Since Rachel created Scarlet River Management it has continued to grow and expand. So much so, Rachel is now not the only one involved. We thought it was about time we introduced you all to the amazing women behind Scarlet River Management; who they are, what they do and how they got here.
To kick things off we have the girl boss herself, Miss Rachel Sellick. Everybody already knows how impressive she is, how much she does for everyone else and how active she is within the Country Music community in the UK but, how much do you know about her life outside all of that? Or her plans for the future?
Rachel grew up in Bridgend, about 30 minutes minutes away from Cardiff in South Wales. She was raised by her parents and has two younger siblings, one brother and one sister. Growing up, her life revolved around sport and a little music. Her musical talent (we have all heard her lend her vocals to Emilia Quinn’s 'Girl Talk' and Ben Selleck’s 'Soul Food') she accredits to her Dad as he is a wonderful singer. She adds "my mum is a very good cook though….",
Although life is now very musical, this was not always the case, only singing in choirs within church. In school Rachel was very focused on her sports clubs. This followed her into university too where she studied Anatomy & Human Biology at The University of Liverpool. She chose Anatomy due to her dislike of plant based biology and figured there was no chance of having to work with plants while studying the human body! Before leaving Liverpool, Rachel undertook her Masters degree in Biomedical Sciences & Translational Medicine. Once completed she moved back to Wales, landing in Chepstow. She started as a research assistant in the Brain Repair Group for Neurodegenerative disease at Cardiff University. This helped inspire her to start doing her PHD in October 2020.
Despite her incredible academic accomplishments, Rachel is always looking to learn more, citing that "you are never going to be the smartest person in the room, there is always something to learn or something you can teach". Rachel has always enjoyed teaching and tutoring young people. During the summer she helped teach core science to young adults (16-18 years old) - a course that focuses on helping those from underprivileged backgrounds who would not normally have the opportunities and experience to apply for university.. This experience inspired Rachel to apply to a one year education fellowship programme alongside her PHD which she will start in 2022.
When she is not running Scarlet River or doing her PHD, you will find Rachel playing Hockey, and sometimes working at her local Restaurant. One question Rachel always gets asked is “How did you get into the country Music Scene” well…
During her third year of university, she travelled down to C2C where she met a bunch of artists and musicians who were interested in releasing music within the Country Music genre, a genre which was just taking flight in the UK back then. Due to her history with science and methodology, she always found herself to be very good with organisational skills and felt like this was something she could really help with. As they were getting more and more attention, life got very hectic with organising tours and shows across the UK and the US but, it also made her realise this was something she could do and be very good at. Despite the accomplishments she achieves within the industry she has no intention of giving up on science.
Rachel wanted to create a company that would enable her to help more independent artists release music within the UK the way they wanted to, with a focus on helping their vision come to life.
So, how did Scarlet River Management get its name?
'Scarlet' came from Rachel really liking the name, thinking it as a very strong, vibrant colour and now the company has all women on board she feels it is even stronger. 'River' came from a chat with her driving instructor, who suggested 'two rivers', living in Chepstow and being sandwiched near the River Wye and the River Severn. She really liked the thought of using river, thus creating Scarlet River Management.
The main objective for Scarlet River Management is to help artists enhance their careers in the way they want to. Being focused on making sure the artist's vision comes to life the way they want, at the pace they want. During lockdown this extended into PR and social media as a way to help as many artists as possible, creating tailored packages to meet the needs and budgets of everyone.
So, what about future goals?
Rachel’s main goals for Scarlet River are to expand opportunities for artists within the UK and abroad. Providing more opportunities within the UK for reach and media to mainstream markets, she wants to promote artists outside of the UK (if they are interested) and branch to non-genre specific outlets. Scarlet River will always be accessible to more people as the artist base grows, as will the PR services and opportunities. Scarlet River will always stay loyal to independent artists however, Rachel wants to enhance growth and media reach for upcoming artists and those further in their careers.
Another goal for Scarlet River is to provide opportunities for artists outside of the UK in the form of live shows, in order to promote their music, although the longer term goal is to have a Scarlet River branch in the UK, USA and Europe.
Even with these future goals for the company, Rachel still has many things she wishes to achieve elsewhere. Always looking in the short-term to make goals easier to reach, Rachel is always working hard and looking for that next opportunity. She likes to build on what she did yesterday, whether that is in her PHD, Fitness or Music. Right now her goals are to hone in on her craft and knowledge within the music industry, graduate her PHD and publish papers within the field.
With many ideas and plans in motion for Scarlet River we can certainly say it's going to be a busy year.
Rachel’s specialties:
● Media liaison
● PR release strategy
● Running the business
Connect with Rachel on social media:
@rachelmsellick
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