Joanna Ifrah, Chief Creative Officer (CCO)
Joanna comes to trueAnthem as our Chief Visionary Officer, she is the guiding light and our visionary into this new world of music. Although Joanna Ifrah is in her thirties, she has nearly two decades of music industry experience, achieving this through a combination of drive, intelligence, and a rare instinct for musical excellence. Her track record is enviable for someone of any age.
Since 1991, Joanna has held senior creative jobs at three of the four major record companies. She learned how to navigate the ins and outs of the music business, and helped launch significant careers through forging strong relationships with some of the most successful artists, producers, and songwriters of the past 20 years.
Joanna got her start as an assistant to one of the most senior A&R people at Columbia Records. She was plunged into the record-making world, helping coordinate projects for some of the biggest names in music history, such as: Bob Dylan, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Julio Iglesias, Harry Connick Jr., and Bruce Springsteen.
She was one of the first music executives to see the sales potential in Latin-influenced music, and helped produce two volumes of “Latin Mix” compilations, which earned a Grammy Award. She was promoted to an A&R position at Columbia Records and one of the first projects she took on was the first crossover album by Latin superstar Ricky Martin. This album did more than just break Ricky Martin in the U.S. market. It launched a commercial explosion of Latin pop, and ignited the worldwide hit Joanna had found and brought to the artist “Living La Vida Loca.” The album sold more than 7 million albums in the U.S. alone (more than 17 million worldwide), and was an auspicious beginning to Joanna’s A&R career.
She was one of the first music executives to see the sales potential in Latin-influenced music, and helped produce two volumes of “Latin Mix” compilations, which earned a Grammy Award. She was promoted to an A&R position at Columbia Records and one of the first projects she took on was the first crossover album by Latin superstar Ricky Martin. This album did more than just break Ricky Martin in the U.S. market. It launched a commercial explosion of Latin pop, and ignited the worldwide hit Joanna had found and brought to the artist “Living La Vida Loca.” The album sold more than 7 million albums in the U.S. alone (more than 17 million worldwide), and was an auspicious beginning to Joanna’s A&R career.
Joanna went on to become Senior VP of A&R at London/Sire Records, a division of Warner Brothers. After two years at London/Sire, Joanna was asked to join the new EMI-distributed label S-Curve as Senior VP, A&R. While at S-Curve, she was featured on-camera on the PBS show “Frontline,” discussing the process of A&R, artist development, and marketing new artists.
In 2006, Joanna left the large record companies to form her own management company (Jaded Girl, Inc.) designed to discover new artists, develop talent, and get them signed to major labels. At Jaded Girl, she handled all the day-to-day responsibilities involved in artist and producer management, contract negotiations for recording, publishing, merchandising, and branding deals. She also provided overall guidance for the artists career direction, marketing, press, promotion, legal affairs, booking agents, and retail.
Joanna is currently the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of trueAnthem. Joanna received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Business from New York University.