Genna Alexopoulos Is 'Incredibly Privileged That The Phone Hasn’t Stopped Ringing'

Genna Alexopoulos is the founder of the Melbourne-based national publicity and consulting firm Super Duper.

She has led PR strategy for Alex The Astronaut, Angie McMahon, Camp Cope, ENOLA, Jaguar Jonze, Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers, and programs with Sydney Opera House, Live Nation, National Geographic and Zoos Victoria.

She mentors young people through AIR’s Women In Music program and, as a workshop facilitator with The Push, fundraised tens of thousands of dollars for Girls Rock! Australia, earmarked for scholarships for applicants from low-income households, participated as a committee member for Helping Hoops, which uses basketball to inspire, empower, and support children and young people, and helped out on the ground with Muslim women in sports, Hijabi Ballers. 

Q: What was your first job in the music industry?

GA: “I’ve been involved in the music industry in one way or another since I was a teenager. I started booking small club shows around Melbourne CBD when I was absolutely not old enough to legally be in those venues, and my first on-the-regular-payroll job was as a PR Coordinator at Shock Records a few years later in Sydney, working with Bec Reato (and later Emily Kelly) who now run the PR, marketing and digital agency Deathproof.”

Q: You worked at Shock and Big Day Out, what do you recall were your specific favourite moments? 

GA: “Looking back on them now, my favourite moments were the ones that happened around the job itself. Watching Thomo make an exhibition’s worth of band portraits on MS Paint while on the clock in the sales office. 

“Mac Miller playing the grand piano in a hotel lobby after the Adelaide Big Day Out. Hearing (BDO)’s Ken West’s stories. The people. I’m too sentimental for this question.”

Q: “What do you remember most about the first day at Super Duper – joy or apprehension? The phone never stopped ringing? The electricity wasn’t turned on?

GA: “I distinctly remember being on my laptop in my living room in Darlinghurst and feeling everything –  joy, apprehension, excitement, and deep, deep uncertainty. 

“I had started Super Duper after my full-time role at Big Day Out was made redundant three months in. I had moved back to Sydney for the job, and I was young, so after the redundancy, my confidence was pretty shaken. 

“Bit of a full circle moment, Christie, but you writing about its launch in The Brag’s Industry News column really helped me get my head around it as a legitimate thing at that time. It’s something I’ve always held immense gratitude to you for. 

“It was the first time I’d really followed my gut with my career, and it felt like a big leap. Ten years in, and I’m incredibly privileged that the phone hasn’t stopped ringing.” 

Q:  How would you describe what Super Duper does?

GA: “Publicity is the core of Super Duper. For this - in its most basic form - we build strategy and manage media outreach and profile building for artists, most often when they’re in a release cycle. 

“We do a pretty thorough onboarding with everyone we work with so we can firmly orient ourselves in our artists’ worlds to understand who they are, what makes them tick, and how we can best use our skills to turn up the heat on what they’re doing.

“Then comes the campaign planning, narrative building, writing, pitching to press, and a lot of reporting, all with the goal of creating campaigns that are hinged on strong storytelling that will sustainably build their profile over time and that complement and benefit what the artist is doing in touring, streaming, marketing and brand partnerships. 

“Above all, we make sure that our artists’ work is being represented in a way that’s true to who they are, and aligned with their values - Melody Forghani at 23, someone who I deeply respect, talks about it as the ‘promotion and protection of artists and their stories’ and there’s no better way to put it. 

“We publicly and privately advocate for our artists when they need us to, problem solve with artists, managers and labels, and set an insane amount of reminders to make sure everything comes in and happens when it needs to so the wheels keep turning. 

“Outside of publicity, we provide consultation, project management, ghostwriting, and I mentor young people in the music industry.”

Q: What are your current projects?

GA: “Angie McMahon, Sarah Blasko, Gut Health, Hachiku, Teen Jesus and The Jean Teasers, A. Swayze & the Ghosts, Hannah McKittrick, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Meghna, Radio Free Alice, Tiny Habits, Jess Ribeiro, Robert Baxter… there are more. 

“I pinch myself. We are very lucky that such wildly talented people and artists fold us into their worlds and trust us with their creativity and their stories.”

Q: You lived in Canada for a time, how did that come about and what did you do there?

GA: “I wish it came about for more aspirational reasons, but the reality is I was really burnt out at the time and wanted to take some time away from music to see what else was going on in the world. 

“I was in Toronto for two and a half years; the first year, I worked at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) and a couple of other film festivals and whatever other odd job I could find while I found my feet. 

“After that, I was hired by a global creative agency to launch their public relations office in Toronto, and soon after, was overseeing their teams in Toronto, Montreal, New York, and LA. 

“We worked with a lot of high profile international organisations and companies, like the United Nations [and] Hyundai - it was a really interesting experience, as a lifelong independent girlie, it opened my eyes to how the other half live and through that role was able to strengthen my thought leadership, strategy and stakeholder management muscles which still serve us to this day. 

“It’s an experience I’ll always be grateful for having; I had this whole other path open up in front of me but ultimately affirmed that I’m meant to be working in ways that positively impact people and their communities more directly.”

Q: Belated congrats on being the inaugural winner of the Independent Publicity Team of the Year Award at the 2023 AIR Awards for your work with Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers, Pretty Good For A Girl Band. 

GA: “Thank you, that means a lot. I’m really excited about the nominees this year. Janine Morcos is the best heavy music publicist we have in this country. I feel really lucky to witness and be in the orbit of her talent and tenacity. 

“Jess Searle’s work on Jen Cloher’s brilliant record was my favourite PR campaign of the last year; just incredible. 

“Sarah Guppy, I wish I could find the words to properly articulate how much I admire her and her approach to her work, publicity and otherwise. 

“Shoutout, AIR, for shining the light on all that they do.”

Genna Alexopoulos will appear as a speaker at this year’s Indie-Con Australia event on Thursday, 1 August. You can find more details about her Indie-Con schedule here.