Brittany Schaffer on Belmont's Role in Shaping the Music Industry
Brittany Schaffer is the Dean of the Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University. With a background in law and leadership roles at Spotify, she is shaping the next generation of industry leaders through innovation, education, and industry partnerships.
About Brittany Schaffer
Brittany Schaffer is the Dean of the Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University, where she is shaping the future of the entertainment industry through education, innovation, and collaboration. Before joining Belmont in May 2023, Brittany spent over a decade in the music business, most recently at Spotify, where she co-led the Nashville Music Team and played a pivotal role in the industry’s digital transformation.
A seasoned entertainment attorney, Brittany previously practiced law at Loeb & Loeb, LLP, advising top artists, songwriters, and industry leaders on high-level legal and business matters. She is an active board member of the Country Music Association and has served with the Academy of Country Music and St. Jude Country Cares, demonstrating her deep commitment to the industry and its community.
Brittany is also involved in the CMA Foundation, supporting its mission to expand access to music education and provide resources for the next generation of artists and industry professionals.
At Belmont, Brittany is dedicated to preparing the next generation of entertainment leaders by strengthening industry partnerships and expanding educational initiatives. She is leading exciting new programs like Dolly U and the Center for Mental Health and Entertainment, reinforcing Belmont’s role in shaping the future of the entertainment business.
In this episode, Brittany shares her inspiring journey from high school to her current leadership role, reflecting on the importance of community, the intersection of performance and law, and her passion for education. She offers insights into the evolving entertainment landscape and the power of character and collaboration in shaping the industry’s future. Don't miss this engaging conversation with one of Nashville’s rising stars!
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Spencer: Brittany Schaffer. Welcome to Signature Required.
Brittany: Thank you. It's great to be here.
Spencer: Brittany, you are the dean at the School for Entertainment and Music Business, which is distinct from the School of Music at Belmont. We are really excited to have you here today.
Brittany: [00:01:00] Thank you. I'm excited to be here and I know it can be a mouthful as well.
Spencer: You and I share a lot of history together that we have not gone to high school together, but you were at BGAI was at MBA and the two debate programs for the schools operated as one.
Spencer: So we actually go way back from high school. We've spent time at Vanderbilt together. So I actually have more history with you than I think most times when I'm talking to my podcast guests.
Brittany: That's exactly right. We were teenagers on. Big buses together, driving to Chicago and Alabama and all over the country.
Brittany: So it's really great to, to be able to connect with you in this phase of life as well.
Spencer: Well, usually I count on people that are my guests, not knowing what I looked like in high school, my hairstyles in high school, what I wore, jean shorts. You have all of these weapons against me, and it makes me exceedingly uncomfortable sitting here because I'm not Spencer Patton, the entrepreneur here.
Spencer: I'm Spencer Patton, the kind of awkward high school kid that [00:02:00] unfortunately, you know, and if. Seen personally,
Brittany: you know what? That makes two of us. We've both come a long way since then.
Spencer: Well, from our time in high school together, you have come a long ways and why don't you tell us the story of Brittany since high school.
Spencer: Give us the five minute roadmap of what you've been up to.
Brittany: That's a great question. So, from BGAI went to Vanderbilt and was a communication studies major. Always loved music. I. Grew up performing and always thought I would end up in the music or entertainment business in some capacity. I was very fortunate to have a professor at Vanderbilt named John English, who knew how much I wanted to be in music, and he helped me finagle my way into a couple of internships that he let me do as an independent study and write a paper at the end of the semester on my observations in music business.
Brittany: But it opened the door for me to intern at Sony [00:03:00] Nashville. With their promotions department and get to know and really build a mentor relationship with Joe Gilani there. And then it also gave me the opportunity to intern at ASCAP where Connie Bradley was leading the charge at that time. And
Spencer: ascap, just for those that don't know,
Brittany: ASCAP is the performing rights organization that collects live performance royalties when music is played in a concert venue or on the radio, in a restaurant, anything like that.
Brittany: And it works and represents songwriters and music publishers. And it was, that was as I was heading into my senior year at Vanderbilt and I was starting to apply to law schools, I had decided that I wanted to have my path really start off as a music and entertainment attorney. And Connie was kind enough to give me the name of a few music lawyers that she really respected in Nashville and.
Brittany: Fast forward a year. I'm in law school. I went to Cumberland Law School at Sanford University in Birmingham, [00:04:00] and I start sending out resumes to the lawyers that she suggested I reach out to. And this was back in the time when I was still sending physical letters and like white envelopes. And I always say I, I sent 10 of them out and nine of them failed to respond to anything.
Brittany: But one person did respond and it was Bob Sullivan at Loeb and Loeb.
Spencer: That's how the math always goes, right? It
Brittany: always goes. And, but I only needed one. And I tell students that a lot. I'm like, you only need one person to really lean in. Because at that point I didn't even have any grades yet back from law school.
Brittany: And so he said, well, why don't you come visit us when you're in town over Christmas? And that really started my journey in the entertainment space. He was one of the leading attorneys in music at the time in Nashville. And so that was really the start of my journey, to today.
Carli: So as a performer, your whole life interested in music for somebody on the outside performance and law don't particularly feel like [00:05:00] maybe are, they are simpatico.
Carli: So how did you come about marrying
Brittany: those two together? It's a great question. I think there's such a value in music education in general in schools and just helping you find creative outlets. And for those who have a passion for music it gives you something that you can really lean into as you're growing up.
Brittany: But I think as you start thinking about your career, a lot of times people think that you have to kind of take your personal passion and let that continue to live on the side. And I really realized I could turn that into a job, into a career. I knew I loved school, I had always loved policy and government going back to our, you know, debate days and things like that.
Brittany: And so I started talking with professionals in the industry just understanding what their job was and what they did on a daily basis. And I met some music lawyers who just [00:06:00] seemed to describe the work that they did in a way that really married my, I think, intellectual side with my passion for music.
Brittany: but I always tell students now, like, you just need to know the next right step and what the first step is. And for me, going to law school was really a chance to marry.
Brittany: Again, I think my intellectual side and then my passion for music and entertainment together.
Spencer: So, are you gonna sing for us today and play an instrument? I'll not be. Okay. And write a
Carli: contract all at
Brittany (2): once. Yeah.
Spencer: Yeah. I was hoping Brittany, that story was gonna be like, you know, I went downtown like everybody else with my guitar in my hand and a microphone that smelled like a beer.
Spencer: And I tried it and I thought, you know, it's gonna be better to make six figures, so I should go be an attorney. Right.
Brittany: You know, I'll say this, my version of that was interning at Sony in the promotions department wanting to go in and thinking that you would do A plus B equals C, and you know, and you would B Carrie Underwood and have [00:07:00] all the success in the world.
Brittany: And I really quickly realized. That it wasn't that simple. And I think the challenge of wanting to understand what are the factors that go into making someone a successful artist kind of drove me into the business side. And I think probably the legal side was not wanting to have graduated from Vanderbilt and then go get an assistant job getting paid $24,000 a year.
Brittany: Not that there's anything wrong with that, and that is a wonderful way to start, but I think my parents would have questioned my decisions if I had started at that point.
Carli: I wonder with your unique trajectory, right, from Vandy being a performer to a law student, to working in streaming and running a team, how did that get you landed at Belmont?
Brittany: So. When I look back over everything I've done, I think my real passion has been helping people understand how to navigate the entertainment business.
Brittany: so when the opportunity at Belmont came up, I realized that [00:08:00] it was an opportunity to take all the things that I had loved and do it at scale because we have 2,800 students in our college of entertainment and music business across all of the disciplines that you could fit under the entertainment bucket that are non-performing disciplines.
Spencer: What are some examples of those?
Brittany: That's a great question. So we have music, business, songwriting, audio engineering, film and television screenwriting. Film and television production, media production book publishing, journalism, sport administration, media, entertainment industries.
Spencer: Wow, you nailed that right away.
Spencer: I think. I think that's it. Think that's like she's done your note card. Leave on out. Yeah.
Brittany: You can keep your job probably. Exactly. You can.
Spencer: Belmont has spent so much time convincing Middle Tennessee that we're not just a music school. Right. That they're doing all of these amazing things. And I feel like Belmont has done so much in the Nashville [00:09:00] community to remind Nashvillians that this really is the school of Middle Tennessee. And especially as like all Vandy grads sitting here, Belmont has truly transformed itself in just a couple decades worth of time. Because I feel like in some ways, Belmont the original piece is music, and that's really why I think Belmont was on the map.
Spencer: But knowing that Belmont is diversifying, what's the culture related to entertainment and music business and being the dean at Belmont?
Brittany: It's a great question, and I'm glad you asked that because Belmont is so much more than just music, business, entertainment, and we don't want to ignore the fact that it has such a rich history and Nashville's.
Brittany: Entertainment business has expanded right alongside of Belmont expanding. Yeah. We always say like, you can't really separate the two. [00:10:00] I go back to last year we celebrated 50 years of the music business program. And our music business program literally started when some executives on Music Row came to the closest university.
Brittany: They could find Belmont at the heart, at the foot of Music Row and said, we have a bunch of ex-fiddle players and musicians who know nothing about the business. Can you help educate them?
Brittany: And Belmont, said, sure, we'll figure it out. And they already had a business program. And I think that's one of the reasons why the music business program has grown up in such a unique way in that it actually started as part of the business school, not as part of the music school.
Brittany: And so to this day, we are the only A-A-C-S-B accredited music business program in the country because our students are still getting A BBA So they're still getting a Bachelor's of business administration. While studying the music business. And so it started with that community involvement, and I [00:11:00] think I very much see it as my responsibility to continue that community building engagement that started the program so many years ago.
Brittany: I think it provides us with the opportunity to have these incredible interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary conversations. So I'll give you one example. We are adding 90,000 square feet to music row right now.
Brittany: And one of the things that will be going in the new building is a center for mental health and entertainment. And that is,
Carli: oh that's a huge deal. It's a huge deal. That's a huge deal.
Brittany: And it's, you know, you look at the unique circumstances that anyone in the entertainment space faces, whether you're an artist or an athlete, or whether you are on the business side.
Brittany: There are unique challenges in working in an industry that is 24/7 where your personal and professional life and interest blur. And so we are [00:12:00] partnering with our College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, which is where our mental health counseling program lives, to really build out a center that will both serve our students in preparing them holistically for what it's like to enter this industry.
Brittany: And so that we can be a resource to the industry right there on Music Row for what are the mental health needs and challenges that we have that a university is uniquely positioned to help fill. So the way I describe it is there's a lot of incredible organizations doing mental health. Providing mental health services for the entertainment industry.
Brittany: But there are gaps and there's a lot of confusion as to where you can go. There's a real void of mental health counselors who understand the unique nuances of the industry. And so we are looking at where we can plug into those places in partnership with the health sciences work that Belmont's doing.
Brittany: And I think that is where we find those unique [00:13:00] synergies and why I don't think Belmont has taken the approach of it has to be we are a music school or we are something else. Yeah. I think we can be both at the same time and be really excellent at doing both.
Spencer: That's a great answer. And I think the collaborations that just in the examples that you give make so much sense because rather than trying to be a jack of all trades and a master of none, instead it sounds like most of what.
Spencer: The school that. Belmont is becoming, is saying how do we find ways to be able to borrow what we're really good at and leverage that into Springboarding other programs. I love the springboard piece out of it that it becomes a launchpad rather than a scarcity.
Spencer: Because like from an entrepreneurial world, when Carli and I are coaching entrepreneurs, the number one thing that we have to break in people's mindset is a [00:14:00] scarcity mindset. Of saying, well, our budget is X amount of money, and if you get $10 that I don't get, then. That means that I'm losing something.
Spencer: And entrepreneurially, that's the same way to say, okay, well the customer base is this big and so I have this amount of market share and anything that I don't have is something that I'm losing. And it's changing the paradigm to say there are market shares that exist that you haven't even thought of yet.
Spencer: Needs that grow the pie rather than us fighting over one singular slice and trying to see who's going to get the scraps.
Brittany: I think you're exactly right and that's why I love the entrepreneurial mindset that Belmont has and talks about, you know, wanting to instill not just in its students, but in the faculty, the administration as a whole.
Brittany: It's one of the things that really drew me to Belmont.
Carli: Well, I think there's a lot of reasons that you might wanna go to Belmont right now. [00:15:00] One of the biggest ones for me, if I could re-enroll and become a student tomorrow is Dolly U Yes. Can you please tell me about this?
Carli: And do they allow, I don't know, civilian, non-students to proctor classes? How does this come on class work?
Brittany: I see you wore your dolly pink today. This I did wear dolly pink. That was completely intentional. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. So, a few weeks ago, we announced an incredible partnership with Dolly Parton.
Brittany: We are premiering her musical at the Fisher Center this summer. We have tickets. I'm so excited. Oh, that makes two of us. Yeah. I am admittedly a Dolly Parton super fan. And so this was one of the partnerships that I started working on with our president and Sarah Cates who's one of our vice presidents at Belmont, is really in my transition from Spotify to Belmont.
Brittany: And we are so proud to be able to not only bring the musical to the students, but to start Dolly U which is an [00:16:00] integration with Dolly and her team into courses at Belmont. And so we're starting that off this semester with four different classes. One is an integrated marketing course, really looking at the musical and how that will.
Brittany: Translate when it goes to Broadway, we have a class looking at story driven merchandising, a story looking at kind of the global brand development. And then the course that I'm teaching, which is Dolly Parton, the Icon and Influence on Culture. And it starts in two weeks, which is a little terrifying for me 'cause it's the first class I've taught formally.
Brittany: But we are going to be really going through all of the elements of Dolly Parton that have made her such a beloved figure for really everyone around the world.
Brittany: We're looking at all of her philanthropic work, which I think is such a critical piece of what makes her such a beloved. Person and then, you know, really kind of diving into what does also that balance of faith and [00:17:00] culture look like. One of the things I love about Dolly is how willing she is to be upfront about and open about her faith and yet still so culturally relevant and someone that everyone can relate to.
Brittany: So it'll be a special time and it'll continue through the summer. We have students who are doing fellowships with them as they work through the musical and will continue to classes through next year as well. So,
Carli: oh, I really wanna be a Bruin.
Spencer: and just for those that haven't heard about it. So the highlight of the performance for what you all I.
Spencer: We have tickets to give us some more details about that. 'cause some don't know about what's coming True.
Brittany: So Dolly has been writing her life story in the musical, and so they have been working on this for quite some time, but really in the weeds of this since last summer. And so the journey as I'm learning to a Broadway show is, you know, you go through a number of [00:18:00] different readings and then the traditional way was doing an off-Broadway performance to continue to refine the show before it went to Broadway.
Brittany: And so that's what they've decided to do with making Fisher Center their home this summer for that being really the initial public performance of Dolly and original musical. And Dolly herself has been writing the show along with a team of folks. Someone was telling me that, you know, she herself is spending, you know, six to eight hours a day, like really in the weeds with them working on this.
Brittany: And so what will happen at the Fisher Center will be something that every night they may make revisions to. And, you know, the goal of this summer run is to really refine the show so that it is Broadway ready. Okay. When it comes to Broadway in 2026.
Carli: Okay. This is what's so cool about Nashville and Belmont and Miss Dolly, as we call her in our house.[00:19:00]
Carli: It's pulling together all of these national trends, if you will, like education for a long time has been very east coast and there's nothing wrong with that. But there's this pushback against wanting this more community impact, a little bit more homegrown values in education that Belmont has always specialized in Middle Tennessee, and pulling that back.
Carli: To the middle of America, to Nashville. And then you think about Broadway and music and what you traditionally expect from a performance. And that's always been very New York. And of course, Ms. Dolly is not doing it in New York. Of course she's giving that to her beloved Tennesseans first. And so everything you're a part of right now feels like the epicenter of things snapping back towards the middle of the country.
Carli: And I just happen to think Nashville is in the right place at the right time doing all of the right things for this kind of pendulum swinging back. And I love it.
Brittany: I think you are spot on with what you just said. For us, what we really see an [00:20:00] opportunity for is the ability to shape culture through entertainment education that is focusing on yes, the wisdom, but also on like character and community.
Brittany: Everyone can teach. The best skills, but how do you do that in a way that is really thinking about character first? I think Belmont is a place that really lives out. Its Christ-centered mission. It's less in how we talk about it and more about how we show up. And I think it's a place that really values the community.
Brittany: I think that's what's made Nashville so special. When I was at Spotify, one of my favorite things was sitting on our global partnerships team and talking with my colleagues all over the world and having colleagues from the Middle East and from the Nordics region constantly say, oh, I wish our industry was more like Nashville.
Brittany: We just love Nashville. [00:21:00] Everyone's so nice in Nashville. And I think there's something that others see in that character and community that happens here. And so for Belmont. For the Curb College, it's about how do we make sure that is infused into everything that we do so that when we're building out experiences with the industry, our students are actually learning how much more impact you can make when you have a real partnership and real collaboration and you're doing it amongst friends.
Brittany: And even when you have conflict, you can figure out how to navigate through that so that there's respect on the other side.
Spencer: Brittany, I wanna bring the story back to you a little bit because your journey to becoming Dean is really interesting and I think I. A lot of people listening. I know for me, I haven't met many deans in my life. Most of the [00:22:00] time if you're meeting a dean, it's usually not a situation, not good thing in which you're not happy.
Spencer: And I'm tell myself like, you know, I showed up at Vanderbilt and my first semester of Vanderbilt, I finished on academic probation. It was like, yeah, wow. This is how this was supposed to go. So I met the Dean of Vanderbilt one time and one time only. And that was after my first semester. So I haven't been very interested in meeting deans since then.
Spencer: Also culturally right now our society is enjoying asking the question, what is it exactly you do here? Like, what's your job responsibilities and what do you do every day? And I think if you quizzed me and said, Spencer, tell me the top three things that you think a dean does in school, I don't know that I could answer that question very well.
Spencer: So just from a basic level, for those that see. A dean as a, someone holding an unbelievably prestigious role in the organization, what do you do each day? What are your objectives? Help me [00:23:00] understand the vision that a Dean casts.
Brittany: That's a great question. I think that it's fair to say I am probably in a, an untraditional dean.
Brittany: I did not come up through the higher ed pipeline. I came from industry and so,
Brittany (2): yeah.
Brittany: I'll explain what I think a dean does coming in from that perspective. I think one of the main jobs I have is what you just said, which is casting the vision for where it is that the college is headed in terms of how we educate our students.
Brittany: And in terms of how that translates to what the industry itself needs and being that bridge of making sure that we are constantly having a conversation to understand what are the skills, what are the opportunities that the industry needs so that we can teach students for what is needed in 2030, not what was needed in 2020.
Carli: Can you tell us a little bit about some of your pet projects and [00:24:00] organizations?
Brittany: Yeah, I'll just highlight one. I am very fortunate to be on the board of directors for the Country Music Association or CMA. It's the role that I have. I grew up loving country music, and so today it's the role I have that I just pinch myself every time. I get to be involved actually.
Brittany: Head out tomorrow for one of our board meetings. But as an extension of that, I have had the opportunity to get involved with the CMA foundation, and I'm in the vice chair this year of the CMA foundation. A lot of people don't know that the CMA foundation has actually given over $30 million to ed music education across the United States.
Brittany: And probably even lesser known fact is that CMA fest that happens in Nashville every year brings about a hundred thousand people through Nashville for the Country Music Festival. The proceeds of that actually go to the foundation and fun music education. And so it's one of the areas that I [00:25:00] think is incredibly impactful to.
Brittany: Particularly the state of Tennessee and the work that the CMA foundation has done in helping ensure that we have great music education in this state.
Spencer: Brittany, one of the trends that we're seeing in education is that it's not just the 18-year-old enrolling in school. We're seeing a broadening of people that are deciding they're gonna pivot in life.
Spencer: We actually had Brooks Herring here in the studio that made exactly that decision. So talk to us some about the trends that you're seeing around people saying. Belmont fits in my life now when it didn't in other parts.
Brittany: Yeah. So let's take Brooks as a great example. He is a military veteran who has a career on his own, but has decided he really wants to pursue music and he's re-enrolled in our songwriting program at Belmont.
Brittany: We also have an adult degree program where students can come back in. They actually just [00:26:00] drop the tuition going into this summer so that it's only $600 a credit hour, which is a more comparable amount for most universities. So
Spencer: no one's lowering tuition That's I know,
Brittany: and we're lowering it. Yeah. Did I hear that
Spencer: right?
Spencer: Yeah. Uhhuh. So I feel like that's like 10 cartons of eggs, you know, it's like that's really all that tuition does now. That's exactly right. Okay.
Brittany: So, so it does allow, you know, students to come back and again, if they want to study music business later in life, they can do that.
Spencer: Brittany, one of the ways that we wrap up each of our podcasts is we give you three, fill in the blanks. All right. Okay. So you haven't heard these sentences before, but the way that this works is I'll read a short sentence to you and then you fill in the blank with a word or a phrase or something like that, that you feel like completes the thought.
Spencer: Okay. So just read the sentence back to me and then fill in the blank. Okay. Okay. Alright, here we go. Belmont's role in shaping the entertainment industry is Blank.
Brittany: Belmont's role in shaping the entertainment industry is to help [00:27:00] students innovate and thrive across music, television and film publishing, sports and media.
Spencer: It's good. Dolly Parton's legacy can be best summed up as blank.
Brittany: Dolly Parton's legacy can be best summed up as inspirational. Truth.
Spencer: I was looking at that one earlier and I was like, that's a really hard one. I almost, I completed it. It was like as uniquely Dolly, you know? I mean, it's like she's just one of one.
Spencer: She is really,
Brittany: I mean, there's a reason I have a picture of her in my office.
Spencer: Yeah.
Brittany: Because she represents everything. We all hope to be in the world. She's creative and kind and gracious and. Smart as can be. I mean, what an incredible businesswoman, [00:28:00] and yet what a incredible philanthropist.
Spencer: Pulled herself up by her bootstraps. I mean, just defied the odds, all of it. I'm thrilled by that. Okay. Here's the last one. The biggest lesson I've learned from working in Nashville's music industry is blank.
Brittany: The biggest lesson I've learned from working in Nashville's music industry is the power of community.
Spencer: That's good. That's a really good through line, even to the last topic of how families are best raised in community. It's isolation that really gets you, and I think that ties in well with the mental health. I mean, the 90,000 square feet Exactly. That you're gonna be doing.
Brittany: Exactly.
Brittany: you can't. Create alone. You can't solve problems alone.
Brittany: And community brings with it a grace and a respect that I think we've lost in our culture a little bit. I always say Nashville's one of those places where from a [00:29:00] business perspective, you need to be kind because you might see that person on Sunday in church, or you might see them at night in the grocery store or in the drop-off line at school.
Carli: I was gonna say the pickup line, I see everybody. Exactly. So
Brittany: like there is an element of community that also reminds us to be kind and that we're all human. And so I think that's what Nashville's music industry has been such a beautiful microcosm of. Showing the power that comes from that community.
Spencer: Brittany, it's a real treat to have you here today. As I talked about at the top, it's a full circle moment for me to get to see you as a presenter in high school and a very successful one at that won a lot of competitions. And to see you follow the path of becoming a lawyer [00:30:00] and finding success there.
Spencer: Finding success as a dean and all of the things that you're doing as a leader, it's really. Amazing to see you blend that together. Plus adding a family, plus the vulnerability of sharing your story and doing that all here with us, it really captures the spirit of what our podcast is all about. And that is highlighting people that really do embody the essence of what makes Tennessee.
Brittany: Well, thank you. I appreciate it. And thank for you for all that you guys are doing to shine a light on Tennesseeans and all the great work that's happening here. I'm glad to be here.
Spencer: Brittany Schafer, Dean for entertainment and music business at Belmont. Really fascinating conversation and someone that is a rising star, oh my gosh. I mean, [00:31:00] to come out and to make it as a partner in a law firm and then get scooped up to go to Spotify and has grown Spotify by hundreds of millions of users.
Spencer: And then to be the dean over at Belmont have a family. She is a really impressive person.
Carli: I think it comes down to her humility, though. I mean, honestly, to be able to say, I need help, I need community. It's a juggling act. I think that was the most impressive part about Britney, because yeah, she has all these accolades and that's where we could have stayed for a lot longer than we even had this morning.
Carli: But the authenticity to say not everything has been easy and it's still trying to figure it out week by week, day by day, and just sharing what it means to be present in the moment. I know that's something you and I. Try to be really intentional about, but gosh, sometimes it's just hard sometimes trying to be present when you've got 75 work emails pulling at you and you've got a kid that wants you to edit their paper and [00:32:00] another one that wants to have that deep heart to heart like five minutes before you gotta walk out the door.
Carli: All of that happened to us this morning.
Brittany (2): Yeah.
Carli: It's really hard to be present and to know how to juggle and know if you're doing it right. This what? That and the other.
Spencer: I also, having known Brittany from high school, I know, how funny
Carli: is that
Spencer: our debate teams were. Joined together and we'd travel all across the country.
Spencer: She was a year older than I, and I really remember what a talented communicator she was. She and I did a slightly different type of debate, but she was very successful and always in the finals of her competition. And it just reminds me again, how much of a believer I am in speech and debate. She has used that her entire career.
Spencer: A lot of people do become lawyers coming outta speech and debate, but not everybody I didn't. And seeing her gifting [00:33:00] as a communicator. Is something that I think has fundamentally altered her life's trajectory. And we share some of the same mentors that most of which have passed away now, but gave their lives into teaching us to be able to speak.
Spencer: And she joked, like we all have heard the phrase that more people fear public speaking than fear death. That is an unbelievable stat to me, and I think for Tennessee. A state that doesn't rank well in communication and active speech and debate programs, it's not good. That's an important priority for me, and I think pointing to examples like Brittany are the way in which we can convince more schools to prioritize this into the future.
Carli: Well, and I think it would be easy to say, Hey, arguably, you're naturally impressive. Right? I'm biased But would say that naturally, Brittany is an impressive [00:34:00] woman. But I think speech and debate is valuable to all students, whether they're extroverted or introverted, whether they have that natural wannabe out front shine, or whether they are more behind the scenes and want to think about the technique and the technology behind things.
Carli: I think it's valuable to everyone because regardless of what you're doing, if you can't communicate. If you can't vision cast, you're not gonna get anyone to do it with you. And whether your goal is to stay home with your babies for as your career, whether your goal is to be a dean and work in academia, whether you wanna be up on the podium delivering large oratory responses, it doesn't matter.
Carli: You're still gonna have to vision cast to the people under your authority, and you're still gonna have to be able to get your vision out there. And so it matters for everyone, not just certain types of people.
Spencer: I think Belmont's continuing to show that they are a force to be reckoned with the talent that they are attracted to lead that school.
Carli: Yeah. It makes me really excited for our [00:35:00] community.
