Man Behind the Media

Troy Carter

Carter has "worked for Sean Combs, the late Notorious B.I.G. and Will Smith, whom he met in his hometown, West Philadelphia, in the late 1980s. Mr. Carter had come through a scrappy childhood, often subsisting, he said, on government-issued cheese. As a teenager, he lugged crates of records for D.J. Jazzy Jeff and Mr. Smith, then known as the Fresh Prince.

Today, as the chief executive of his own management company, the Coalition Media Group, he represents the firm’s talent, including the YouTube sensation Greyson Chance and the Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra. But a great deal of his time is spent with his biggest client, Lady Gaga.

Mr. Carter’s aggressive deal-making, have made Lady Gaga a force on the Web. In May, she became the first Twitter user to reach 10 million followers, edging out the teenage phenomenon Justin Bieber and President Obama. Her Facebook page has 36 million fans. And in the last few weeks she has begun promotional deals with Google, Zynga and Gilt".

Source NYT