Publicist Briahna Gatlin of Swank Publishing chats with musician Peter Jericho at the Black Excellence Music Expo at The Promontory in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood on Aug. 3, 2022. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
“Authentic, spunky, well-connected, transparent, and hard working.”
These are the words Ayesha Jaco, executive director of West Side United, used to describe Briahna Gatlin, CEO and senior publicist at Swank PR/Publishing.
As the creative energy behind the local public relations agency, Gatlin has been helping national names reach local eyes and ears and vice versa for the last 20 years. Names like Raekwon, Lupe Fiasco (who is Jaco’s brother), Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Vic Mensa, King Louie and the Gorillaz have crossed her path since Swank opened in 2006. Her company has also aided brands like Def Jam, Roc Nation, Grey Goose, Zenni and the Chicago Bulls.
This Sunday, Gatlin will be bringing a new festival of her own creation to Garfield Park’s Music Circle Center — the Purple Block Party. Gatlin wants her block party to be something for everyone, where community and music come together.
“Musicians, some cool activations and community organizations will be there,” she said. “I want all the elements of a block party with some bells and whistles.”
Headliners for the Purple Block Party include Jim Jones and Chicago’s Pivot Gang, Baha Banks and DJ Vic Lloyd.
“I wanted to do this block for a long time,” Gatlin said. “I pitched this idea to so many people and then eventually I was like, ‘I just need to do it.’ For me, it’s uncharted territory. The goal is to bring community, culture and Chicago together. The West Side does not have anything like this.”
Jaco said the event is a good thing for the West Side, something accessible for the people who identify with hip hop music the most.
“I think it’s important for us to see a Lollapalooza of sorts in Garfield Park, because typically stuff like that happens downtown or in Union Park … and it’s blocked off and it’s not accessible,” she said. “I know the Riot Fest is also in Douglass Park, but this is one that kind of brings back the vibe there used to be on Madison and California, folks posted up from the South doing blues music festivals impromptu. To see this, it captures the spirit of what folks have always done in these communities. Coming out of a pandemic, it’s something good to see for the West Side.”
Publicist Briahna Gatlin of Swank Publishing, at the Black Excellence Music Expo at The Promontory, Aug. 3, 2022. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Gatlin has always had music as her foundation and because she’s a fan, she knows the local scene like few others. Spending her formative years being reared between Garfield Park and Austin, and visiting family in New York and New Jersey since her teen years, Gatlin has been of the hip hop world, the drill era since she could remember.
She found journalism while attending Providence St. Mel and pursued it through her days at Columbia College. An internship at Vibe Magazine would soon lead her to become a Chicago-based writer for The Source Magazine. Stints as a grant writer; blog writer (her moniker was Chitown’s Hip-Hop Journalist); and founder/editorial director of True Star, an organization that provides on-the-job training programs enabling students to work in media, are all part of her back story.
Those experiences would lead Gatlin to segue into public relations. Having forged relationships with other publicists, and living in the hip hop world as a fan, Gatlin eventually founded Swank with a friend. But what was supposed to be a customized publishing company evolved to include public relations after people would call her for help. Gatlin said Swank’s first client was musician GLC.
“From there it just went,” Gatlin said of the business. “I didn’t come into PR like regular publicists; I came in on the hip hop side. I knew the artists. I was a hip hop journalist. It turned into something that I didn’t know I was creating at the time. I was just passionate about music and I still could get the satisfaction of helping create a narrative for and with the artist, just on the other side.”
Briahna Gatlin of Swank Publishing high-fives her mother, Carol Johnson who works as Gatlin’s project manager, at the Black Excellence Music Expo at The Promontory in Chicago, Aug. 3, 2022. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Gatlin’s work ethic and hip hop connections helped Swank grow from a one-person show to a family business with her mom and other staff. Looking back, Gatlin said doing PR for hip hop artists in a time when many others in Chicago weren’t meant she had to have a certain type of mettle others didn’t. Bigger names had representation, but Gatlin said no one was working with the up-and-comers. She took pride in helping those in hip hop trying to break onto the scene at a time when Chicago had no real music presence.
“My goal was always to make sure that I gave them the opportunity because I didn’t want them to not have it,” Gatlin said. “I was very integral with making sure a lot of these up-and-coming journalists was matching with all these up-and-coming artists. Now everybody has access and everybody’s growing together. And so what happens when everybody’s growing together? Now you’re creating opportunities for even more up-and-comers who want to write or cover these things.”
Gatlin never planned to be an entrepreneur in this space, but she’s been one for the past 20 years. Her connection to the culture, to the Chicago music scene and her desire to provide something for her community has come full circle for her in this Purple Block Party.
“I’m used to taking nothing and making it into something,” Gatlin said. “My connections really did help me develop my brand. The lane that I was in, no one was doing it … New York, L.A., Atlanta, their music scenes were thriving in the ‘90s. Totally different from ours. Every other city that had music was more respected. Back then you had to go to those places in those offices to demand respect.”
She is hoping hundreds, if not thousands show up. Growing up and not having festivals in their neighborhoods, Gatlin says the area needs something like the Purple Block Party.
“It’s about going into these communities and being able to also bring money back into it. But, also giving them that experience,” she said. “I’m a product of the West Side. I’m doing it across from where I went to high school and I’m an entrepreneur that’s investing back into this area. So, I’m excited about not just that part, but excited because, again, it’s a new adventure for me.”
Gatlin may be a publicist for musicians, but that’s not all she is. She is a traveler, an interior designer, and someone who has teaching, living in London, writing a book and learning to DJ on her bucket list.
“This is going to be one of my biggest and major contributions to music,” she said of the Purple Block Party. “I don’t have the music business industry in me like everyone else, but I just want to keep growing.”
“She’s the Chicago girl and everybody’s favorite publicist,” said Dana Anderson, actress, playwright, visual artist and PR professional. “This is a culmination of all the things that matter to her — community, music, entertainment, young people, Black people, the West Side — somebody needs to see that this is possible. Our legacy as Black women in media and entertainment is letting other Black women, young Black people in general, know that it’s possible and that there’s always another level. She does the work. I love that about her.”
Purple Block Party runs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Aug. 28 at Garfield Park, 100 N. Central Park Ave.; tickets start at $25 for children and $55 for adults. For more information visit thepbparty.com
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Copyright © 2022, Chicago Tribune
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