Entertainment Industry Educator + Philanthropic Strategist

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Nina Packer is  a sage of the urban entertainment industry and culture who has primarily worked with generation defining figures and brands in music, film/television, media, and social justice for over 20 years. Her life and work are a summary exposition of the powerful potential of empowering creative people to bring their passions to fruition in a commercially viable and humanity forward manner. As an entrepreneur, she has consulted with several well-known figures in entertainment, sports, and social impact to activate and anchor their endeavors by writing their visions for moving humanity forward, making them plain by creating action oriented strategic plans, and supporting them through various phases of growth and business development with executive coaching, operations management, and philanthropic engagement.

Nina entered the entertainment industry in 1999 as part of the Development and Marketing teams of Rainforest Films (now Rainforest Entertainment), founded by Will Packer and Rob Hardy. In this role she was responsible for reading and providing feedback on scripts for production consideration. She led media buying and promotional planning for the company’s independent film releases in the territories of Atlanta and the southeast region for its monumental theatrical release of the film Trois and successive films Pandora’s Box and The Gospel. She supported the company’s national independent distribution strategy for theatrical and straight to DVD releases, contributed to brand building efforts, and provided executive support and corporate talent development to the rapidly growing film production powerhouse through 2008.

Simultaneously, Nina worked as a high school Marketing Education Teacher for Clayton County Public Schools from 2001-2003. She taught Marketing Principles I and II, Entrepreneurship, Cooperative Education, and facilitated a Customer Service Certificate program via Griffin Technical College (now Southern Crescent Technical College). In 2003 she launched her nonprofit consulting firm, Nina Packer & Associates (now Nonprofit Planning & Administration). NPA began working with prominent Atlanta nonprofits such as The Study Hall, Cool Girls Inc., and 21st Century Leaders. By way of 21st Century Leaders, NPA developed and managed the two-year program pilot of Leadership Unplugged: A CNN Experience (now Warner Media Institute) in partnership with Turner Broadcasting (now Warner Media). Her national clients have included Do Something (now Do Something.org) and Burrell Communications. She has also developed, and managed family led charitable activations for sports figures affiliated with the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots.  Nina earned a Master of Public Administration degree with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University in 2006.

In 2007 Nina entered the music industry by way of her work as a philanthropic strategist for Grammy Award winning artists Neyo, Akon, David Banner, and Lil Wayne.  In 2008, upon the meteoric release of Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III album, she became the General Manager and Director of Operations for Bryant Management—the artist management firm of Cortez Bryant. Bryant Management was the management home of Lil Wayne, Drake, Lil Twist, and the Young Money Brand. After the merger between Bryant Management and Hip Hop Since 1978 created the The Blueprint Group (now BPG/Maverick) in 2010, Nina served as Operations Manager from the company’s Miami headquarters. In this role she developed and managed the day to day operational systems and physical facility, supervised and trained the firm’s administrative support staff that virtually supported the BPG executive team and artist operations teams through 2014.

NPA was tapped by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, the parents of Trayvon Martin, to help them develop the inaugural programs of The Trayvon Martin Foundation in 2014. Nina’s firm planned and activated the pilot programs Circle of Mothers and Circle of Fathers. Both programs are retreat styled therapeutic and empowerment weekends for parents who have lost their children to senseless gun violence toward the larger aim of community building. The Circle of Mothers retreat included Lisa Nichols as a healing facilitator and Afeni Shakur as keynote speaker. As well, NPA provided communications consulting support to the organization’s co-founders as they contributed to the Obama administration’s efforts to create the My Brother’s Keeper initiative. The work of the Trayvon Martin Foundation serves as the framework for today’s social justice efforts.

Nina leveraged her entertainment industry relationships to bolster support for the establishment of the Bachelor of Science in Music Industry Degree program and the Institute for Research in Music and Entertainment Industry Studies at her alma mater, Florida A&M University (FAMU) in 2011. She has taught its required Practicum in Music Management course virtually since the program’s inception and continues to enjoy shaping emerging music industry executive talent by teaching this course.

From 2016-18 Nina Packer returned to the high school classroom where she championed the effort to establish the Film and Media Magnet Program and the Sports and Entertainment Marketing CTAE Pathway at Mundy’s Mill High School in Clayton County Public Schools.

In 2017 NPA facilitated the formation of the Rob and Shaun Hardy Amazing Stories Foundation. The firm facilitated the establishment of the foundation’s Chocolate City Fund at the FAMU Foundation to cover the travel costs associated with entertainment industry internships for FAMU students. As well, Nina spearheaded and executed the effort to donate the historic film artifacts of Rainforest Entertainment to the Black Archives at FAMU.  In 2019, she helped the foundation develop and continues to manage the Amazing Stories Film & TV Apprenticeship Program to stimulate Georgia’s pipeline of diverse and high-quality talent for its film and television production workforce.
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Nina Packer is the mother of two creative and intelligent daughters, ages 20 and 16, whom she co-parents with film and media executive Will Packer.