Trina "Tree" Paine (born 1971 or 1972) is an American public relations executive. She is best known as the publicist of American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, a position she has held since 2014.

Early life

Trina Snyder grew up in Costa Mesa, California. She attended the University of Southern California, where she joined Pi Beta Phi in 1990. ^[1]

Career

Paine began her career as an intern at British record label Mute Records in the Sales & Marketing department, after which she worked as a National Marketing Manager at World Domination Recordings and as an executive assistant position in the A&R department at Maverick Records, the record label founded by Madonna. In 1995, Paine joined Interscope Records as a West Coast Marketing & Artist Development representative, working with artists such as No Doubt, The Wallflowers, Snoop Dogg, Nine Inch Nails, and Marilyn Manson. ^{[2] [3]}

Paine then left Interscope to launch her own street marketing company, retaining Bonnie Raitt as her first client. Over the years, her client roster grew to include record labels such as Warner Records, Capitol Records, London Recordings, and 143 Records. In 1999, Paine merged her company with Immortal Records and created IR Street Marketing. Paine then took a position at the William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills, where she met Gayle Holcomb, then the Vice Chairman of the Academy of Country Music (ACM), leading to Paine being hired by the ACM in 2002 to oversee media, radio, and marketing at the academy. ^[3]

In 2007, Paine joined Warner Music Nashville as vice president for publicity. In 2013, she was promoted to senior vice president of publicity, where she oversaw all publicity for Warner Music Group’s country and Christian divisions. ^[3]

In 2014, Paine announced that she was leaving Warner Music to start her own public relations firm, Premium PR. Her first and only client was Taylor Swift, whose publicist of seven years, Paula Erickson, had reportedly resigned. ^{[4] [1]} Paine is known for guiding Swift through high-profile moments including the feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Swift's sexual assault trial against former radio host David Mueller, and the dispute over Swift's masters. ^{[5] [6] [7]}

In 2020, Paine was featured in Swift's autobiographical Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, directed by Lana Wilson. The Cut opined that Paine has built a reputation as a "quiet but ferocious PR pitbull". ^[8] She occasionally makes statements on her own social media, such as calling out the anonymous gossip account DeuxMoi for peddling rumors about Swift marrying her ex boyfriend Joe Alwyn and accusing it of causing “pain and trauma”.

Unlike many celebrity publicists, Tree Paine is a well-known figure among Swifties. ^{[9] [1]}

Personal life

In a 1998 Las Vegas wedding, Tree married Lance Paine, a businessman who has served as president of the candy company Goo Goo Cluster and later as president of the Property Brothers-owned company Scott Brothers Global. ^{[1] [10]} They live in Nashville with their teenage daughter. ^[7] Tree Paine reveals little about her personal life and has not sat for an interview since 2012. ^[1]

References