Mike Bernardo
Consultant for Bernardo/Gladden Associates
A pioneer with over 40 years experience
in the music industry, Mike Bernardo is a true legend. Currently,
serving as a consultant for Bernardo/Gladden Associates (a
promotion, marketing and consulting firm), Mike is like the
Energizer Bunny… she just keeps going and going!
During her tenure at CBS Records, Mike Bernardo
had the pleasure of working and developing such artists as
Teddy Pendergrass, Johnnie Taylor, Patti LaBelle, Herbie Hancock,
Wynton and Branford Marsalis, LL Cool J, George Michael, Regina
Belle, The Manhattans, Public Enemy, Gladys Knight, Lou Rawls,
The Jackson 5, The O'Jays, The Isley Brothers, and the list
goes continues! Most recently, Mike was at the helm as Vice
president of Promotions at Mercury Records where she was responsible
for marketing the talents of Brian McKnight, Lionel Richie,
Will Downing and others.
If one takes a look back over Mike Bernardo's
career, they would find humble beginnings from a woman with
eager determination who honestly worked her way to the top.
From a warehouse clerk at Merrick Distributors in Long Island,
NY in the late 50s, to filling record store orders at Adam
Records, then being promoted to the A&R Division of Roulette
Records where she "shaped" and developed infant
acts into would be stars. Artists like Dinah Washington, Ray
Charles and James Brown would all benefit from her expertise.
She later joined Kama Sutra Records where she put the finishing
touches on Pop sensation, The Lovin' Spoonful. During that
time Mike was also producing jingles and took up stint at
Starday King Records and Director of Promotions.
In 1975 Mike Bernardo was recruited by CBS
Records, the #1 label and distribution company of that time
(now Sony Music Entertainment). Using street-smart guerilla
promotion tactics, in less than three years Mike went from
Local Promotion Manager to Northeast Regional to National
Director of Promotions. In that capacity she set standards
and practices for promotions and marketing for all Black music
product on Columbia, Epic and Associated labels within her
territory. As the First Black Woman at CBS to become a Regional
Promotions Marketing Manger, she is considered to be an industry
pioneer for all women.
June 1979 marked another first for Black
women in the industry, as Director of National Promotion/Jazz
Progressive Music, her responsibilities included directing
and coordinating national promotion activities, devising strategies
and directing the field staff on all assigned Jazz Progressive
product for Columbia, Epic and Associated labels.
Weathering the industry's chaotic changes,
in 1991 Mike Bernardo found herself heading up the promotions
department at for one of the new, young and cutting edge companies,
Uptown Records. Uptown Records, under the leadership of Andre
Harell, needed the structure and professionalism that Mike
Bernardo was well known for. In addition to grooming the young
staff at Uptown, Mike was directly responsible for the Platinum
successes of Jodeci, Father MC, Heavy D and Mary J. Blige.
Aside from her continuing career, Mike Bernardo
holds down Board of Director seats for Impact, Living Legends
and the NBPC. Mike maintains her "girlish" figure
by continuing her martial arts studies and walking 3 miles
a day. She also wages a diligent fight for the advancement
of Black Women in the industry in terms of economic and business
achievement. An equal opportunity fighter, she also supports
causes that educate and establish dignity and pride in young
Black men.
Currently, the cause dearest to Mike's heart
is the 331 Foundation, founded by herself and Charles Gladden.
The organization was inspired by an article in the Washington
Post: "Children Left Motherless and Alone" The article
mentioned 331 children whose parents were killed due to the
high crime rate and drug activity in the Washington DC area.
With her positive and wonderfully joyous
spirit, through the lives she touches and has touched, no
one can deny that MIKE BERNARDO IS A TRUE LEGEND.
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