithereens. Then she moved to Universal Records, where for four years she worked with Sister Hazel, Godsmack, Oleander, 98 Degrees, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and others.
“I’ve always been a huge music fan,” Mettler says. “I think it was predestined that I work in the music industry.”
In 2000, she launched her own company, Skye Media, with Universal as her first client. Promoting bands is a sales job, she says, “even though I never think of myself as a sales person.”
The music industry has shifted in recent years, Mettler says, with the independent record labels faring better than the big names. She has been able to work with different types of bands, including The Tragically Hip, Steve Wynn, Richard Lloyd, Michael McDermott, Kevin Hearn, Cowboy Mouth and the Ike Reilly Assassination.
“There are times when I think what I do is pretty darn cool,” she says. “Stuff like going to countless concerts, meeting very cool musicians, being backstage at tapings of late-night network TV shows and even walking the red carpet at the American Music Awards. But a lot of my job is details such as setting up press interviews and getting out mailings for clients’ tours, so it’s not nearly as glamorous as one would think.”
Mettler now uses online outlets to promote her clients. “Blogs and podcasts are as important as print media these days,” she says. “Bands also break out on such popular sites as MySpace and YouTube. It’s an exciting time to be in the industry.”
Two years ago, Mettler began a second, quite different, career—digitally designing scrapbook kits. The work combines her interests in graphic design and crafting. Using Photoshop “brushes” to create layers of images and a variety of textures in her designs, she creates collage-like pages or papers that are virtual works of art.
At first she sold her creations at online scrapbooking consignment shops, but then she set up her own business, dubbed Skye Scrapz, to market them. Mettler has also become a blogger, which has helped her scrapbooking business.
“People read my blog and often buy what I make,” says Mettler, whose blog registers between 800 and 2,000 hits a day. “I have a global customer base, but I don’t do the designs for the money. It’s my warm and fuzzy outlet. Playing with color and visuals is my solace. It feeds my soul!”
Mettler works at home while her husband, Mike, the editor of Sound & Vision magazine, commutes to his office in New York. She admits she’s “amazed at where I am” and attributes her communication skills and passion for what she does to her “great education” at the Grady College.
“Somehow I’ve ended up doing two jobs that I would have never imagined doing when I was at UGA,” she says. “It’s weird how life works sometimes.”
