Ep. 054 - Paula Boggs - Former Top Starbucks Lawyer, Airborne Army Officer & Front-Woman of the Paula Boggs Band

THE SEA-TOWN PODCAST: Interviewing Seattle's Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs

This week’s guest is Paula Boggs, founder of Boggs Media, LLCand the Paula Boggs Band. Paulais a philanthropist, fundraiser, public speaker, and musician. She is also a Board Member of numerous for-profit and non-profit organizations. Paula spent her first 10 years of her career in public service, first as an army officer and then as a federal prosecutor. She then took a position with Dell where she worked for five years in Austin, Texas before transitioning to Starbucks in Seattle, Washington. From 2002 to 2012 she served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Law and Corporate Affairs at Starbucks Corporation. 13 years ago, Paula’s sister in law passed away in car crash. During the grieving processes, Paula’s spouse encouraged her to take out her guitar as a way to grieve. When her sister in law passed away, Paula was Starbucks’ top lawyer. She had come to a point where she had done everything at Starbucks she wanted to do and then some. She felt there was this other thing she needed to do. Paula decided to go for it and created the Paula Boggs band. One of the gifts Paula had was being in an environment at Starbucks where people were attached to music in some way. She’s grateful she received a lot of support for her journey. Paula is currently focused on Boggs Media, LLC which is a corporate vessel for the band. It houses all the intellectual property Paula owns. She has 30 plus copyrights from songs she has written and trademarks. When she isn’t touring, focused on the band or public speaking, she is also on the board at Avid technology, a media editing company across music, film and broadcasting. In addition, Boggs Media, LLC is a source for supporting artists through Go Fund Me and other activities. It is a small business right now with a few independent contractors. Paula aspires toward what she calls Boggs Media 2.0, a future phase of the business she envisions and is aspiring towards. In the last three years, the Paula Boggs band has toured extensively and done about 200 shows in almost every region of the United States. She calls the bands music Seattle Brewed Soul Grass, a fusion of folk, blue grass, jazz, rock and world music with a lot of three-part harmony using roots music instruments. She calls is music for the soul. The band makes music to entertain but also to inspire people to feel something or think about something in a slightly different way. Learn more about Paula’s career journey, the Paula Boggs band and Boggs Media LLC in this episode. Episode Highlights:

• What made Paula want to be a lawyer in the first place
• Paula’s career path to this point
• Paula’s decision to create the Paula Boggs band
• What Paula is most excited about right now
• Highlights of the band
• Citizen artistry
• The most challenging aspect of transition from the corporate world to pursuing the passion of music
• Importance of being self motivated

Links & Resources:

• Guest's Website: http://paulaboggs.com
• Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepaulaboggsband/
• Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulaboggsband
• Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulaboggsband/?hl=en

Guest’s Contact Info: Paula Boggs 617-782-3111 Ways to Subscribe to The Sea-Town Podcast:

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