Yvette Noel-Schure has carved a niche for herself as a publicist. She is behind some of the powerful names in the global music and creative space, including Mariah Carey, Prince, John Legend, and Beyoncé.
Her journey toward becoming a renowned publicist started when she immigrated to support her mother in the states from Grenada at the age of 14. With a passion for journalism, Yvette would land a job as a music journalist at Black Beat Magazine, serving as an editor in 1985.
“I was covering everybody— Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, New Edition, New Kids On The Block, Babyface,” she told Shondaland. “It was a good time for music.”
While at Black Beat, she met several artists and later worked for some of them as their publicist, including Will Smith. “I remember the first time I went into a meeting with him, he said, ‘Hey, wait. You’re from Black Beat!’” She noted.
Her biggest profile interview in 1993 with Mariah Carey would catapult her further into her successful career. Following the interview, she was relentless in chasing other interviews. Her hard work soon caught the attention of the then Senior Vice President of Marketing and Media at Columbia Records Larry Jenkins, who was so impressed with her output.
Not only was Jenkins impressed with her output, but he offered her a job within the company’s media department. Initially skeptical about working as a publicist, she eventually took the job with the aim to leave an indelible mark in the field.
“This is the man whose name I will frame in gold because he gave me my start in the business,” she remarked about the impact of Jenkins on her life. “Well, I would probably frame it in diamonds because he deserves that.”
Mariah became her first client, whom she worked to get on the cover of Ebony Magazine. Following this accomplishment, her client roster grew to include some of the biggest names in music, including Kenny Lattimore, Super Cat, Mad Cobra, Grover Washington Jr., Maxwell, Wyclef, Buju Banton, and Destiny’s Child.
In 1997, she was introduced to Beyoncé as a member of Destiny’s Child before her client went solo and has maintained her role as Beyoncé’s publicist for the last 25 years.
“Her approach was so dope,” singer Kelly Rowland recalled to Forbes about Noel-Schure’s time working with Destiny’s Child. “Yvette is able to really get to know her artists,” Rowland said. She can “understand their thoughts, and little ‘isms’ and things that they haven’t been able to talk about, and then describe that to other people, and it was brilliant.”
In 2010, she co-founded Schure Media Group after quitting Sony Music, and now serves as the chief communications officer of her company. She also serves as the primary publicist for Parkwood Entertainment, a production, management, and entertainment company founded by Beyonce.
Aside from working with some of the world’s best artists, she is also excited about opening doors for others. One such person is fellow publicist Ernest Dukes.
