Justin Rivera was born in Victorville, California, right outside of LA county. When he was a young boy, his family moved to Toms River, New Jersey. Having influences from both the West and East coast gave Justin a well-rounded perspective of American and Western culture. His passion for music and the arts started at a young age when his family realized his talent for singing. Justin grew up singing in choirs and also started to play the guitar at the age of 12. In high school, he participated in musical and dramatic theatre. Justin’s love for the arts continued to flourish. At undergraduate university, Justin studied Music Performance as a vocalist and learned to play piano. His concentration in the music department was in music industry and recording technology. Justin also took on secondary studies in Theatre and Public Relations. After graduating, Justin worked for a local radio station in New Jersey in the promotions department. He later left that job for an opportunity in NYC to work as a project management coordinator for building development. Justin spent two years in that job, but felt disconnected from his passion for music and the arts. Justin began to play small gigs around NYC and realized that he needed to get back into the music business. He began to research different opportunities, and found a master’s program through Berklee College of Music. After being accepted into the graduate program, Justin moved to Valencia, Spain to attend Berklee Valencia. He studied his master’s degree in Global Entertainment and Music Business. His skills include business development, sales, CRM, marketing, management, communications, writing, social media and public relations. Justin focused his graduate studies around digital/strategic marketing and data analytics in the music industry. Also, while at Berklee, he worked on artist development, marketing and managing for different artists at Berklee. Justin’s love for music is an ongoing journey, and he is inspired to become an advocate for the modern music industry. Currently, he has been working on various startup projects and is a DJ who is actively producing music and hosting events.