Carolyn Pasea Making a Musical Mark

It’s hard to find just one word to describe Question Mark Entertainment's Managing Director Carolyn Pasea, because there are so many layers to this fascinating woman. Humble by nature (yet a tough decision maker), the Peruvian born and Scottish reared (and educated) Pasea, together with Co-owner and Director Simon Baptiste lead a talented team at Question Mark Entertainment which also comprises members Christopher, Mark and Eli. Located on Stanmore Avenue, QME has seen many musical talents enter its doors. Yet, long before those doors came into existence, the soft spoken Pasea never dreamed that her eventual calling would involve making music based decisions. “I’m not a musician; I don’t even sing,” she said, laughing heartily. “I never even studied music. My degree, my BA is in Commerce, which entails law, economics, accounting… no music. I just know how to run it and do the logistics, so the music side never really came into it. And yet, I’ve made music my life.” The youngest of three siblings (she has an older sister and brother), Pasea was very close to her parents, especially her (late) father, who, during her childhood worked with one of T&T’s leading oil companies, which predated the family’s move to Westhill, a suburb in Aberdeen, Scotland. “There were other Trini families there, so it was more of a Trini environment with Scottish influences,” Pasea recalled. “I remember lots of Carnival parties and steel bands coming to visit and so on. It was just really cold, but with Trini accents and good food. The Scots don’t use as much seasonings as us; we like highly seasoned food, but they don’t, just salt and pepper. But we grew up on our Trini food and the occasional visit to the (fish and) chip shop.”

 

There, she attended Holy Family School, followed by Westhill Academy and then Robert Gordon University. It was during Pasea’s third year of study that she returned to Trinidad to work at Price Water House Coopers for a year, then returned to Scotland to finish her degree and came back to Trinidad a year later.  She eventually fell into advertising at Lonsdale, a job which she truly enjoyed. She got involved in various accounts for WITCO and Pepsi, and destiny stepped in when she met Simon Baptiste on the event circuit. “At the time we were working on the Pepsi account and they had sponsored Machel Montano; that’s where I kind of got into events, really,” Pasea said. “You see, I had done a show with Machel, Red Rat, Tony Chow Lin On and a few others in Guyana and Simon was Red Rat’s Road manager back then, plus he had been working with Maga Dan (now Maximus Dan) Precious and Diamond Cut. Red Rat and Machel had done a song together, and that’s where Simon and I really started talking about having an events company together, and that was 10 years ago. So, we started the company in 2001, in a tiny little one-room office on Fitzgerald lane… Don’t know if the building’s still around though...” she said with a wistful smile. The pair began working on a Music and Film festival called Decibel, which saw Carmen Electra and Lit (along with various music and film executives), visit our shores. As their management and marketing skills came to the fore, fate would step in again “When we were doing Decibel, we heard a song called Runaway; they happened to be the Dieffenthallers, and we thought it was a great song that should be in Decibel. I’ll tell you that first time we both heard Kees at a show, Simon and I were like, that kid is a star... then we saw him perform... the thing is after being in it so long and you see someone perform, you can spot when they have that something. I’ll credit Simon; he definitely has the eye and ear for talent. I will see someone as well and think they have charisma and can sing and all that. To an extent, but he really can spot them too. So in 2005 we started managing Kes the Band, and since then it’s been amazing.”

 

Thus far, the group has been working with many writers and producers, and most recently with multiple Grammy award winner Desmond Child. Pasea wants QME to be the go to company when looking for management, booking, consultancy and even film production services. Remember, this was the company responsible for bringing E! and MTV to our shores. However, being one of just a handful of female managers within the local music and entertainment industry has been a constant test of her mettle. She even joked about how people weren’t exactly sure who the slim blonde was that kept following Kes the Band to every gig. “As a female manager, they may not have taken me seriously in the past. Sometimes security sees me with the band and they ask, ‘Where are you going?’ and I’m like, ‘I’m management!’ But don’t worry, security knows me now.” On the days she gets some time for herself, she loves to cook (and eat) delicious pasta dishes and tasty curries, including tandoori style. To keep fit, she enjoys kickboxing class (led by Stacy) and works out with another personal trainer Justin, who makes her do lots of push-ups, a much needed skill in their camp… “Actually Kes the Band has a rule that whoever in the band is late for call time has to do 20 push-ups. If ten people are late, ten people are getting push-ups. I was five minutes late last Saturday and I had to do push-ups even though I told them my clock was correct! (Laughter.) So, I have to keep doing my push-ups in the gym so I can do them if I’m late. But it’s a good rule.” Besides her musical family, her mother, brother and sister (along with her nieces Kirstyn, Shannon and nephew Michael) are her biggest support system and a central part of her life. “Mom is very supportive. She’s really been there for everything that I’ve done and continues to be there. I know she’s proud of everything we’ve done. I know she loves Kees! (Laughter.) I hope my dad is proud too; I like to think of him as my guardian angel and that he’s looking down on me and feeling happy. I wish he could tell me, ‘I like what you’re doing’. I hope he’s happy. He may not like all the soca, but that’s okay. (Giggles.) I can’t see myself doing anything else, really. I love what I do. I love the opportunities we get to travel.

 

We attend conferences and events year round. So in order to continue having an artist grow you have to continue doing the work. I love the artists. We get to work with genuine, talented and good people. That makes everything so much easier. A manager and an artist have to have the same goal and outlook for it to work. We want our artists on Billboard. We want our artists to have a Grammy!”  

All in all, Pasea is just a simple Diego girl at heart and is truly grateful for her experiences and wants nothing but the best for everyone. Hard work is all she knows and she admits that she wouldn’t have it any other way. “People think everything just happens during the show, you know? But if you look at my diary, it’s madness, non-stop. And we’re really grateful for it to be non-stop; we’d rather be really busy than not do anything at all. So, I’ll just end by saying that I wish all artistes a very safe season and a peaceful Carnival. Special thanks for my family always being there, and to Simon as well; he’s been my business partner for ten years and we couldn’t have done what we do without each other, the band and all our staff.”