Much of the music business is built away from the stage.

While artists, producers and record executives often receive the attention, a large part of the work required to sustain a music career takes place behind the scenes. Tours have to be organised, publicity campaigns coordinated, content delivered, venues managed and relationships with promoters and media maintained.

For Chinenye Mbakwe, those responsibilities have become the centre of her work in the United Kingdom’s music and entertainment industry.

Mbakwe is a media executive and Tour & Artist Operations Manager whose work covers artist management, publicity, content, live events and audience engagement. Her route into the industry began in a relatively different role.

In 2024, she joined Great Adamz’s team as a backing vocalist while also contributing to content around the artist’s work. Her involvement gradually moved beyond performance and content into the operational side of the artist’s career.

She now serves as Tour & Artist Operations Manager for Great Adamz & The 99 Band in collaboration with Radikal Records.

The transition has placed her in a role that requires different parts of an artist’s operation to work together. Music releases, media appearances, promotional campaigns, digital content, performances and event logistics all need to be coordinated if an artist’s activities are to run effectively.

For Mbakwe, that has meant working across several of those areas rather than concentrating on a single function.

Her work around Great Adamz has included artist operations, publicity, content coordination, live-event delivery and promotional activities. The campaigns have taken place alongside the growth of the artist’s music, including the Blessed Boy project, which the supplied figures put at more than 15 million cumulative streams across platforms, as well as placements on hundreds of Spotify playlists and individual releases recording notable streaming figures.

Those numbers provide an indication of the scale of the campaigns, but they do not fully describe the operational work behind them.

Mbakwe’s responsibilities have included coordinating content across digital platforms, linking publicity activity with wider campaigns and helping ensure that the practical demands of an artist’s schedule remain aligned with their public-facing work.

That combination has become increasingly relevant as artists operate across more platforms and audiences. A release campaign may involve streaming services, social media, interviews, live performances and promotional events, with each element requiring its own planning while still forming part of the same campaign.

Expanding beyond one artist

Mbakwe’s professional work has also extended into projects involving other Nigerian artists.

One example is the UK promotional campaign surrounding Erigga and Eeskay’s North & South project. Mbakwe worked on promotional activities and media content, supported campaign logistics and hosted the official UK album listening party.

Her involvement in the listening event illustrates the breadth of her role. Rather than remaining entirely behind the scenes, she also took on responsibility for presenting the programme, introducing performers and engaging with the audience.

That combination of operational and public-facing responsibilities has become a recurring feature of her work.

It places her somewhere between several established industry functions. She operates in artist management and tour coordination, but also works in publicity, media and live entertainment. The overlap allows her to move between planning a campaign and participating in its public execution.

Her work on the Erigga campaign also placed her within the UK promotional activity surrounding an artist with an established Nigerian audience. Erigga is a multi-award-winning rapper and won Best Rap Album at the 2025 Headies Awards.

For Mbakwe, projects of this nature represent an expansion of her professional portfolio beyond her work with Great Adamz.

Building a community through Hearts & Harmony

Another part of Mbakwe’s work has focused on live entertainment and community building.

She was involved in the development of Hearts & Harmony, a Northampton concert delivered alongside Great Adamz. The event was positioned around Valentine’s Day and sought to create a local platform for Afrobeats and related sounds while bringing artists and audiences together.

Mbakwe’s role extended beyond coordinating the event. She hosted the concert, introduced performers, guided the programme and interacted with the audience during the show.

The event also brought together people working across different areas of the creative economy, including musicians, dancers, photographers, videographers, promoters, hospitality businesses and media professionals. Emerging performers were given an opportunity to appear before an audience, while Northampton residents had access to a live event centred on Afrobeats and other musical influences.

For Mbakwe, the significance of such a project lies in what happens around the performance itself.

Live events can create opportunities for a range of creative workers, from performers and production teams to photographers, media practitioners and hospitality businesses. They can also help artists develop audiences and build relationships that continue after an event has ended.

The longer-term prospects of Hearts & Harmony will depend on whether it can develop beyond an individual concert and maintain a consistent audience and network of creative professionals. For now, however, the project forms part of Mbakwe’s growing involvement in creating platforms as well as managing existing artist activities.

Recognition for a growing portfolio

Mbakwe’s expanding responsibilities have also been recognised through industry awards.

She received the Best Artist Manager of the Year award at the 2026 DAC Awards, in recognition of her work in artist operations, tour management and live-event delivery. She was also named Media Personality of the Year at the 2026 Golden Stars Awards for her work in entertainment media and the creative industries.

The awards provide recognition, although they are only one measure of professional development. More significant is the range of responsibilities attached to Mbakwe’s work, which now covers artist operations, publicity, media, live events and campaign coordination.

Her career is therefore developing across several connected areas of the entertainment business rather than within a single job function.

Looking towards artist development

The next phase of Mbakwe’s career could bring another shift in emphasis.

Her stated ambitions include moving further into artist development and A&R through her relationship with Radikal Records. Her work with 99PLUZ Media Ltd also provides an avenue for involvement in artist discovery, publicity, media production and opportunities for other creatives.

These interests are closely connected to the work she is already doing.

Artist operations can reveal the practical needs of performers. Publicity can help shape how their work reaches audiences. Media can provide platforms for storytelling and exposure, while live events can create direct connections between artists and audiences.

The challenge will be translating experience gained through individual campaigns and artist relationships into a broader and sustainable professional platform.

Mbakwe remains an emerging figure in the music industry, and it is too early to determine the eventual scale of her influence. Her career has nevertheless moved beyond the role in which she first entered the sector.

What began with backing vocals and content support has developed into a broader involvement in artist operations, publicity, live entertainment and media.

The trajectory points to a professional increasingly interested in the infrastructure around music as much as the music itself. Whether that develops into a larger role in artist development, A&R or creative industry management will depend on the projects and partnerships that follow.

For now, her work offers a useful example of the growing range of professional roles required to support artists operating between Nigeria and the UK, particularly as music careers increasingly depend on the coordination of live events, digital platforms, media and audience development.