Rock The Bells, LL COOL J’s global direct-to-consumer brand that serves as the preeminent voice for classic and timeless Hip-Hop, today announced several new hires to support the continued expansion of its consumer products, content and experiential offerings to partners. The newest hires to join the Rock The Bells executive roster include Tracey Smith, Head of Talent, Richard Morris, VP of Commerce, Malcolm Simpson, VP of Marketing, Frantz Cayo, Head of Content, Alex Grant, VP of Sales, Josephine Palermo, Product Designer, and Mary Almonte, Director of Social Media and Digital Marketing.

This latest round of hires comes on the heels of a successful Series A funding round in which Rock The Bells raised $8M. The round was led by Raine Ventures. Additional investors in the round include M13, Willoughby Capital Holdings, Workday Co-CEO Aneel Bhusri, Jerry Yang (founding partner of AME Cloud Ventures & co-founder of Yahoo!), and Charles Phillips (Managing Partner of Recognize and former President of Oracle). Existing investors who participated in this round include Redpoint Ventures, Glenn Hutchins, and Harris Barton Asset Management. Paul Rosenberg, President of Shady Records and CEO of Goliath Artists and Goliath Records, and 3x NBA Champion Andre Iguodala also participated in the round.

Earlier this year, Rock The Bells appointed former BET executive James Cuthbert as President to oversee the growth of the company. In June, the company extended the brand beyond its successful SiriusXM radio channel with the launch of a new multi-platform destination dedicated to celebrating, honoring, and preserving timeless and classic Hip-Hop through a modern lens.

“Our new hires represent some of the most diverse and talented industry execs with a deep knowledge and passion for Hip Hop culture. I am beyond excited to welcome them to the team and look forward to working hand in hand to accelerate the growth and vision of Rock The Bells,” said James Cuthbert, President of Rock The Bells.

New Rock The Bells staff members include:

Tracey Smith, Head of Talent

• Tracey comes to Rock The Bells with over 20 years of experience and success in storytelling, creating partnerships with entertainment focused brands and pop culture celebrity talent. Most recently, Tracey served as the Talent Producer for the CDC campaign You Will See Me which encourages the African American community to wear their masks to slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus and included notable talent such as Viola Davis, Simone Biles, Questlove, Stephen A. Smith and LaLa Anthony.

Richard Morris, VP of Commerce

• Rich joins us from ViacomCBS Consumer Products (CP) where he spent nearly 16 years building brands and IP into revenue-generating CP franchise powerhouses. He built and executed the first-ever BET CP launch and was responsible for architecting the go-to-market strategy around Darryl McDaniels’s (DMC of RunDMC) animated character, Little Darryl. Under his various leadership roles at ViacomCBS, Rich is credited with delivering on some of CP’s biggest trade moments including the Global Licensing Show and Global Partner Summits and growing the Global Home Entertainment business making it  the most profitable within the Consumer Products organization.

Malcolm Simpson, VP of Marketing

• Malcolm has spent over 15 years in challenging marketing roles throughout his career with IHG Hotels and Resorts, Kellogg Company, General Mills, and Johnson & Johnson. Malcolm has worked on some of America’s most iconic brands like MorningStar Farms, Pringles, Keebler Cookies, Betty Crocker, Totino’s Pizza Rolls and Johnson’s Baby Shampoo.  Malcolm has turned around declining brands, developed business diving  global marketing campaigns and launched category first innovations.  Prior to his marketing career Malcolm was a Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers leading engagement teams tasked with delivering audited financial statements for clients in the automotive, education and home improvement industries.

Frantz Cayo, Head of Content

• Storyteller, producer, and entertainment executive Frantz Cayo has built and created content and entertainment platforms for consumers across generations over his 20 year career in the entertainment industry. Prior to joining Rock The Bells, Frantz worked for major brands such as MLB Advanced Media, ESPN, Red Bull, AfroPunk, BET, and Fox Soul. Most recently, Frantz was the Executive Producer of the BET Experience, a preeminent African-American cultural festival for multi-generational consumers. There, he oversaw the production of Celebrity Basketball Games, Genius Talk shows with high level celebrities, and the amplification of content over multiple media and social platforms.

Alex Grant, VP of Sales

• Alex comes to Rock The Bells with over 20 years of experience. His efforts and leadership have been instrumental in building the monetization foundation of some of the world’s most successful consumer internet and media startups. Alex founded the Chicago offices for both Twitter and Snap, hired the teams and built revenue from $0 to 9 figures prior to successful public offerings (2013 and 2017 respectively).  His work with Gatorade while at Snap earned a Grand Clio in 2016 and two Gold Clio’s in 2017.  Most recently Alex designed, recruited and built the Brand Partnerships business as the Head of Global Sales at Overtime Sports.  As the first commercial employee, Alex led the team through its initial explosive growth and groundbreaking partnerships with Converse, Gatorade, EA, Nike, McDonalds, Milk PEP, Boost Mobile and countless others. His work created the foundation for the recently announced Series C valuing the company at over $250 million.

Josephine Palermo, Product Designer

• Josephine is a product specialist with strong knowledge of current market trends and an analytical ability to interpret past successes to drive company growth in today’s market while maintaining brand integrity. She comes to Rock The Bells with over 20 years of experience at top global brands including Yeezy, Tommy Hilfiger, Armani Exchange, Guess Inc., Lucky Brand and GAP.

Mary Almonte, Director of Social Media and Digital Marketing

• Mary joins RTB with over a decade of leadership experience in the digital industry across entertainment, news and pop culture.  Mary has led amazing work at Emmis Communications (Hot 97/WBLS and other national radio stations) where she grew their social audience and activated that audience to sell out the record breaking Summer Jam 2017.  Mary also led the team that won a Clio award for amazing insight driven work on Global Citizen in 2016.

ABOUT ROCK THE BELLS
Rock The Bells is the preeminent voice for classic and timeless Hip-Hop. Founded in 2018 by LL COOL J Rock The Bells focuses on content, commerce and experiences that honor the CULTURE and the core elements of Hip-Hop — MC’s, DJ’s, Breakers, Graffiti Artists — and more. Rock The Bells is the bridge between OG’s and those inspired by their groundbreaking influences on the culture. Visit us at www.rockthebells.com , stream  LL COOL J’s Rock The Bells Radio on SiriusXM Channel 43 and follow us @RockTheBells – keep it locked.