Ad Age is marking Black History Month 2023 with our third-annual Honoring Creative Excellence package. (Read the introduction here.) Today, our guest editor Billy Porter turns the spotlight to Vivian Scott Chew, founding partner of event production/management company Chew Entertainment and founder of marketing firm TimeZone International. (Visit our package hub each weekday for a new essay from another notable Black creative.)

“Vivian is inspirational and transformational,” says Porter. “She is on a mission to release the healing properties of music to make lives better—individually and collectively. She is a force of nature.”

Here, Chew shares her thoughts about the power of music—and the inspiration for the “Night of Inspiration” concert series at Carnegie Hall.

I was raised in the Black Baptist church where music was an important part of our Sunday service. It was there that I discovered my love for music. It touched my soul in a way that no other medium did. I knew very early in life that music was a part of my DNA. I literally could not live without it.

Music, mentorship and some magic are constants in my career trajectory. I have been very fortunate in having several mentors who nurtured me along my journey as I held positions in various areas of the music industry—publishing, record labels, artist management and even international marketing. But it wasn’t until I entered the live music event and production arena that I had my magical “aha moment.”

There I was, standing in the wings of the Apollo Theater watching a concert that my husband, Ray Chew, then Apollo’s music director, was producing together with the late, great Jessye Norman. The show ended with a powerful rendition of a song that has always brought me to tears, “Total Praise,” written by Maestro Richard Smallwood. As I looked into the audience, I saw a beautiful mosaic of people representing every demographic of New York City’s population. In them, I saw the physical manifestation of the truest, deepest emotions that music evokes within us. And in that moment, it became crystal clear: This was my calling—to offer this gift to the world.

Not long after, alongside Ray, I presented our first “Night of Inspiration” at Carnegie Hall. This innovative evening brings together artists from different musical genres, spoken word and dance to perform on the magnificent Carnegie stage along with a 64-piece orchestra and a 150-voice multicultural choir. “Night of Inspiration” revitalized the way this iconic venue serves New York’s diverse communities, raising awareness and attracting new audiences. Last December marked our fourth iteration of this concert, a production I rank among my finest. In response to enthusiastic audiences and sponsors who want to connect with this experience, we will be continuing at Carnegie Hall while also expanding the brand throughout the U.S. and globally. 

The power of music cannot be denied. I know this not only as a marketer but also as an end-of-life doula. In my practice, I use music to comfort my patients as I have the honor of sharing their last months, weeks, days and sometimes intimate last moments. Research has proven that music is a medicine, capable of activating more parts of the brain than any other stimulus. In fact, the part of our brain that stores music-related memories is the last part to be touched by memory loss.

What a beautiful thought to know the gift of music lives within us throughout our entire lives. And what a beautiful gift I have been given to have been “chosen” as an instrument, of sorts—orchestrating opportunities to bring audiences together for inspirational experiences like no other.