Elaine Huang founded Neon Owl, a music community and artist collective with a deep focus on philanthropy. Since its inception in March 2015, Neon Owl has covered everything, from sharing stories to showcasing talent to sparking meaningful conversations while supporting charities worldwide. In late 2017, Elaine also launched Open Door Sessions, a series of events curated to bring the music community together while helping artists get discovered, heard, and signed. Since then, Open Door Sessions has expanded to cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Denver, and Atlanta, as well as holding a steady presence in the virtual space spanning its impact for artists and creatives around the world. Neon Owl has also partnered with festivals like Groove Cruise and clubs across the states to bring the community together to connect, create, and collaborate.

They have had artists like Habstrakt, BIJOU, Trivecta, Blanke, MaRLo, Andrew Rayel, Blastoyz, Gem & Tauri, Haliene, GENIX, Sacha Robotti, Gene Farris, BEAUZ, Nostalgix, and many more to share their knowledge with aspiring artists. They have also had brands like Groove Cruise, Create Music Group, Brownies & Lemonade, Billboard Dance, Ultra Publishing, 1015 Folsom, District (ATL), Anjunabeats, and Northern Nights Music Festival, to name a few participate in these series of events since Open Door Sessions' inception six years ago. Countless tracks have been signed through these events, and many bookings for artists, including some artists' first club and festival gigs. You can usually expect some form of philanthropic component to most events curated by Neon Owl, such as raising money for causes ranging from animal rescues, mental health awareness, and children in need to other important social issues happening around the world.

Neon Owl talks to 6AM as it nears its nine-year mark this coming March, it has established itself as an inclusive community focused on bringing the music community closer while continuing to create a significant impact in and outside the music industry. Soon, you can expect Neon Owl to take its live events and initiatives overseas to further its mission of "Dance. Give. Inspire."

 

Hi Elaine! Thanks for talking too 6AM. Can you share the story of how Neon Owl started and how it has evolved over the years? What were the key milestones in your journey?

Ooof.. this may be the longest part of the story, haha. Neon Owl was something that started in a very short amount of time from the moment I conceptualized it, to the moment I filed for the business, which also led to me quitting my job right after. However, I felt like there were more than a few life events that led me to that point. I had always loved music ever since I was a child, but growing up, I never thought I had any sort of musical talents to pursue any sort of career in it. I didn’t have the voice for singing and I never stuck to any sort of instrument I tried. My passions leaned towards entrepreneurship and philanthropy. I thought I wanted to work in the nonprofit sector and / or become a business person of some sort. In my early 20s, I was working at a painting, construction and renewable energy company, learning from the best of the best in business and thinking I’d start something of my own “one day”. Around that time, my brother Ray invited me to my first EDC. Having listened to dance music here and there, I didn’t know what to expect. But when I entered the festival for the first time, I felt something different: the vibe, the energy, the way people were treating one another with peace, love, unity, and respect. I went to countless festivals after that because that experience was unlike any other event I had been to of other musical genres. I know it’s kind of cheesy, but I felt like that type of acceptance, kindness and freedom was something I hadn’t experienced elsewhere before. I knew that while some people went in celebration, others also went to escape their 9-5s. There was often a gloomy melancholy when the festival came to its end for some of my friends, and I remembered thinking that it would be really nice to replicate this feeling beyond the festival walls. As I went to more and more festivals, I had realized something: that DJs had so much power and influence over their fans with the music they made and played out at these shows. Yet unlike their pop and hip hop star counterparts, they often did not take the spotlight or speak out too much in public. I wonder what it would look like to one day be able to bring artists, fans, and events together to make a difference in the world.

A couple years into raving, I was going through a pretty dark period in my personal life. I was seeking change. Despite work being great and prosperous, and my Chinese parents finally being proud of my trajectory, I felt a certain type of hollowness inside. I was constantly seeking ways to improve myself and get out of my rut. At the time, I was considering changing industries. I had toured a bunch of nonprofits in New York City, but found that all the rules and regulations within the nonprofit world would just mean that I’d be another cog in the machine. In February 2015, I joined an entrepreneurial mastermind program with Lewis Howes filled with business owners in hopes that I could find inspiration to launch an idea, business, or community of my own. The concept  of Neon Owl had already been floating in my head, but being a part of that mastermind solidified it for me. I went to my brother Ray about what I wanted to start, and he heard me out. He said it sounded like a nice idea, but wondered how I was going to make that happen considering we were just ravers who didn’t know a single DJ and music business owner in real life (except maybe being memorable fans of Andrew Rayel). I told him that with my passion, resilience, and background in sales, we were going to make it happen somehow. I told him that I could just start cold calling DJs and founders to ask them for interviews and get to know them beyond just their music and the business. I wanted to know what drove them, what inspired them to pursue this less-beaten path, and the causes that were close to their hearts. Then eventually we would maybe collaborate on something like charity merchandise and shows to raise money for non-profits around the world! As wide-eyed as that seemed, that’s exactly what I did. We got incorporated in March of 2015 and I started cold calling for interviews. My first three interviews were: Party Favor, Somna, and Ben Nicky. We grew our community as a music media platform through telling inspiring stories, and through our passion for giving back. We sold charity merchandise and even threw some charity shows that barely generated any profits at the end to donate.

We kept plugging along and built up a decent name for ourselves in the music industry, developing more partnerships such as having Andrew Rayel as our first charity line merch ambassador with the #RayelFamily merch as well as festivals like Groove Cruise.

After a few years of immersing ourselves in the music industry, we evolved to an artist development platform with some accidental intention. Outside of our more well-known collaborations, I had met a ton of aspiring artists and those who had been at it for a while, still trying to catch their break in music. I had learned how challenging it was to navigate the path of an artist trying to make it, from knowing the right things to do to getting in front of the right people to talk to. I had heard so many discouraging stories of artists never being able to get a track signed, lack of responses, along with a series of things that I felt I could potentially have a hand in helping through the relationships we had built. I used to bring a bunch of random folks together in music to have lunch or coffee, and the only friend they had in common happened to be me. Each time, some sort of synchronicity, connection, and collaboration would stem from those meetups. Whether it was working on tracks together, or helping one another get tracks signed, I always felt that those meetups were super productive. Having found some successes helping out this amazing duo I discovered back in the first year of Neon Owl named BEAUZ, I eventually worked with my other friend Medii to help them get signed to Trap Nation. That was their first major release, and they were over the moon. I remember thinking that there were a ton more hopeful, hardworking, talented and often introverted artists to help! I decided that it would be amazing to spread that love out to artists who weren’t necessarily within my inner circle, but could use the community and support just as much. That was when I decided to curate a series of music industry networking events, panel talks and demo listening parties called Open Door Sessions.

Since Open Door Session’s inception over 6 years ago, we have hosted countless events in major music cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Las Vegas, and Denver. We have also partnered with festivals like Groove Cruise along with clubs like 1015 Folsom (San Francisco), Larimer Lounge (Denver) and District (Atlanta). During the pandemic, we also launched our virtual series, allowing people from all over the world to tune in, and therefore growing our community exponentially in ways that I could not have imagined before COVID. 

From our virtual events, we saw more and more of a demand for a platform like ours, and our regular attendees started asking for more coaching, sessions, networking, and resources to forward their artist projects. We realized that by creating a community and never asking for anything in return, there ended up being a demand for something more. So ironically, this time during the pandemic was also the first time we ever made money from giving our community more of what they wanted. We had launched our first paid program called The Mastermind, which was created for artists ready and committed to take their artist journeys to the next level. The program comes with learning the different moving parts of the music business, goal setting, accountability, coaching, demo listening parties and networking with different industry guests each week. It has been amazing to see each one of their growth, from seeing those with no releases to a large discography, or going from releasing independently or on smaller labels to landing bigger and bigger ones. It has also been extremely rewarding to see those who have never played shows to now spinning at some of the biggest clubs across the US and landing festivals.

We are currently working on launching a few additional projects this year in 2024. I won’t share too much until it’s almost ready, but these will definitely be initiatives created to serve more artists. 

Now that Neon Owl is coming up on 9 years old in March, I can honestly tell you about our mission of “DANCE. GIVE. INSPIRE.” has stayed the same. The route to get there may have diversified, but our culture has not changed. We thought we were just going to spew good vibes into the universe through inspirational content, selling T-Shirts and throwing charity shows that flopped. Our content ended up inspiring many people to go after their dreams, whether that was quitting their job they hated to pursue their real passions, or encouraging artists to not give up on their path. Eventually we ended up working with some of our favorite DJs and festivals on some really cool charity fundraising efforts, which led to us being able to help thousands and counting of aspiring artists all over the world. I would have never imagined that this would be the outcome of a girl who felt like there was music in her heart but no musical talent. So although I have an idea of where we will be in ten years, I know that I am always down to pivot for as long as it's true to what Neon Owl is and we continue to serve and inspire. 

 

What is the core mission of Neon Owl, and how do you ensure that your activities align with your values? How do you measure the impact of your work?

I hope that my super long answer to question #1 kind of answer to this question already. So I promise the rest of my answers will be much shorter and more concise =P

Our core mission is to “DANCE. GIVE. INSPIRE.”

It’s super simple. We’re all about having fun and spreading positivity. Whether that’s the positivity of music, which is the language that connects us all. Or the power of giving back, through our fundraising and charity initiatives. We have done countless fundraisers for causes ranging from the fight on hunger, clean water, breast cancer, mental health awareness, animal rescues, funding music programs, to more current events such as the war in Ukraine. There is really no cause, action, or impact too small. There have been times that we have raised over $12,000 for a cause through our charity streams, and other times that we literally end up with barely $200 profits to donate from an event that did poorly or a batch of merchandise that didn’t sell too well. We still make sure that a portion of everything goes back to a good cause, because I’m a believer that if you are not able to give away 10% when you make a thousand dollars, you are definitely not giving away 10% when you make a million or billion. We also approach our community and culture the same way. We welcome everyone with open arms, and when you come to our events you will sense that there are no egos. By coming from a place of service, we breed a different culture. There is a culture of paying it forward, giving back, and giving first before asking for something in return. That has seemed to work out pretty well as we managed to grow our community outward from where we once were. 

Neon Owl uniquely bridges the gap between music and philanthropy. How do you approach this intersection, and what challenges have you faced in combining these two worlds?

I have covered a good amount of this in the answers above, but we have definitely faced many challenges. 

First is that I had never treated Neon Owl as a “business” from the get-go. This is probably super horrible business advice, but I started Neon Owl as a passion project. We were technically a registered business operating as an LLC, which was great… except we weren’t bringing in much money. I funded 100% of everything myself. Since we weren’t a 501c3 either, it wasn’t the easiest to ask for money. So let’s just say that the first 6-7 years, I ran on empty. Luckily, I was blessed enough to have other consulting and coaching gigs on the side that paid the bills and funded my passion project, but it was always challenging to try to create maximum impact with minimal resources. I believe that everything was 10x harder because of the lack of knowledge, mentorship, and finances on top of being in the music industry, which is a financially risky industry to choose to begin with. So despite quitting my job and going 100% all in on Neon Owl, I cannot say that quitting your job cold turkey and having no money saved in the bank account is the best way to go about pursuing your dreams. The stress of it may make you want to quit. I was just too stubborn to give up, and managed to finally get out of the red a couple of years ago to be able to invest more back into what we do. Despite no longer being in the red (let’s say somewhere in the yellow now), a bigger brand and bigger name also brings bigger problems and bigger expenses. It takes a lot of effort and resources to get any campaign going or to launch any project, so it's just a matter of divvying up those resources to create the maximum impact.

 

Could you share some memorable experiences or stories from your collaborations with artists or other brands/festivals? How do you choose the artists and brands/festivals you work with?

Absolutely! I have so many, but I’ll list a couple. One of my most precious memories was almost 8 years ago. Ray and I had known Andrew Rayel for a couple years as fans, and we went to more shows that we could keep track of. Andrew would recognize us hopping around from city to city to catch his shows (back then I had a high paying job and unlimited PTO LOL), and would always give us warm welcomes. The relationship was not a professional one at first, so I remember being super nervous when I eventually asked if he would be down to be our first charity line ambassador for merchandise. We had already been making these really cool #RayelFamily shirts and giving them away for free at festivals, so we thought that it would be a fitting, sentimental, full-circle moment if Andrew would be willing to share the merchandise with his fans while raising money for a good cause at the same time. Andrew quickly told me he would be honored, and I remember being over the moon and back! Shortly after, he invited me to attend one of his big shows coming up at the Beachclub in Montreal to shoot some content for the launch. Money was super tight back then, and I honestly had no idea what I was doing but of course I said yes! I flew out to Montreal solo and managed to hire a videographer that I was uncertain would show up to shoot the content, but luckily he did. After a ton of chaos, Andrew had gone on for his set right as the sun was setting. He looked back at me to grab the merchandise, and hopped on top of the tables with the decks while waving the merchandise in the air as the crowd went crazy. At that moment, I felt an ocean of emotions come over me, from gratitude, excitement, a level of achievement for our efforts paying off, while wishing that my brother and rave fam were there with me. But I was there alone representing everyone, and that moment was enough. It was one of those “we made it” moments since I got to work with one of my favorite DJs in the world that I had somehow manifested well before Neon Owl’s existence. There were many more cool moments and collaborations after that, but that was the first super significant one.

Another festival that we work closely with is Groove Cruise. I met the founder Jason Beukema around year 1 of Neon Owl as well, because I found out that he also had the Whet Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting those less fortunate in the destinations Groove Cruise set sail to. I was drawn to their volunteer trip that happens every cruise, and we quickly fell in sync as soon as we met. Neon Owl has worked with Groove Cruise and Whet Travel on a lot of their fundraising efforts, volunteering at orphanages, and coordinating experiences in which  the headlining artists, as well as festival attendees, can all participate. Despite the cruise being one big giant party of 5-6 days on a boat (and private islands), the Whet Foundation trips are humble reminders of how much we have, and the power that we have to give back. I still remember there  was one really sad time that we went to an orphanage out in the slums of Cabo and the kids were so excited to see us, yet so sad to see us go. That trip specifically was a tearjerker, but keeps me coming back every time.

There have also been many cool moments with the artists I have worked with. I’m someone that tends to store little memories in my head along with a declaration of what is to come in the future. Countless times I have been at a show or festival with an artist I’m working with. I would manifest that they would later on get to play that stage, club, or festival. More than once now those manifestations have become reality, so I always take another mental picture of that moment and save it for a rainy day. 

As far as artists, festivals, and brands we choose to partner with.. that’s pretty easy. They just have to be good people with egos aside, down for the fans as well as down to give back. They don’t even necessarily need to have a cause that they are die-hard about, because we have plenty of causes to go around. As long as they are good vibes, down for the fans and down to contribute towards giving back in ways big or small, we are down to work with them!

How does Neon Owl engage with its community, and what role do fans and supporters play in your initiatives? How do you build and maintain this community connection?

We started as a very grassroots company, which I just consider one big community of owls, haha. We have a community of artists, a community of music lovers, fans of giving back, and now brands and affiliates. Everyone is kind of intertwined with one another. As mentioned before, our events are a big part of what allows our current community members as well as new folks to experience what we are truly about. Once they have experienced this “vibe” that cannot quite be explained, they are down to stay for more! Oftentimes you will have people that don’t even like the specific genre of music presented that night, or have nothing to do with the industry topics we’re hosting talks on, but they just come for the vibes. How many times can I say vibes in one sitting? Perhaps this is not the most scalable way to run a company, but it has worked well for us so far so we can only hope to continue to grow bigger without losing our authenticity. 

Can you highlight some of the charitable initiatives Neon Owl has been a part of? How do you select the charities you support, and what impact have you seen from your contributions?

As mentioned previously, no cause is too big or too small to support. We have literally helped someone pay their bills for their cat or their dog, along with a bunch of stray animals that they support to get off the streets. For these animals, a simple $25 or $50 donation actually really does count. Because we are all animal lovers at Neon Owl, I cannot count how many donations big and small we have contributed to individual animals as well as well-run organizations and animal shelters. We have also supported saving the arts through The Fender’s Music Foundation. Mental health has been a big topic that is becoming less and less taboo to speak about, and we make sure to incorporate that into at least half of our Open Door Sessions events. We recently started working with Bring Change to Mind (a mental health advocacy program), which was introduced to us by helloworld for his album launch party we did with bitbird. One of our Mastermind members, Nikita Page, was born in Ukraine. So when everything went down over there, we were all heartbroken, but knowing how those he knew were impacted hit even closer to home. He had asked me if instead of our usual animal charity fundraising, if he could do a stream to raise a little bit of money for Ukraine. I think the goal was something like $1,000. I told him that we’d do him one better and dedicate the rest of that month’s charity fundraising streams to Ukraine. We ended up raising close to $12,000 within just a couple of weeks which was a very touching group effort. If an artist or a partner we are working with has something they care about, we are all ears. If there is no particular cause in mind, we have no shortage of nonprofits that we know can use the support. 

What have been some of the biggest challenges Neon Owl has faced, and how have you overcome them? What lessons have you learned along the way? Looking ahead, what are Neon Owl's goals and aspirations for the future? Are there any upcoming projects or initiatives that you're particularly excited about?

I have sprinkled some of those lessons throughout this entire feature, but I will just say that the biggest problem we have faced is growing pains to be simple. I once had this naive dream of changing the world through music. I was much wider-eyed and optimistic back then, not that any pessimistic person can ever run a business like this or even stay in the music industry too long. With each step of the way, everything had a big learning curve. I truly do believe that what we have and what we are building is something unique in the music industry, that also branches out to those outside of just our space. It can be really challenging to navigate all the branches from the owl tree, or simply put everything that Neon Owl is. Sometimes people see us as a blog and media outlet. Other times people see us as events in terms of shows and music. Industry people may see us as a platform for artists, discussions, and music discovery. Some may say we are an artist collective. We have also been called the philanthropists of EDM (thank you BLKLGHT for such a kind title). The truth is we are all of those things, which is amazing and at the same time challenging without having a very specific, single niche. I am still trying to figure out how to maximize our growth, reach, and impact without losing the core of who we are. Every tech company’s burning question is “how do I scale culture?” I feel that Neon Owl has managed to get through the last 9 years with a very solid foundation and clear culture of who we are. Now my next challenge and level-up is growing that into a massive worldwide movement and community that holds that same integrity, authenticity and mission without waver. If somebody has figured out how to scale culture, please slide into my DMs. 

 

Catch Elaine/Neon Owl with other music industry figures on Mar 6 2024 at their Open Door Sessions in Los Angeles. Click flyer for more info:

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