How I Got Here: Untitled Group’s Coco Mathieson on pivoting from ballet to PR
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AS TOLD TO MARYEL SOUSA
On starting a whole new career at 30.
Welcome to How I Got Here, where we talk to people who are killing it in their respective fields about how they landed their awe-inspiring jobs. We explore the peaks and pits, the failures and the wins, and most importantly, the knowledge, advice and practical tips they’ve gleaned on the journey.
Some careers you study for, some you spend years working toward. But PR Manager Coco Mathieson quite literally danced her way to Untitled Group, where she leads all things media and publicity for some of Australia’s biggest music festivals – Beyond The Valley, Wildlands and Pitch, to name a few.
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Like many young girls, Coco dreamt of becoming a ballerina, not a PR manager. Unlike most of us, she actually did both. After graduating from The Australian Ballet School, she travelled Europe from city to city, auditioning for jobs at ballet companies, an experience she describes as a master class in rejection. But it takes just one ‘yes’ to build a career, and Coco began dancing for a small company in Germany before eventually returning to Australia, where she danced professionally for eight years.
The skills she learnt during that time still serve her today, namely the ability to handle the unexpected. “Both roles require you to constantly shuffle a million thoughts at once,” she tells me. “You’re constantly thinking about what’s happening right now, what needs attention next and what’s coming further down the line, while being at the mercy of things you can’t control.”
Having landed in her current role without the usual experience, Coco has also dealt with feelings of imposter syndrome. But over time, she’s learned that having a good attitude is more than half the battle. “All the other bits are teachable but how you work, the way you treat others and make them feel, is what sticks with people.”
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Fashion Journal: Hi Coco! What do you do and what’s your official job title?
Coco: I’m a PR Manager at Untitled Group. It would take a minute to cover everything in the job description. In a nutshell, I lead all things media and publicity across our major festivals, including Beyond The Valley, Wildlands, Pitch and Ability Fest. I also lead and manage publicity across our additional major events and tours year-round.
Did you have an idea of your dream job growing up?
Aside from early visions of being a hairdresser or invisible, I grew up pretty set on being a ballerina.
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Take us back to your time at the Australian Ballet School. What was it like, and where did it take you?
I grew up in New Zealand and moved to Melbourne with my mum and sister at 14 to join The Australian Ballet School full-time. This meant ballet really became my life. We completed half a day of ballet and half a day of academic work every day, with each year building on ballet hours while traditional academic subjects and hours slowly declined.
At the time, it was everything I wanted it to be. The bottom line of ballet as a passion and profession is that you generally commit to it at a very young age, build a strong pain threshold and do nothing else. The end game is a wonderful career as an artist and professional athlete in a ballet company somewhere in the world, joining the top percentile of elite dancers who ‘make it’.
The Australian Ballet Company chooses a very limited number of dancers to join its ranks, while the remaining students graduate from the ballet school and continue their endeavours, either finding work in companies elsewhere or choosing other paths. At the time, my goal was to make my family’s sacrifice worthwhile and make it into The Australian Ballet Company.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. I was one of two female dancers who didn’t make the cut. From there (after many, many tears), I travelled Europe for three months, spending two to three days in each city with a ballet company, auditioning for a job. I learnt a lot about rejection. At the very end of my travels, I got a ‘yes’ from a small ballet company in Germany, where I moved at 18 to live and dance for just over two years, kicking off my professional ballet career.
From there, I moved across to the Atlanta Ballet Company in America just months after my 21st birthday (perfect timing) and danced for two years. Eventually, my childhood goal and dream finally came true. I was offered a contract back in Melbourne, among the ranks, as a dancer at The Australian Ballet Company, where I stayed for almost eight years.
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Why did you eventually pivot into another industry?
I was tired. Ballet’s wonderfully rewarding but also exhausting, physically, mentally and emotionally taxing, and the art form is subjective, which makes it incredibly personal and all-consuming.
The reality was, I was content with the career I had and could feel myself slipping into a place where it was no longer fun or enjoyable. The Australian Ballet performs roughly 200 shows a year, with eight show weeks and spends almost six months a year on tour. Eight years of that was enough. And I always saw myself having another career one day. As incredibly scary as it was, I was lucky enough to make the choice for myself and be happy with it. I didn’t want to retire hating the thing I’d loved.
How did you land your current role with Untitled?
One of my best friends always retells the story of me sitting on the rocks in Manly, tossing up the idea of retiring from ballet and saying that my far-fetched dream would be a career in music. Her response was, “That sounds like a fab plan – study, intern, do anything and everything, work your way up, then land the dream job.”
I was so lucky; just three months after retiring, I literally fell into this job. I had zero experience in music, PR or general computer use, and I’d only played around with the idea of studying. Randomly, a friend put me in contact with the then Head of PR at Untitled Group and suggested I have a coffee with her to pick her brain about her journey.
Long story short, we had a couple of coffees and instead of going with her original plan to hire an experienced industry publicist, she saw what I couldn’t yet and decided to take a chance on the girl who knew nothing and teach me.
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Walk us through a typical day in the life on your job.
Every day’s completely different in the office, let alone once we get on site at events and festivals. PR, in particular, is driven by a lot of external factors, so anything can pop up at any moment. Sometimes that means dropping everything you’re working on to pick up something else.
A regular day for me at the moment generally includes waking up to a lot of emails from artists’ teams and media outlets, covering everything from our festivals, events and tours to announcement press releases, media partnerships, interview opportunities and on-the-ground preferences and movements, just to name a few.
Right now, we’re heading into the thick of the summer season, so it’s full steam ahead with implementing our festival strategies, media partnerships, artist interviews and press opportunities, preparing as much as we can for any hiccups that may arise on the ground and non-stop new event and tour announcements along the way.
What’s been a major career highlight for you so far?
My recent promotion to PR Manager. After putting legitimate blood, sweat and tears into my work, feeling valued and respected within a group of people I hold in really high regard is lovely and a massive confidence booster.
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What challenges did you face getting to where you are now?
The obvious one of starting a whole new career at 30 would be easiest to speak to here but when I dig deeper, most of the real challenges have been internal. Anyone who’s ever been near ballet will understand the deep, consistent self-criticism that comes with it. Unlearning that has been one of the largest challenges I’ve faced to date and I’d say one of the biggest things that has held me back.
What’s the best part about your role at Untitled?
I don’t think you can do this job without being addicted to the feeling you get when a festival or event is successful. Being even a tiny part of helping people make lifelong memories and discover their new favourite artist at these types of events is unparalleled.
What would surprise people working in PR?
I think some people believe anyone who works in PR or music is the non-stop life of the party and all glamorous fun. In reality, a lot of the time, I’m in a dusty site shed somewhere on my computer, working while listening to the artists on our lineup through the vibrating office walls or taking a quiet moment to myself.
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What skills have served you well in your industry?
Listening to people. I think there’s real merit in taking a back seat initially, gathering and processing as much information as you can before moving forward. This isn’t a skill that comes naturally to me; I was a sucker for immediacy, sometimes to impress and sometimes out of pure panic. Now it’s a skill that I really prioritise.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to be in a role like yours one day?
Being a hard worker, eager to learn, passionate and kind (while still standing by your opinions and boundaries) will get you a lot further than any degree or natural talent. Speaking as someone who genuinely started as the epitome of a personality hire, all the other bits are teachable but how you work, the way you treat others and make them feel, is what sticks with people.
What about a practical tip?
Learn how to use Do Not Disturb wisely. I have three to four people who have the privilege of contacting me on DND if shit hits the fan. This industry doesn’t stop. I’ve learnt it’s truly invaluable to find a process that works for you so you can intentionally switch off and protect your brain when you need to. You cannot be on all the time. Protect the safe space you create so the thing you love doesn’t turn into the thing you don’t.
Keep up with Coco here.
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