Many focus on the fact that Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin is a seventh-generation descendant of the railroad and shipping tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt. But, she was also born with a huge entrepreneurial spirit and an insatiable desire to forge her own way in the world as a musician, and artist. A move that prompted Prestige magazine to label her the Rebel Heiress.
As a musician, Consuelo silenced her critics with a spectacular career from the start. Her first four singles jumped right onto the Top 20 of the Billboard Dance Charts. The first single she released, “Naked,” was on the charts for 16 weeks. Following that, “Feel So Alive” earned her the prestigious honor of #2 Breakout Artist.
While enjoying worldwide success, Consuelo wasn’t one to just sit back and leave the industry friction points behind. The inner entrepreneur of the Vanderbilt generation quickly took hold after embarking on a journey to bring some much-needed improvement to the music and other creative industries she frequented.
As someone with both a creative and entrepreneurial spirit, combined with the means to do something about it, Consuelo established a new high-tech innovative platform that is globalizing the creative industry.
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SohoMuse was created to alleviate the frustrations that most creative people face on a daily basis. In many ways, the platform feels like a unique entry in the social network scene.
Unlike anything else before it, the exclusive members-only platform is an invitation-only ecosystem for creative professionals. Somewhere musicians, artists, directors, dancers, fashion stylists, etc. can showcase their talents and projects.
Consuelo is on a mission to help creatives strengthen their networks, and collaborate with others in a secure online environment. Having one location for an entire industry to browse portfolios, look for work and pick up recommendations for their work is now a reality.
The exclusive membership requirement is aimed at eliminating the time consuming non-serious inquiries. Essentially, it will only bring together those who can truly benefit from the services and partnerships that can be formed on this platform.
From film to fashion to TV to music, across every spectrum of creativity, SohoMuse aims to bridge the gap between creative professionals, uniting them together in one online territory.
Consuelo explained to me on my podcast that it’s a portfolio platform melded with a social network community. It eliminates the need to sift through 15 other sites for the information you need and connects you directly to the kind of creative professionals you seek.
What’s remarkable about it is that it helps you meet your creative needs in a one-stop shop fashion. Consuelo also told me about the moment she needed to replace a dancer for her show. The logistical nightmare that followed was to play a big part in inspiring her to create something better.
Having a network like SohoMuse allows for connecting with and hiring someone in the area you’re in, streamlining the process to find an experienced person and get true credentials for their experience.
Currently, SohoMuse is in the beta launch phase, allowing creatives to connect. Once they are inspired and showcasing their abilities, it will grow from there to provide a suite of tools to help them effectively collaborate.
When I asked Consuelo what she felt were the most exciting aspects of the project, she told me, “It’s revolutionary in that it allows creatives to have absolute and complete creative control of their own work while connecting them with the kinds of people who can both hire them and solidify their creative network for inspiration.”
Ironically, if we look back at her ancestors and how Cornelius helped bring the country together for business through shipping and railroads, it seems Consuelo is now doing the same in our digital world.
Uniting creatives from the international community to help bring the world together in a multimillion dollar industry could be equally as powerful. For these reasons alone it seems that Consuelo has well and truly shaken off the ‘rebel heiress’ label by paving the road ahead for creatives in a brave new digital world.
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