Keith Wooten is a Los Angeles native, but he left the city for 15 years to attend college and get his start in the entertainment business. While a freshman in college at Clark Atlanta University he began interning in the music business and eventually landed an assistant position in the Video Production and Marketing Departments at LaFace Records, a record label owned by LA Reid and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds. 

After working at LaFace for several years, he reluctantly decided to leave the company when the owners sold it to Arista Records in 2000. He then moved into film and music video production, assisting one of the owners of the indie film company, Strange Fruit Films. After two years at Strange Fruit he realized that film production was not his passion, and the marketing of music was what he truly wanted to do.

In January 2002, he took a leap of faith and moved to New York City, three months after 9/11, to pursue his career aspirations. As fate would have it, Keith ended up regaining his marketing position, working for LA Reid at Arista Records. From 2002 to 2010, Keith managed to grow from Marketing Assistant to Director, and worked at some of the most renowned record labels such as Jive/Zomba, Virgin/Capitol, Def Jam, and Bad Boy Records. Over the course of his music career he has managed the marketing of albums for recording artists such as Usher, Outkast, TLC, Pink, Ciara, and Janet Jackson.

After experiencing the effects of the music industry’s downward spiral due to piracy, Keith decided to leave the music business and segue into television, his other true passion. However, this transition would not be so simple. He literally had to start over from the bottom as an assistant in Original Programming. Never afraid of an achievable challenge, Keith used his ability to think creatively, foster teamwork and maximize interdepartmental efficiency in order to become the “go to guy” for all of the creative and developmental answers within the Original Programming department. After two years of assisting two senior level executives, he learned and mastered the job functions within Original Programming, and became a creative and development exec.

Since 2013, Keith has worked in four areas of Original Programming – Development and Current Programming, as well as Scripted and Reality/Alternative Programming. Some of the shows he has overseen include SUNDAY BEST, the #1 TV Gospel series for the past seven years; NELLYVILLE, starring Grammy award-winning rapper, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and family man, Nelly; IT’S A MANN’S WORLD, starring gospel’s favorite couple, David and Tamela Mann, and APOLLO LIVE, the legendary theater’s amateur talent completion. On the development front, Keith also created the title for BET’s hit drama, BEING MARY JANE, starring Gabrielle Union, and he has a number of shows in development, some of which will be revealed very soon.

Speaking on: Speed Pitching Three