Nancy Valyo Nolan began her professional career as a vocalist, performing opera, musical theater and jazz, first in Lexington, KY, then Cincinnati, OH.

 

Early in her career, Nolan found particular joy working as a public relations expert, first with the Lexington, KY Arts Council, and later with non-profit organizations such as the Cincinnati Bar Association, St. Rita School for the Deaf, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

 

Nolan founded Nolan Kerr Consulting, originally Nolan Kerr Artist Consultants, in 1996, with co-founder Jona Beczkewiecz Kerr. Their first client, pianist Michael Chertock, has built a significant international 

performance career and remains affiliated with Nolan Kerr today. Shortly after they began working together, Jona Kerr moved to Amsterdam with her husband, Alex Kerr, where she set up Nolan Kerr's satellite office.

 

Gradually, the company built a small roster of professional musicians, for whom they provided career development, management services and publicity assistance. Clients included violinists Alyssa Park, Lucia Lin and Alex Kerr; sopranos Blythe Walker, Ilana Davidson and Vera Mariner; ensembles such as Queen City Brass, The Boston Trio and Innuendo; and jazz violinist Zach Brock.

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The company soon began to expand its client base to include non-profit organizations, focusing its efforts on providing strategic planning, public relations and marketing services for its U.S. clients, including the Mercantile Library, Chamber Music Cincinnati, the  Montgomery OH Chamber of Commerce, the Linton Music Series, and the Association for the Advancement of Arts Education.

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Nolan Kerr has contributed many hours of pro-bono work on behalf of non-profit entities such as Linden Grove School, St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, the Chamber Music Network of Greater Cincinnati, the City of Montgomery, OH, and the Assistance League of Greater Cincinnati.

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In 2018, Nolan Kerr developed a self-publishing arm called Nolan Kerr Press, to assist budding indie authors get their books published on Amazon and other sites, and provides marketing assistance.

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Nolan also devoted nine years teaching public relations for arts administrators at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music.

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She continues to sing jazz when time permits.