About Straight Up Entertainment Group

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Melinda Bell served as Sr. Vice President of the Wright Entertainment Group from its inception in 1993 until 2016 when she decided to focus on the growth of her own company Straight Up Entertainment Group, an entertainment company whose focus is on music management, brand synergy, artist development and special event production.

WEG, a Music Management Company whose roster includes *NSYNC, Justin Timberlake, Jermaine Dupri, Nick Jonas, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joe Jonas, Jonas Brothers, Incubus, Melissa Gorga, Laurie Ann Gibson, Ciara, and AKON amongst others. WEG and Melinda have also worked with Backstreet Boys, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, David Archuleta, Danity Kane, Aubrey O’Day, Boyz II Men, Color Me Badd, Christina Milian, Aaron Carter, Wild Orchid and Nick Cannon as they developed and grew their music careers. 

Working with Wright Entertainment Group, Melinda was part of the team responsible for more than 400million in album sales while developing the careers of several of the biggest names in the music industry. Melinda helped Johnny Wright start and develop the company back in the early 90's and work on all sides of the management team; the development, branding, marketing, endorsements, procuring brand deals, and various philanthropy projects for the company’s clients. In addition, she also helps with artist development, website development, social media and did the charity work for the company and its artists. Also having served as the Executive Director of *NSYNC's Challenge For The Children Foundation and The Chris Kirkpatrick Foundation, Melinda raised and distributed over $6 million dollars to various children’s charities throughout the United States. She also produced the Hollywood Walk Of Fame Ceremony for *NSYNC which drew one of the largest crowds every seen at a star ceremony.

Over the years Melinda has also produced and executive produced music videos, special events and celebrity weekends for clients with budgets ranging from four to over seven figure budgets. Her expertise covers everything from creative concepts, development, budgeting, sponsorship, brand partnering, hiring staff and overseeing 100s of volunteers during the multi event weekends. Nothing is too big or small for Melinda and Straight Up to take on and make a 1st class event from start to finish.

Other clients Straight Up has worked with and continues to work with include Jermaine Dupri (So So Def), Kelsie Watts, Devyne Stephens (UpFront Megatainment), ContunuumLIVE, The Invictus Games, Roy Williams (NFL), Baron Davis (NBA), Paul Pierce (NBA), NBC Sports, Sharhonda Stockman and Scott Messina (Messina Productions), Purple Hype Productions amongst others.

Melinda is a member of National Recording Academy of Arts & Sciences and has served on the board for the Florida Chapter. She is also serving as a member of the Community Leadership Council for Orlando Health Foundation and The Howard Phillips Center. Prior to joining Wright Entertainment Group, Melinda performed and worked at Walt Disney World during High School and College.  After Graduating from University of Central Florida with a BA in Radio & Television Communications, she freelanced in TV and Film, where she worked on various TV commercials, sporting events, television shows and produced music videos and a children's instructional golf videos. Melinda was also one of the original Staff Producers to launch The Golf Channel.

Melinda’s career path has given her the opportunity to work with NBC SPORTS on NFL Games, NBA Games, MLB Games, PGA Tour stops, the 1996 Summer Olympics in ATL as a Stage Manager for the on-air talent covering basketball and the 2016 INVICTUS Games as a Headline Talent Manager. To this day she has continued her strong relationships with the NBA and the NFL consulting on talent for their various events throughout their seasons and special events.

Although this partial list of credits is impressive, perhaps Melinda's greatest asset is her ability to manage artists to their potential and communicate her technical needs as well as the communication skills needed to convey her creative vision. She is the perfect fit in breakthrough situations, because of her breakthrough skills.

Music continues to be Melinda's first love and with her diverse background it has allowed her to create her own company Straight Up Entertainment Group, a sister company to WEG. In addition, it helps her as a member of the powerhouse team that continues to guide their clients to super stardom.