Cardi B’s PR Team Patientce Foster & Bun Monroe on How They Built Her Brand Beyond Music

Cardi B had one question for Patientce Foster when the soon-to-be chart-topping rapper was looking for a new publicist in 2015. The two had met a month before when Foster’s longtime friend Bun Monroe, an A&R consultant and live-event producer at BDW, had brought Cardi to Wilmington, Del., and Foster suggested he bring the artist to her hair salon there.

Cardi and Foster ran into each other again at New York Fashion Week, where Foster had begun transitioning careers through an internship at fashion and beauty brand firm PR Consulting. Cardi invited her to dinner, where she sought advice regarding her planned cosmetics line, Washpoppin.

“She asked, ‘My old publicist said that I should name this eyeshadow Pretty in Pink, but I want to name it Pussy Poppin Pink. What do you think?’ ” Foster recalls. “I was like, ‘You should name it Pussy Poppin Pink.’ And she was like, ‘OK.’ I guess that was my interview: if I was down for who she was or if I thought she needed to be rebranded.”

Cardi had found her new publicist; someone who would amplify her creative vision. And for more than a decade, Foster has guided the “WAP” rapper to become a household name far beyond music. She helped align Cardi with brands such as Fashion Nova, a partnership that started with promotional social media posts and led to capsule collections that sold out in hours. That list has since grown to include deals with Balenciaga, Pepsi, Uber Eats and Amazon, creating a strong brand identity for an artist with just one studio album to her name.

After 10 years of partnering on live events and other creative projects, Foster and Monroe are merging their expertise to found management firm Fifth and Freedom with talent and brand clients including Joey Bada$$, Lakeyah, Meta/Facebook, Cîroc and their “proof of concept,” Cardi B. (While Foster and Monroe work with her on the creative and brand side, Full Stop Management handles the rapper’s music career.)

“What Cardi has become and what we have built with her,” Foster says, “is a reflection of that type of authenticity and hands-on approach.”

How will your management company differentiate itself from others?

Bun Monroe: Fifth and Freedom is going to be focused on ownership, wellness and not traditional management.

Patientce Foster: We’ve been able to see from a ton of different points of view how traditional management handles talent. It is very much about the bottom line. A lot of times, it is about finding leverage and advantages for the management companies and agencies themselves. We’re not knocking the hustle, but mental wellness is often neglected. Watching celebrities, we’ve always had this idea that because they were rich and famous, they were happy. You can only create something to the best of your ability when you are genuinely well from a mind perspective and a soul perspective.

How do you intend to address financial and mental health concerns?

Foster: We want to create partnerships with [companies like] betterhelp.com, Chime or Cash App. We understand that there are degrees of separation. We are not going to say, “Hey, this is the business manager you need,” but, “You may need business management,” or, “We have access to some life coaches or people to help you navigate what you’re feeling.” A lot of the time, artists think of their management as all of the above: “You’re my therapist. You’re my travel agent. You’re my accountant.”

How is Cardi B an example of what Fifth and Freedom will offer?

Foster: Building a brand that supports an artist outside of music is extremely important. A lot are not able to sustain [careers] off the money they make through their music because of how many hands are in the pot: publishing, labels, commissions — the list goes on.

Recently, myself, Cardi and the team announced a joint venture with [online fashion retailer] Revolve & FWRD, where she has a substantial amount of equity and has been able to build a relationship with billion-dollar partners. We’re not relying on one stream of income. We’re focused on building our artists’ brands so they have a strong foundation to rely on through every high and low in their music careers.

How have you been able to keep Cardi’s stock high with one album that was released in 2018?

Foster: If you have not successfully built a [brand] that can still drive without putting out an album, then you’ve done a disservice to your talent. You put them in a position where they feel like, “I have to put something out immediately because I need to generate income.”

The way that we have done that for the past seven years is consistently keeping Cardi part of the conversation, whether it is lifestyle or fashion. In the beginning, when she decided, “I really want to do music,” my thought process was, “Until they listen to you, let’s get them to look at you.” We would use my access as a [public relations] intern to see her front row at fashion shows before any of these fashion houses had a level of respect for who she is. [Stylist] Kollin Carter came on and, with his brilliance and genius, built her in the fashion space. If everything were to fall today, we know she can build a partnership with a fashion brand.

Why has Cardi waited seven years to release another album?

Foster: Cardi didn’t allow the pressure of the public to push her into putting something out that she wasn’t ready to put out. She was OK with the sacrifice that she may lose fans; she may lose interest. We’ve all watched her evolve over the past seven years. She started as an internet personality. She went into television. She started to build her music career. She became a mother. She showed us she can do multiple things without compromising. It’s perfect timing for her. She’s ready for a new era.

Can you help any artist build a brand as strong as Cardi’s?

Monroe: Some artists are brats and can’t be managed.

Foster: Before we decide to work with an artist, we make sure we align on a few principles. Some people just want an assistant; people to answer their emails. They don’t want advisement. They don’t want structure.

A part of the process is understanding whether that person is capable of building a [brand]. With Cardi, early on it was hard to build a business that attracted multiple audiences because she was too urban, too unapologetic. She’s super uncensored, and our approach was taking that authenticity and helping to amplify that to everyone else in the world who can relate to what she’s saying and where she’s been.

It is a disservice to tell someone, “I can make you into a Cardi B.” Now, can I help develop who you already authentically are? Can I help you leverage that into brand opportunity and equitable opportunity? Yes. Can Bun hear what you’re saying, hear what your sound is and help you build on that? Yes. We have seen some of the most interesting and some of the most boring people do that. I’m truly a believer that there’s an audience for everyone.

What makes you good partners?

Foster: Bun’s ability to know raw talent when he sees it and then, with his network of producers and songwriters, help build that out for emerging artists and established artists who need direction. I’ve got the business stuff; he’s got the music stuff. So let’s create a safe place for artists to create.

Monroe: We’ve known each other since we were 19. Patientce had the same drive back then as she does now. If she’s got her mind on something, she’s going to get it done.