Karleen Roy

Karleen Roy is a multi-hyphenate media personality and founder and CEO of The Vanity Group. Her company produces customized events for music and celebrity clients and collaborates with entertainment and beauty companies such as Atlantic Records, Estée Lauder, Motown Records and Netflix. [ENTRIES LATER ON] Roy produces her own annual programs benefiting women, Grit Before the Gram and Owning The Block.
==Early Life and Career==
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Roy moved to Memphis, Tennessee, when she was nine. She entered Howard University in Washington, D.C., with the intention of entering the medical field of dermatology but, after graduated in 2004 with a degree in sociology and minor in public relations.
Later that year, Roy arrived in New York and began her career in the entertainment industry as an intern at Def Jam Recordings. In 2005, she was hired by Compound Entertainment as an artist management coordinator, where she helped represent American singer-songwriter Ne-Yo. The same year, she joined the Legacy Music division of Sony Music Entertainment as a copyright coordinator.
Roy also volunteered at hip-hop artist company Violator Management in the evenings until, in 2006, she became senior executive assistant to Sean Combs at Bad Boy Entertainment.
==The Vanity Group==
After a half-decade with Bad Boy, Roy launched The Vanity Group in 2013 in New York City. [SOURCE] The company is now based in Los Angeles, California. Among The Vanity Group’s first clients were Rick Ross, Fabolous, and Wale. The company has produced events for clients including Atlantic Records, Cardi B, MMG, Sean Combs, Adrienne Bailon,Common, Def Jam, Idris Elba, Migos, Warner Music, Ne-Yo, Zac Posen, and YouTube. [SOURCES]
In 2020, Roy launched an e-learning online platform called The Event Academy, an educational resource for event professionals to improve their skills. She has offered advice on event planning in publications such as Forbes, Black Enterprise, Essence, Refinery29 and GQ.
===Client events===
* In 2016, for the 40th birthday of Rick Ross, Roy oversaw a crew of 70 to prepare the rapper’s 109-room Atlanta, Georgia, estate for about 500 guests.
* In 2017, Roy arranged the Paris wedding of singer/actress Adrienne Bailon to Israel Houghton. The ballroom ceremony was photographed by Mon Conte e Fées[SOURCE?], and Roy collaborated with the bride on finding her Walter Mendez gown.
* In 2018, Roy oversaw a staff of about 40 people when she presented a baby shower for Cardi B and husband Offset in Atlanta. The Bronx-themed event featured a recreation of the rapper’s Bronx neighborhood complete with subway car replicas, a bodega, and the hip-hop group Orchestra Noi.
===Programs===
* In 2019, Roy launched Owning The Block, an empowerment experience for ambitious millennials and members of Gen Z in Memphis. A second Owning The Block program was held in October 2022.
* In January 2020, Roy conceived and implemented the first annual Grit Before the Gram in Los Angeles, California. The event honored black women of the music industry, and took place before the Grammy Awards.
===Television and Cable===
* Roy partnered with WW for a wellness journey, appearing on a WW commercial
* Roy was a spokesperson for WW on The Real
* Roy appeared on Showtime series with Desus & Mero
* Roy was featured in a national TJ Maxx commercial for a Maxx Swap
==Awards==
In 2021, Roy was named to Ulta Beauty's list of Culture Creators as part of the company's MUSE 100.
Category:1980 births
Category:People from St. Louis, Missouri
Category:Howard University alumni
[[Category:Media personalities]
Category:Founders
Category:Chief executive officers]