Kerry Kennell
2024 Cohort
Pronouns: she/her
Kerry's life purpose is to break down barriers and build back stronger, because everyone deserves to be seen, heard and respected. Kerry empowers her clients to business their own way.
Kerry Kennell is a respected company director, facilitator, artist manager, lawyer and owner of the social enterprise Kennell&Co. Kerry is (more importantly) a dog mum, a best friend, a sister, a daughter and a proud Torres Strait Islander woman with connection to Ugar and Erub islands.
Kerry was called to the music scene in Naarm (Melbourne) in 2018. She has since been elected to the position of Chairperson of the Music Victoria Board of Directors.
Kerry loves to learn from stories shared by others. You will often see her at workshops, conferences, listening to panel speakers, or participating as a mentee or mentor on music-related mentorship programs.
Her consulting firm, Kennell&Co, provides business consultancy, facilitation, project leadership and artist management services. Its roster includes Alice Skye, Kee'ahn and the duo Allara & Olenka. Kerry also works as a consultant with small-to-medium creative businesses and organisations that are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, female or queer led . Her work in mentoring, strategy and planning has been well received by the community, as she supports the leaders of these businesses to identify and bring their purpose to life, doing business their own way.
“I want to influence real change. My clients deserve to be seen, heard and respected, to be paid their worth, and to feel confident making business decisions.”
Social change work
Kennell&Co's flagship program, Artist Assist, will be the centrepiece of the social change project Kerry develops during her foundation year. Artist Assist is a business development and capacity building program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creative practitioners, including musicians, DJs, music producers, music managers, and other music industry workers, as well as visual artists, photographers and dancers.
Kerry will analyse the impact of this program on the individual creative, their family and community, as well as its effectiveness in building capacity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business owners. Kennell&Co will continue advocating for change from within the music industry to see better representation of mob in mainstream music.