In a music-industry career that began in her teens, Emmy Black has established a reputation for musical vision, innovative thinking and street-level savvy. Those qualities provide the foundation for her approach as Rhyme & Reason Records' founder and CEO. Growing up in Red Bank, New Jersey, she gained a massive amount of knowledge and insight through her early experiences in the indie trenches, managing recording and rehearsal studios as well as mixing live sound in Jersey shore clubs where she was too young to be legally admitted. At 21, she talked herself into a job at the legendary Hoboken indie label Bar/None, where she spent five years doing everything from A&R to label management, serving as the company's main contact with artists, radio, press, distribution and booking agents. She was also responsible for overseeing production schedules, traditional and digital marketing, and overall operation and strategy of all of the company's releases. She also signed grass-roots successes the Front Bottoms and Emperor X to Bar/None. During a subsequent stint in Austin, TX, Emmy expanded her resume by serving as label manager for Playing in Traffic Records and The Noise Company, as well as founding co-chair of the Austin chapter of the American Association of Independent Music. Returning to New York, she took a new position as Manager of Client Relations for the pioneering distribution/media company The Orchard. In early 2015, she decided to apply her diverse skills and far-ranging experience to create Rhyme & Reason, a forward-thinking record label designed to function within the realities of an evolving marketplace.

Kodi McKinney has years of experience developing talent in the music industry. He has played an instrumental role in spearheading media campaigns for domestic and international acts. From starting at The Syndicate in 2011, Kodi ultimately rose to oversee the company's metal marketing department including radio promotion, publicity, online properties and special events. Prior to that, he was on the editorial staff at CMJ while managing its nationwide network of college radio stations.