— By Mariya Sethjiwala, Sophia BMM

Management takes an all different and exciting twist when you add a dash of glamour and mix in a high profile celebrity. Managing a celebrity is quite an art we say!  An artist or a sportsperson has certainly put in all efforts to reach a cult status, but it is the job of his or her manager to help the person manage his/her day to day affairs, and help them live and cope up with their high flying lives. A manager is an indispensable asset in a celebrity’s life.

A celebrity manager provides services such as celebrity/athlete grooming, managing his or her time schedule, public relation services, marketing and advertising campaigns, negotiating endorsements, promotional launches, parties, and personal appearances.

The catch here for beginners is not to run after an already established star, but find your clients yourself! Identifying talent in sport-spersons or musicians of varied genres and then marketing them in order to create their brand value is what you should look to do.  A safe option here would be to associate yourself with a celebrity management firm at the start of your career before you have enough experience to be an independent celebrity manager or maybe, open your own firm.

To become successful in this field, you should have the ability to connect with people coming from various backgrounds. Ample amount of patience is required to deal with the person you are managing. A good knowledge of all brands is a must to identify and target brands that your client can endorse. You should be able to come up with solutions quickly and deal with pressure cooker situations. A celebrity manager needs to be creative enough to make his/her client reach out to brands and the audience. For this, good Public Relations skills come in handy.

Managing a celebrity is not rocket science. All it takes is to be aware and foresighted enough to spot opportunities in opposing circumstances. Once you get in the field, you get to travel the world, and live the celebrity life as your clients’! This isn’t a desk job, and new work assignments daily and interacting with people from varied fields enriches you as a person. Also, cracking big deals for your client can mean getting a fat pay-check for yourself too!

So, if you are good with people, smart and logical, a quick thinker and have a general understanding of the entertainment industry, you have a shot at becoming a celebrity manager.