OUR FOUNDERS
The People Behind the Sound
The visionaries, engineers, and storytellers shaping every track that leaves Black Rose Audio.
Founder
Benjamin Carow
Founder / CEO / Operations / Pianist & Composer
Benjamin Carow is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Black Rose Audio, as well as a seasoned pianist, composer, audio engineer, and artist manager. With over 29 years of experience as a pianist and more than a decade of professional engineering expertise, Benjamin has mastered the art of blending musical precision with emotional storytelling. Since 2013, he has engineered, mixed, and produced projects across multiple genres, earning a reputation for his meticulous ear and cinematic sound design. As both a composer and technical visionary, he ensures that every Black Rose Audio production meets the highest creative and sonic standards. In addition to his executive role, Benjamin manages the career of Chalkline, guiding the artistic vision and growth of one of the company's founding artists. His leadership reflects the core of Black Rose Audio's philosophy: crafting music that resonates, challenges, and endures.
Listen to The Weight of Mahogany on Spotify
Co-Founder
Nikolay Sharp
Co-Founder / Chief Creative Director / Lyricist & Artist
Nikolay "Chalkline" Sharp is the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Director of Black Rose Audio, as well as a lyricist, recording artist, and visionary storyteller. Known for his cinematic approach to songwriting, Chalkline fuses theater, rap, and dark comedy to create emotionally charged narratives that challenge, shock, and inspire. His writing style blends intricate rhyme schemes, theatrical delivery, and raw vulnerability — balancing introspection with unfiltered honesty. A formally trained actor and performer with a background in stage and television acting, Nikolay brings a deep sense of character and narrative structure to every project he leads. His body of work, including the Shock Therapy EP and Silence (feat. Verity Van Dams), has been praised for its fearless originality and psychological depth. As Creative Director, he oversees the artistic direction of Black Rose Audio, ensuring every production reflects the company's mission.
Listen to TALK on Spotify
A&R
John Estrada
A&R Department Manager / Recording Artist
John Estrada serves as A&R Department Manager at Black Rose Audio, overseeing the discovery of new and emerging artists for the label. In this role, he guides projects from early demos through studio sessions and final delivery, ensuring each release is creatively authentic and commercially focused. As a manager, John leads the A&R team in scouting talent, shaping artistic direction, and coordinating closely with production, marketing, and leadership to align every project with the label's vision. He is known for his ear for new sounds, his understanding of current music trends, and his ability to spot long-term potential in artists at an early stage. Outside of his executive role, John is a rap artist in his own right, bringing firsthand experience from the studio and stage into his work with other performers. That dual perspective helps him earn artists' trust, communicate in their language, and balance creative risk with strategic decision-making on each release.
Writers & Lyrics
Lara Sanchez
Writers & Lyricist Chief of Staff
Lara Sanchez serves as Writers & Lyricist Chief of Staff at Black Rose Audio, overseeing the team of writers and lyricists who shape the words behind every release. With a degree in Language Arts and a gift for poetry, Lara brings a deep, studied command of language to her craft — turning instinct and emotion into lyrics that resonate and bios that read like storytelling. She writes directly for artists when a project calls for a singular voice, and just as often directs her team of writers and lyricists to match the right pen to the right project. Lara works closely with marketing, lending her linguistic precision to every campaign so that messaging, copy, and lyric land with the same targeted intent — ensuring that what audiences hear and what they read tell one coherent story.