Cellist-turned-entrepreneur touts performing arts background

Having a background in creative and performing arts can be useful in the business world, a concert cellist–turned–technology entrepreneur told the Baton Rouge Press Club today. Margo Drakos started InstantEncore, an online service that allows people to listen to and share classical music concerts from all over the world. Drakos began playing the cello at age 4 and later was a member of the American String Quartet and symphonies in Pittsburgh, San Diego and Portland, Ore. But several years ago, she decided to go back to school and major in human rights at Columbia University. Drakos says her background of years of rehearsing and learning music gave her “a toolbox” with attributes such as self-discipline, problem solving and analysis. She has since moved on to co-found InstantEncore, a company that is bringing classical music into the social media age. She says for a few hundred dollars, a symphony can put its performances before thousands of online followers. “This has created a new world for performers,” she says. —Timothy Boone