Future's Manager, Ebonie Ward, Is Also Thinking About the "Future" of Women within the Music Industry

Rapper-producer Future is at the street again and along with his supervisor, Ebonie Ward, through his side, there’s nothing he can’t do.

Apr. 17 2024, Published 12:35 p.m. ET

It’s simple to fail to remember the people at the back of our favorite artists and celebs who lead them to who they're. Paris Hilton would’ve been nothing with out her former stylist, Kim Kardashian (who’s now arguably extra famous than Paris). And many musicians, actors, athletes, and other celebrities wouldn’t be able to manage their daily lives with out their managers. Hip-hop rapper and manufacturer Future has his supervisor, Ebonie Ward, to thank.

As Future gears up for his 2024 excursion with Metro Boomin’ after their collaborative 2023 album, Ebonie is again in the spotlight as a pacesetter within the industry. So who is Ebonie and how did she get into changing into a supervisor and extra in particular, Future’s manager?

Future’s supervisor, Ebonie Ward, was once a men’s clothing boutique proprietor before becoming a member of the track business.

Before she was one of the vital successful managers within the song trade, Ebonie ran a men’s clothes boutique, Fly Kix ATL, which labored carefully with the local rap scene in Atlanta. That’s the place she met Future, who encouraged her to change into her profession and work alongside him. She joined Anthony Saleh’s Emagen Entertainment Group, which was once managing Future at the time, and worked her approach as much as turn into his primary manager.

“It has been an excessively refined state of affairs every now and then,” Ebonie advised Variety when requested about being one of the vital most effective girls within the room “Anthony Saleh has been my ace and an anchor in my career. We would stroll right into a room, and so they wouldn’t acknowledge me; they might just shake his hand. So he would forestall and say, ‘Let me introduce you to my trade partner — this is Ebonie Ward.’”

Ebonie used to be one of the vital primary other people in the back of Future and Gunna’s viral observe, “Pushin P,’” which become a viral hit and driving force for plenty of hip-hop artists. She even helped spearhead the Grammy campaigns to earn “Pushin P’” several nominations. “That’s my role as [Gunna’s] supervisor,” she mentioned.

“I don’t need other people to get so caught up in a short lived circumstance that they lose sight of who he is, what he represents, and what he was ready to create … I need it to be a victorious moment — for him to return out of this and proceed to come back out on most sensible, where he belongs.”

In 2023, Ebonie opened her personal control company to additional the careers of women of color within the trade.

Ebonie isn’t only a manager — she’s an entrepreneur and an activist. In 2023, she was once named a Women in Music honoree after opening her own management firm, eleventh & Co, which is the primary control company totally led by ladies and more particularly, Black girls. “During COVID-19, I noticed that I used to be limiting myself by not being forward-moving or thinking out of the field,” Ebonie informed Billboard of her inspiration to open her own company.

She brought over a few of her greatest clients—Future, Gunna, and Flo Milli. She additionally added NBA player James Harden to her roster as she discovered similarities between athletes and musicians in what they’re looking for from a supervisor. “In its personal manner, sports activities is similar to tune as a result of a lot of athletes wish to get into lifestyle,” Ebonie explained. “They need advertising and marketing.”

After the #MeToo and #TheShowMustBePaused movements received traction to carry consideration to girls’s rights and racial justice, Ebonie knew it was time to make a transformation. “I’ve observed numerous Black girls, particularly in hip-hop and R&B, who are the backbones at many companies. I’ve also seen a lot of girls who are if truth be told operating these corporations, but they’re still not the face. It was time to do one thing different.”

And that’s precisely what Ebonie did. “I want to do something that is very unorthodox, no longer one-dimensional,” she mentioned of her company, which sponsors the yearly A Seat at the Table match, which “celebrates the often-overlooked contributions of younger girls and emerging executives.” Ebonie could also be one of the most best possible managers within the trade, but much more importantly, she’s at the leading edge of creating positive girls’s voices are heard.

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