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Amani Duncan’s impressive career started with a bold decision and an old-school search technique.

The bold decision was opting out of her original plan to become an attorney and taking a chance on the music industry instead. The search technique was decidedly analog: the Yellow Pages. Using this printed directory, she looked up record companies and came across the name Def Jam. She dialed.

“The woman who answered the phone was the SVP of Artists & Repertoire (A&R), the people who actually find and work with artists,” says Duncan. “I went into my little speech: ‘I'm a recent graduate. I'm looking for an internship,’ and she said, ‘Just show up tomorrow.’”

Showing up at Def Jam led to a decade in the recording industry, with leadership roles at both Capitol Records and Virgin Records. Along the way, she worked with iconic artists including Lenny Kravitz, Katy Perry, Jay-Z and Coldplay. Now, the alumna of the Leavey Executive Center’s renowned Black Corporate Board Readiness (BCBR) Program serves in a high-profile role on the board of leading guitar manufacturer Fender.

The record business was just one phase of Duncan’s varied career. She later served as head of brand marketing for Martin Guitars, for example. That might seem like a natural progression from the recording industry, but manufacturing acoustic guitars is pretty far removed from making and marketing hip-hop and pop records, both culturally and in terms of challenges. The same could be said of Duncan’s later role as senior vice president of music for MTV. Once again, it was “music,” but it was an entirely different industry with a new set of needs.

The constants in all these roles were Duncan’s leadership skills, curiosity and never-stop-learning attitude, and the fresh perspectives she brought to each new challenge.

“I don’t want to be put in a box,” Duncan says of her career, which has been diverse by design. “I just want to be known as an astute businesswoman. People early in my career were telling me I was making the wrong moves, but I was building a portfolio.”

That diverse portfolio now makes Duncan a successful board member now, too, in both the corporate and nonprofit worlds.

A Boost from BCBR

Duncan’s board journey began a few years before she took the role at Fender and before she participated in BCBR.

In 2018, while she was working at MTV, Duncan received a call from a board member for Cumulus Media. “He had come across my CV and liked the experience he saw,” Duncan says. “They were looking to refresh their board for Cumulus. Now, at that time, I wasn't board-ready. I knew nothing about boards. Obviously, I didn't get that board seat, but he became a mentor to me.”

The curiosity that drove Duncan to succeed in multiple industries also led her to learn more about board work. She first dove in through nonprofit board seats with the Art Directors Guild and Outward Bound USA. Then Fender called. Duncan soon found herself in her first corporate board role in 2022. With her experience in everything from guitar manufacturing,  to music marketing, she had found a great fit.

Given her profile and experience, she also began to get solicitation from various Ivy League board training programs, but none felt quite right. “I had thought about doing board training programs,” Duncan says, “but then I would think, ‘I’m a sitting board member. Do I really need this?’”

A chat with former Fender EVP and BCBR alumnus Ed Magee changed her mind. BCBR alumni frequently tout the value of the group’s extensive and impressive network of leaders, and how those leaders advocate for each other and the program. They share opportunities with each other. They mentor others for board service. “BCBR has one of the most active and dynamic groups of alumni I’ve ever come across,” Duncan says.

“This program is exactly what I need, and it’s been such a blessing. It was partly a refresher course for me. There were a lot of things I already knew, because I'm a sitting board member. But there was also just so much new information that I didn't know that has sharpened my skill set as a board director. My board bio is sharper than ever because of the program. I am better in the boardroom because of this program.”

One key lesson from the program is how to modify your skills and expectations when you make the switch from business operator to a board consulting role. “When you are a board member, you are an advisor,” Duncan notes. “You are there to serve the board and to be a strategic advisor to the CEO and the senior leadership team. So sometimes with new board members, it gets a little tricky because you want to go in and try to solve problems directly. But that is not your role.”

Instead, Duncan brings her years of experience to the table and tries to listen, ask smart questions and simply serve. She shares her insight on manufacturing issues as Fender navigates tariffs. She advises the company’s marketing leaders on how to create buy-in for their ideas. And in her nonprofit work on the board for Girl Scouts of Greater New York, she provides knowledge about supply chain challenges in service of a classic cause: the cookie sale.

As a Black woman in high-profile positions, Duncan also doesn’t discount the importance of representation — and simply showing up like she did on that first day at Def Jam. She feels blessed to have had such success in her career, but she’s also known the challenges that come with being the only person at the table who looked like her. She feels compelled to pay it forward, whether through advocating for board service, inspiring listeners during her speaking engagements, or simply continuing to show up and take a seat at the table.

“I need people to see someone that looks like me sitting at those tables so that the next Amani may have it that much easier,” Duncan says.