PIctured: Laurie Lee Boutet (middle) with The Beaches

The Beaches are one of the biggest breakout success stories in Canada over the last two years, and their manager, Laurie Lee Boutet, has played an immeasurable role in their rise. That's a big reason why Boutet has been named Manager of the Year by Billboard Canada, which she will accept at this week’s Managers to Watch and Honour Roll event in partnership with Music Managers Forum (where Boutet is an executive director) on June 11, 2025.

The Beaches had a viral breakout hit in 2023 with their song “Blame Brett.” Where many acts would – and have – celebrated that as a success on its own, Boutet and the band orchestrated an even bigger rise – from Coachella to the Junos to their biggest ever hometown concert at Scotiabank Arena coming on November 6 (preceded by two special intimate events at NXNE).

“When a big one hits, you have to go full throttle to capitalize on it,” Boutet explains. “A few weeks after [‘Blame Brett’] went viral, we sat down and said, ‘Okay, the next 18 months are probably going to be some of the busiest of your lives. Is everyone ready?’ And the girls were like, ‘Hell yeah.’” They moved quickly, using the momentum to tour at bigger and bigger stages and plan for their next album, No Hard Feelings, out on AWAL on August 29.

Boutet is passionate about demystifying the role of the manager, especially in a Canadian context. “We’re the bodyguard between the rest of the world and the artist,” she says. “The artist’s job is to be creative. The strategy, the admin, the foresight – all that falls to the manager.” In Boutet’s case, that includes everything from scheduling, release strategy and touring logistics to brand partnerships, data analysis and making the people behind the scenes reflect the identity of the artists she represents. At Wednesday Management, that includes a team of mostly women or women allies who truly get a band like The Beaches.

Boutet has plenty of advice for young managers trying to break artists in Canada, and enough insight to fill a manager's guidebook. Read her full interview with Billboard Canada here.