Lisa La Rocca

Lisa La Rocca is Director of Operations at independent record label Sonic Unyon Records in Hamilton, where she manages hip-hop artist LTtheMonk. She founded the Fresh Up R&B Fest in 2022 and leads logistics on other Sonic Unyon produced festivals Supercrawl, Because Beer, Why Not Wine, as well as many other third party events including Grey Cup Festival (2024/2022), Junofest (2022/2015), and Pan Am Games Hamilton (2015). The company also manages two venues in Hamilton, Bridgeworks and Mills Hardware. Lisa is currently chair of Hamilton’s Music Advisory Team, a member of the Hamilton Arts Advisory Commission, serves as a board member of the Hamilton-Halton-Brant Regional Tourism Organization and the Downtown Hamilton BIA. She was the music sector representative on the Mayor’s Taskforce for Economic Recovery in Hamilton, and in 2022 spearheaded the Music Cities Forum and Hamilton Music Business Study alongside Sound Diplomacy and other partners in the city. She is a part- time PhD student in the Communication and Culture program at York University with a focus on Popular Music Studies, and holds an M.A. in Communication and New Media from McMaster University.