Alicia Keys, Jody Gerson, Laura Segura and their nonprofit She Is The Music, which pushes to increase the number of women working in music, came together for their second annual Sharing the Spotlight event on Wednesday night.
The Hollywood Reporter teamed up with the organization to honor music executive trailblazer Sylvia Rhone and country artist Megan Moroney at the event, which was sponsored by Spotify Equal, Live Nation Women and Believe Tunecore. Notable guests included Diane Warren alongside fellow She Is The Music co-founders Ann Mincieli, a Grammy-nominated recording and mix engineer, and Sam Kirby Yoh, UTA’s co-head of music.
“I love celebrating all these fab women,” co-founder Alicia Keys told THR before she spoke to the crowd at Delilah in West Hollywood. Keys, who began her career at just 15, said that being surrounded by women in the industry has always had such a positive impact on her life.
“I always felt a little shy engaging in those relationships and really taking them in and utilizing them, so I think creating these communities like this, where you can really find the camaraderie and the support and the love [is important],” she said.
Gerson, CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group and another co-founder of the organization, emphasized the importance of bringing established women in the industry together with “rising stars,” as she calls it, to create a support system. Gerson — who is a mentor in THR’s Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and the Entertainment Industry Foundation — brought her mentee to the event.
“The key to our success is each other — lifting each other up and wanting to see each other as successful and powerful. We just have to make space for each other,” the executive told THR before the event. “I think the world will be a nicer place with more of us in positions of power.”
Moroney was the first to be honored that night. The 28-year-old country singer jokingly shared with the crowd that she couldn’t believe Keys, who introduced her, knew her name. “I’m inspired every time I get to be in a room with badass women who change the game every day, who do things their own way and who don’t take no for an answer,” Moroney told the crowd.
The singer was honored alongside her majority female team, ranging from agents to tour managers. “I have the best team in the world. They work their asses off and I call them my get-shit-done-ers,” she said on the carpet. “We say there’s no problems, only solutions.”
The organization also presented Rhone with the Trailblazer Award. The music executive veteran previously served as the chairwoman and chief executive officer of Epic Records, becoming the first woman to hold those roles at a major label.
“We’ve been building this for a long time and finally it has somebody to it. It has some numbers to it, and it has dialogue that’s very important and that can make a change,” Rhone told THR. When asked about what it’s like seeing a community of women in the industry come together, she noted it’s “what we all work for.”
While accepting her honor, Rhone told the crowd to be confident in the direction of the music industry. “We are living through tumultuous moments politically, economically, technologically. The ground shifts beneath us almost daily. But here’s what I know after decades in this business, music will endure,” she said, met with applause.
“Creativity adapts, and women, especially women, innovate under pressure. As I look around, I’m not anxious about the future of our industry at all. I’m energized by it,” she continued. “Music is in very good hands, so let’s keep opening doors wider than we found them.”
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