Saptosa Foster was born in New York City and lived in Newark, New Jersey and California’s Bay Area before living out her teen years in Wilson, North Carolina. After graduating with honors from Hunt High School in Wilson, Saptosa enrolled at Spelman College in Atlanta as an English major and History minor.

During her freshman summer of 1995, she landed a promotions/publicity internship in New York at Pendulum Records, home to back-in-the-day rap acts Digable Planets, Lords of the Underground and Heather B. While interning at Pendulum, Saptosa landed another internship in Bad Boy Records’ marketing department. Saptosa worked with Bad Boys’ then director of marketing, Hilary Weston, to write and produce the label’s inter-office newsletter, Bad News.

Saptosa went on to graduate cum laude from Spelman in 1998 and, afterward, worked briefly as an analyst at Accenture Consulting. Unfulfilled by the technical and corporate demands of her role at Accenture, Saptosa moved to New York City in 1999 where she pursued a career as a freelance writer. She got her start as a fact-checker for magazines like Seventeen, Rolling Stone, Blaze, In Style and O. In addition to several websites and underground publications, Saptosa has written for The Source, Savoy, Honey, Vibe, Fader, The Ave, Creative Loafing and Complex magazines and has been a regular feature writer for XXL for over four years. During her writing career, she has interviewed artists such as Nas, Nelly, Ludacris, dead prez, Jill Scott, Bow Wow, Erykah Badu, Gil Scott Heron, T.I., David Banner and many more.

In 2001, Saptosa left New York to teach middle school language arts for two years in her hometown of Wilson. Returning to Atlanta in 2003, Saptosa still freelance writes for various publications. Most recently however, she has partnered with Shante Bacon, a colleague and fellow intern she met 10 years ago at Pendulum Records, in a marketing/advertising/PR venture known as the 135th Street Agency.

In high school, Saptosa was one of ten winners of the 1993 McDonald’s Black History Makers of Tomorrow. While a student at Spelman in 1998, she won the Hurston-Hughes Award (sponsored by author Alice Walker) for Best Creative Writing Portfolio.

SHANTE BACON
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"One of my former employees, Shante Bacon, always has guts. She was just a college rep for us when she first joined Def Jam. But she'd known all her young life that she was destined to work in the music business. Even as a teenager she figured one day she'd run her own label.

When Shante was in college she was a rep for Def Jam's distribution company in Virginia. That means she promoted our label, and any new singles that were coming out, through college parties, football games, homecomings, college radio and concerts. One day in her senior year she sent us a three-hundred-page book she'd put together documenting all the work she'd done for Def Jam over the years. She included wrap-ups of events, pictures and dozens of letters of congratulations from me and Lyor on the success of her work on campus. She put it together in one slick package using everything she'd learned as a marketing major. I'd never met Shante, but I took one look at that book and said, "She's hired."

That was in November 1997, but Shante didn't graduate until May 1998. We wanted her to join Def Jam so badly that we held the job, of sales assistant, open for her by filling it with temps. She already had the winning hand."

-- Kevin Liles, Executive Vice President, Warner Music Group; President, Def Jam Enterprises
Excerpted from his book Make it Happen: The Hip-Hop Generation Guide to Success with Samantha Marshall

From a young age, Shante Bacon knew she wanted to work in the music business. Growing up in the Queens Village area of Jamaica, Queens, her older brother, William “Pookie” Bacon aka MC Pac, introduced her to the inner workings of hip-hop culture. He fascinated her with stories of late-night hip-hop shows, MC battles and parties, and schooled her on the prominent rap record labels of the time: Def Jam, Select, Profile, 4th & Broadway and Delicious Vinyl. In high school, Shante would devise marketing campaigns for her mother’s vocational trade school, The New School of Business Careers, Inc. Yet, it was a Billboard article on the success of renowned mogul Russell Simmons that ultimately inspired Shante to pursue a career in the music industry. She decided that, like Simmons, she would transform her passion for music and marketing into a flourishing empire.

After graduating from high school, Shante enrolled in Hampton University as a marketing major with a concentration in the business of music. In the summer of 1995, she landed an internship as a promotions coordinator at Pendulum Records, home of rappers Heather B., Digable Planets and Lords of the Underground. She returned to Hampton in her junior year and got a job in the school’s radio station, WHOV 88.1 FM, where she became the station’s promotion director and worked with such luminaries as Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Mase and Redman.

The following summer of 1996, Shante worked at Perspective Records as publicity coordinator and reported to legendary producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis as well as seasoned publicist Sheila Eldridge. While at Perspective, Shante drafted a 10-page proposal explaining why record companies need college representatives in Virginia. She sent the proposal to over 30 record labels and distribution companies. Def Jam was the first to act on Shante’s pitch and hired her as the first Def Jam college rep in their newly-formed College Rep Program.

Two months later, Shante was hired as a black college representative for Polygram Group Distribution (PGD), a music distribution company that serviced labels like Def Jam, Island Black Music, Motown, Mercury, A&M, Verve and CGI. Working for both Def Jam and PGD, Shante conducted numerous campus promotions for the companies’ artists. To prepare for her May 1998 Graduation, she assembled a 200-page book of all of her promotional events and submitted it to Def Jam in November 1997. The book found its way to then Def Jam president Kevin Liles, who immediately hired Shante as Def Jam’s Sales and Field Marketing Coordinator in 1998.

As a member of Def Jam’s sales team, Shante’s duties included Soundscan analysis and distribution, supporting the PGD distribution field staff, and assisting in the execution of retail marketing campaigns and radio advertising flight schedules. Upon the merger of Def Jam and Island Records, Shante was promoted to executive assistant to Julie Greenwald, the Senior Vice President of Marketing. She also went on to become manager of field marketing. One of her biggest assignments as field marketing manager was the “Are You Hip Hop’s Biggest Fan” contest, a multi-million dollar marketing campaign that promoted Def Jam’s 1999 4th quarter releases. The project culminated into a game show that aired on BET in March of 2000.

Later that year, Shante rose to the position of National Director of Field Marketing, in which she executed several independent retail promotions, including the Def Jam South Scooter Giveaway, the “Thirsty” visibility retail contest, Redman’s “Malpractice” Mascot Retail Tour, Jay-Z’s Blueprint “Win Your Tix Right Now” campaign. She also purchased radio advertising for all Def Jam/Def Soul releases from 1998 - 2003.

In January of 2003, Shante became Director of Marketing. Her new role allowed her to oversee the
marketing strategies for projects such as Ludacris’ triple platinum “Chicken-n-Beer,” Kanye West’s
double-platinum ”The College Dropout,” Freeway’s “Philadelphia Freeway,” the 2 Fast 2 Furious
Soundtrack, Ghostface’s “The Pretty Toney Album,” Method Man’s “Tical 0: The Prequel,” and more.

However, in the summer of 2004, Shante left Def Jam to pursue a full-time entrepreneurial venture,
her marketing firm the 135th Street Agency, LLC. Started as a part-time interest in 2002, the
Harlem-based 135th Street Agency provides various marketing services to suppliers who have
product they need to expose to urban youth culture. 135th Street assists clients in everything
from commercial development and marketing plan development to the execution of advertising
flight schedules, retail strategies, and more. With Shante’s extensive experience and industry
connections, not only will 135th Street become the premiere leader in marketing and promotions,
but Shante Bacon will continue to conquer the world of entertainment.