Alumni in Action: How a SAAS Skillset Translates in the Music Business

By: Sarah-Mae McCullough, Editorial Content Manager

Ahead of SAAS Summit on October 4th, we're catching up with our alumni speakers for this fall's event. Learn more about SAAS Summit and get your tickets here. 

Austen Holman ’04 attributes her success in the competitive music industry, in part, to her time at SAAS—but not in the way you might guess. 

Sure, she participated in musicals and vocal ensembles and now praises SAAS’s extensive music program, with over 20 music classes offered across the Middle and Upper School. But what laid the foundation for Austen’s inspiring career in music artist management was something more fundamental to the school’s entire curriculum: an ability to see the big picture, draw connections between different topics, and ask hard questions. 

At SAAS, Austen went from being a self-identified “music kid” to a well-rounded student, confidently exploring the unknown. While continuing to pursue music, “I was encouraged to be an athlete, do Speech & Debate, go on outdoor trips, and just jump into so many different areas of learning and developing different skills,” she says. 

Now, her job involves “knowing how to put the puzzle pieces together” in a music artist’s career, from contract negotiations to overseeing budgets to branding and marketing. She's supported artists such as the Arctic Monkeys, Sharon Jones, St. Vincent, and more. 

“It’s like running a small business,” she says. “I am not the puzzle piece. I'm helping connect the pieces. That’s such a parallel to what I did at SAAS.” 

As one of the speakers at our upcoming SAAS Summit on October 4th⸺our first in the new Upper School building⸺Austen shares the transformative impact of a SAAS education and what she’s been up to since graduating. 

What was it about SAAS that encouraged you to try new things and develop a broad skillset? 

I always felt seen by different teachers for different reasons. Whether it was on a sports field or in a classroom, there were probably a dozen times where I was pulled aside and recognized as an individual and encouraged to try something new. There was a good balance of me pursuing things on my own accord, and then having someone else give me a push. Coaches, teachers, faculty, the woman working the front desk⸺people were so supportive of who I was as an individual, and that encouraged me to have the yearning to try new things and the belief in myself to go outside of my comfort zone.

Another part of the SAAS experience is the classroom discourse and being encouraged to ask questions and say things that might be uncomfortable; to raise your hand and not have to have a rehearsed expertise behind what you're going to say. I have gotten far in my career by being inquisitive and curious and asking people for help. 

Were there any particular SAAS adults that made an impact in your life? 

There’s quite a few. George Burpee was my first humanities teacher. To me, he encompassed the spirit of SAAS—warm, creative, and he has this vibrant energy. That was an amazing introduction to the kind of teacher that I would have at SAAS. 

Rob Phillips and his wife, Jen (who taught as a substitute at SAAS at the time), were crucial to me in almost every single space, whether it was honors classes, in soccer, or going on outdoors trips. We've always kept that bond. Lauri Conner, who was an English instructor at the time, was a huge supporter of mine. She just always treated all of us kids with so much respect and validated all of our big feelings. 

What are a few career moments that have been the most special or meaningful to you? 

I was very fortunate to work with an artist named Sharon Jones, who has an incredible life story and unparalleled musicianship. She and I worked together during a time when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In that chapter, she was nominated for Grammys and was all over the Tonight Show circuit. It was the gift of a lifetime to be with her during that time. 

Around the same time, I worked with an artist named St. Vincent to design and launch the first female signature guitar with a company called Ernie Ball Music Man. I get to see the guitar that was modeled for a woman continue to be used a decade later by young female musicians. That was a very cool thing to be a part of. 

Most recently, starting a record label, Diamond West Records, with my husband, has been special. That's a great example of using the skills I developed at SAAS—having to learn how to build a business, taking in as much information as possible, and asking lots of questions. The music industry is such an evolving environment. So I’m very proud that 20 years of my career has led to me being able to build something with the people I work with, on our own creative terms. 

How do you feel about being a part of our first Summit in the new building? 

It’s very exciting. There's something so symbolic about this space that is set up for educating and supporting kids before they launch into the world standing in the middle of the city of Seattle on a street that is surrounded by so much diversity. It represents hope and the kind of the future that I want to believe in. So to be involved in one of the first big events where we get to open the doors to people, it feels like a hallmark moment. I'm really looking forward to it.