Maddie & Tae on Being Young Bosses: 'We Want to Lead By Example'

Maddie & Tae members Madison Marlow and Taylor Dye might both be 24 years old, but they are also [...]

Maddie & Tae members Madison Marlow and Taylor Dye might both be 24 years old, but they are also bosses to an entire staff of people, including their band and crew. The duo, who will wrap up their run with Carrie Underwood on her Cry Pretty Tour 360 at the end of this month, have had to learn, sometimes the hard way, how to be employers while building their career.

"We always just want to lead by example, and we know that it really does start from the top," Dye shared with PopCulture.com and other media. "We always just try to keep a good attitude, stay positive, keep everyone motivated, inspired. Hopefully the environment is nice for everyone to work in. But it is definitely interesting to be 24-year-old women and have so many people that rely on you."

"It's a lot of pressure, I will say," she remarked. "We care a lot about what we do and with that comes just – our hearts are in it full and so we want to make sure everyone's happy and taken care of. At the end of the day we always have to make decisions that are best for our company."

Complicating the situation is the fact that Maddie & Tae share a bus with their band and crew, so they are with them almost all of the time.

"Sometime it is hard," Marlow conceded. "It's what we signed up for, but just navigating – typically in business you hire employees and they clock in, they clock out, or they do their job and go home. So if one of our employees is slacking or not doing the right job, we sleep an arm's length away from them every night. It is really important for us with our road family to keep that communication really good. Obviously everyone knows the dynamic.

"For me it was really hard in the beginning realizing that I was the boss, and I would let other people tell me what to do," Marlow recounted. "Then finally I was like, 'You don't pay my bills, I pay your bills! Hold up!' I was like, 'No, you are not going to boss me around and tell me what to do!' Not that anyone really got crazy or anything, but it did take me a minute to feel comfortable in my own skin as a boss and as a leader."

Both Marlow and Dye are the youngest of their staff on the road, which made it challenging to navigate the dynamics, at least at first.

"It took me a minute to find my voice as a boss, and figure out, 'How do I want to lead? How do I want to be treated?' and keep that environment really, really healthy," said Marlow. "But sometimes, I just pull the boss card. 'I'm the boss, sorry. I don't know what to tell you.'"

Maddie & Tae just dropped their new EP, One Heart to Another. Download the record and find remaining tour dates by visiting their website.

Photo Credit: Getty / Monica Schipper

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