Jasmine Martin is a New York Times Bestselling writer, Art Advisor, and Cultural Strategist at the intersection of music, art, fashion, and film. Her over 15 year career has focused on bridging the creative industries through strategic, symbiotic partnerships to amplify the visibility of our most culture-defining voices.
With her Art Advisory, Jasmine works to expand the brand visibility of Black visual artists while also helping collectors, corporations, and other creatives integrate into the art world with keen, insight-informed alignment.
Founder of 5735 Studios, an independent creative agency that integrates music, fashion, art, and film, Jasmine has worked with musicians and their management teams, visual artists, museums and institutions, production companies, collectors, and corporate clients to help expand their brand opportunities through strategic collaborations in the aforementioned creative fields.
Her work with longtime client Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter has been a case study in a multifacted brand expansion across fashion, literature, education -- and art.
5735 Studios first championed Black Thought’s fashion partnerships, developing opportunities with Barneys New York and building relationships with an international array of Black designers, including Dapper Dan, Wales Bonner, Martine Rose, Pyer Moss, Public School, and more. Trotter’s brand expansion also included Jasmine’s development of a partnership with Carnegie Hall, allowing Black Thought to become the first rapper to participate in the Hall’s coveted Masterclass series, teaching emerging musicians his craft. With a deeper knowledge of Black Thought’s creative process, Jasmine designed the masterclass curriculum, bringing in other Grammy-award winning producers and Streams of Thought partners, Sean C and 9th Wonder, to teach alongside Tariq. His iteration, titled “School of Thought,” ran for two consecutive years at the institution before Jasmine brokered an expansion partnership with The Kennedy Center, who co-hosted their own “School of Thought” masterclass for local DMV rappers. This “School of Thought” curriculum went on to become the basis for Tariq’s class at New York University, titled “The Art of the Emcee.”
Most recently, Jasmine was the credited co-author of the New York Times Best-Selling memoir, The Upcycled Self: A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are written by her and Tariq. Spearheading the deal with OneWorld Books’ editor, Chris Jackson, Jasmine also lead the marketing efforts, helping OneWorld develop the book tour during release week by securing the featured guest interviewers of Marc Lamont Hill, Angela Rye, Jelani Hobbs, and Jon Stewart and return partnerships with The Kennedy Center and Columbia Universitry, while emphacizing partnerships with Black owned, independent bookstores across the Northeast including Marc Lamont Hills’ Uncle Bobbies in Philadelphia. Tariq and Jasmine also collaborated as co-writers and co-directors on the Audible Words and Music piece, 7 Years, in a deal also secured by Martin.
But most notably, Jasmine introduced Tariq to Black art through partnerships and PR opportunities. Marketing and creative directing his EP series, Streams of Thought, Jasmine selected, commissioned, and licensed all of Black Thought’s visual artwork album covers — Leslie Hewitt, Rashid Johnson, and Khari Turner — while also commissioning music videos, visualizers, and content series that engaged the talents of over twenty different artists and directors. A multi-year partnership brokered with MoMA’s Black Arts Council, formerly Friends of Education, was one of many institutional relationships developed and expanded under Jasmine’s leadership. Others included The New Museum of New York, The Gordon Parks Foundation, The Whitney Museum of Art, The Barnes Foundation of Philadelphia, the Tate London, and more. Gallery introductions and artist deals also saw Black Thought doing a one-off performance at Perrotin Gallery in New York in celebration of Leslie Hewitt’s opening and negotiating with galleries in South Africa and Tokyo for his visual artistry debut, derailed by the COVID pandemic.
It was this deep engagement with the art world that expanded Jasmine’s career. Clients like The Museum of Modern Art and Sotheby’s sought assistance in the development of a music strategy for their event programming team, while private collectors in music and sports trusted Jasmine to manage seven figure art collecting budgets. Sincere relationships with some of Black art’s biggest names continue to allow her to intentionally develop the symbiotic partnerships that bring capital and increased visibility to the Black art community. More recently, she worked with visual artist Alteronce Gumby to expand his footprint in fashion, with introductions and invitations to designers and their shows at Milan, Paris, and New York Men’s Fashion Week.
Despite art becoming a more recent focal point, Jasmine’s career started in music. Work with artists like Baby Rose, 6LACK, and DRAM of LoveRenaissance saw deals and appearances with Nike, Pyer Moss, MoMA PS1, Doc Martens, Total Luxury Spa, Marc Jacobs, the Business of Fashion, Gucci, and more. A former brand strategist at Columbia Records, Jasmine spearheaded the label’s involvement in New York Fashion Week and art opportunities, developing culturally significant partnerships for Solange Knowles (NYFW appearances), T.I. (Footaction deal in support of his album rollout), Leon Bridges (NYFW appearances), DeJ Loaf (notably DeJ Loaf’s MAC Cosmetics deal for her own lipglass), Chloe x Halle (Tory Burch deal), and even Adele, ZHU, Rita Ora and Patti Smith across art and fashion. Prior to Sony, Martin worked at Interscope Records developing brand partnerships and scouting synch licensing opportunities for their roster, including Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, and Ellie Goulding. She managed an expansive list of brand partners at both labels: Chanel, Dior, Prada/Miu Miu, Tom Ford, Cartier, Tiffany & Co, MAC Cosmetics, Christies Art Auction House, Barneys New York, Kith, Ralph Lauren Tory Burch, Marc Jacobs, Pepsi Co., Coca Cola, Visa, Faberge, Macy’s, and many more were Jasmine’s direct responsibility.
Time spent in London, England and Beijing, China, also introduced Jasmine to the global music industry as she interned for independent record labels and PR companies that provided her with an understanding of media and artist development.
Personal projects have included the 2019 digital publication, SCENE, which documented the stories of creatives of color working behind the scenes in music, fashion, art, and film. Interviewees were asked, “When was the first time you felt seen?” and “When was the first time you saw yourself?” A series of events invited New York’s young contemporary leaders to gather at art shows and the latest restaurants to expand their network, and a six-figure deal was initially secured to scale the program globally.
In 2016, Jasmine launched Mixed Medium, a 501(c)3 organization that provided art and music education to underprivileged youth in Philadelphia, PA, in partnership with local cultural institutions, Black visual artists, and Black musicians. The organization’s inaugural fundraiser was a pop-up exhibition featuring two unreleased sonic and visual collaborations: Kelsey Lu in conversation with Radcliffe Bailey, and Dev Hynes in conversation with Rashaad Newsome. Also featured was artwork from MickaeleneThomas, Hank Willis Thomas, and Toyin Ojih Odutola, with sponsorship from headphone company Master & Dynamic and Remy Martin. With funds raised from the event and local partners, Mixed Medium implemented four trips for 4th through 8th grade students to visit a local DJ academy, music studio, and museums. Jasmine also worked with the School District of Philadelphia to begin developing an art and music curriculum that utilized private institutions to teach students about the creative fields — proving that math and literacy test scores would also be increased through this education.
A graduate of Columbia University with a B.A. in English and liberal arts, including Film and Art History, Jasmine continues to strengthen her commitment to the arts and collaborative relationships through independent curatorial work and writing projects.