Whitney-Gayle Benta
Whitney-Gayle Benta is a visionary talent executive responsible for creating some of pop culture’s most dynamic moments of the past 10 years. In 2013, she was appointed the Sr. Vice President of Music & Talent for Sean “Diddy” Combs’ REVOLT, the music mogul’s forthcoming celebrated cable network. Benta’s combination of music industry know-how, TV production credits and a Rolodex that rivals her boss’, positions her as a major player in pushing REVOLT to become the #1 music destination for millennials and the urban audience.
Before joining REVOLT, Benta was a VP at MTV News, where she negotiated talent booking across a multiple platforms, including television(the Video Music Awards), digital (MTV’s RapFix Live) and mobile; co-conceptualized the award-winning MTV Diary documentary, “Jay-Z: Water For Life”; and managed the series booking for “When I Was 17,” This Is How I Made It”, MTV’s “This is How I Made It” and MTV’s “Rapfix Live.”
In the past, Benta has also held marketing positions at Island Def Jam Records and Noontime Records. As a member of those teams she worked on album campaigns for superstar artists such as Jay-Z, Ja Rule, DMX, Ashanti, Ludacris, LL Cool J, MusiqSoulchild and Atlanta collective Jim Crow, which included the now noted producer Polow Da Don.
Benta’s efforts in music and media have been recognized through a series of awards and nominations, not limited to Billboard magazine’s Women in Music 2011, MTV Networks’ (MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, CMT, Comedy Central) “Share The Vision” Award and the United Nations honoring her work as a part of “Jay-Z: Water For Life.”
The Harlem, New York native attended Spelman College and graduated with a B.A. in Entertainment Industries studies, an independent major in which she developed her own curriculum.