Desiree Perez
The Roc Star CEO of JAY-Z’s Empire
Bronx-born Desiree Perez is the CEO and co-founder of Roc Nation, and she runs it like someone who understands exactly where the leverage is. Since launching alongside JAY-Z and founding partners in 2008, she’s built the infrastructure for management, label, publishing, live, and social impact, turning Roc Nation into a business that operates across industries without losing control of its core. That instinct started early. Before boardrooms, there were nightclubs. Before Roc Nation, The 40/40 Club. You can see it in how she operates now: direct, composed, and comfortable in rooms that were never designed for her. “I walk into a room, we’re doing a $200 million deal, and it’s 30 white people in the room, or all men,” she told Billboard. “Little by little, as you evolve, you have to straighten some people out.” Under her leadership, Roc Nation has structured major deals across music, fashion, and spirits—among them Megan Thee Stallion’s Chicas Divertidas tequila and Alicia Keys’ Hennessy Paradis campaign—while expanding Team Roc’s social justice work with the same level of focus. She moved from COO to CEO without stepping away from the details, and that proximity shows. Perez remains in the work, continuing to shape how the business actually gets done.
Projects
Jay Z’s expansive, immersive Book of HOV exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library came to life under the direction of Desiree Perez and team Roc. The multimedia experience allowed fans to explore a life-sized replica of the recording studio where the rapper crafted many of his hits, and included rare photos and thousands of personal mementos. Lyrics were displayed across the library’s facade, which was designed to look like an open book. Additionally, a blue LED cube outside the building played video footage from the mogul’s career. The exhibit was so successful that it was been extended through December 2023, with the addition of Jay Z’s signature off-white Lexus. While Roc Nation’s annual Made in America Festival, a massive two-day live music event that descends on Philadelphia every Labor Day weekend, was put on pause in 2023 — Roc Nation artist Alicia Keys represented on her “Keys to the Summer” tour with a rotating stage offering the audience a 360-degree view. And we can’t NOT mention Roc Nation’s partnership with the NFL, which began in 2019 and has shifted to more inclusive (and entertaining) Super Bowl Halftime Show performances.
