Sonja Denda (1994) is an artist development consultant, live/music projects producer, curator, and music industry researcher operating independently, in her own right.
Originally from Belgrade (RS) but with a Slovenian heritage twist (and passport, god bless), Sonja has also lived, worked, and studied in Bristol (UK) and Boston (US) from 2018 – 2021.
With a grounded background and hustle history in venue & concert operation, festival organization, artist liaison, and PR along with a BA in Political Science – 2019 Sonja enrolled in Northeastern University’s Music Industry Leadership masters degree program under a full scholarship and teaching position. There she studied music business and contributed to the curriculum exploring the role of music in culture, film industry, technology, economy, society, psyche, and behavior (and the impact of these on music). Also did a bunch of other not-that-fancy work, but hey – you gotta do what you gotta do for what you wanna do.
Within her native music community, Sonja’s multifaceted resourcefulness contributed to the development and practices of the contemporary jazz scene in Belgrade, Berklee College of Music Alumni and associated Serbian immigrant musicians, Musicology Sessions concert organization, SOUL Society venue, Terminal Music & Arts Festival and a plethora of beautiful independent musicians and songwriters (whose pearls of projects I shall not yet collect nor mention). There are also numerous failed projects – but let’s make that an entire conversation and not bio info, shall we.
At the moment, Sonja is running a creative industry portfolio career. She is currently associated with the development and work of A.N.D.R., an emerging producer and Berklee graduate based in Serbia, and is curating contemporary musicianship from the ex-Yu region to awaken the audiences through the Yugo Bleja platform & playlist.
Apart from her music path – Sonja is a marketing professional at Hive5, a tech start-up changing how photographers and visual creators operate in their post-production chaos.
Bottom line – Sonja Denda is still not sure what she does in her 24h. But she is doing her best, okay. And is grounded in her mission.
Aiding furtherly in her focus – many thanks to HEMI Music Hub (and mentors! Boyan Pinter!) where she is currently an Incubator program fellow.