The Women In Music Awards 2021 honoured a further 12 industry executives (and two execs posthumously) last month by enrolling them into the Roll Of Honour. Click here for this year’s inductees.
Music Week’s Women In Music Roll Of Honour, in association with TikTok, aims to highlight the breadth, depth and variety of individuals who are game-changers in the music industry, with their activities consistently benefiting women, or focusing on empowerment/gender disparity.
Here, the latest inductees each nominate their rising stars in the industry (click on the names in bold for interviews with this year’s Roll Of Honour)...
Rachel Bolland, director of operations and head of diversity, UK Music
“I was on panel at the Event Production Show with Alex Ampofo from Metropolis Music, and thought she was incredibly impressive and is doing some really excellent work. I’d also like to shout out Grace Manning who I worked with at Transgressive and is still there doing an incredible job.”
Shauni Caballero, founder of The Go 2 Agency/co-founder of G293 Publishing
“Sof Petrides. She’s the UK head of A&R at Onerpm and manages an artist called Jimothy Lacoste. I met Sof over the summer and I was so impressed with her, she’s very ambitious and hardworking and is smashing it! I couldn’t believe how much she was juggling on her own and she’s such a pleasure to be around.”
Silvia Gargiulo, founder, BIY People & Talent/podcast creator
“Honestly, I could name a hundred rising stars, I speak to so many proactive, passionate, smart, hardworking, brilliant women in the music industry every day. There is so much fantastic music business talent out there, there is no way I could just pick one. So, I’d like to shout out BIY’s very own Rosie Finn and Ruth Sandi, who recently joined the team. They’re both compassionate, kind, engaging, supportive, they really want to make a difference and empower people. I’m mega proud of them both and love every minute of watching them grow, develop and succeed. Thank you, Rosie and Ruth, for being uniquely yourselves, because you are both brilliant and full of wonderful potential and power!”
Maxie Gedge, European project manager, Secretly Group
“So many! I’ve worked with so many rad women and gender minority rising stars; Mackinlay, Winnie, Ellie, Aja and Aysha at PRS Foundation and Keychange, plus awesome people like Katie Tavini and Shekayla Maragh from the Keychange network. Nicole Otero and Daisy Edwards have already been super awesome at Secretly Group. Charlie Deakin-Davies and Max Blue Churchill have something super exciting in the pipeline. Shereen Perera from WOW is awesome, Maya Kally from Come Play with Me…”
Berrin Latif, vice president, legal and business affairs, BMG UK
“Shout out to all the women in the music industry but particularly to the women I work with in BMG’s legal and business affairs department – Noorjhan Green, Lucinda Tse, Sarah Moir, Alessandra Carballal, Heather De Allende, Ruth Donegan, Karen Kinsella, Hannah Charlton and Alison Luke. They are incredibly bright, diligent, and very commercial in their approach.”
Anna Neville, global co-president, Tap Music
“Maria Lane, one of our young managers who is working with Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Willow Kane. She’s diligent, a natural hustler and great fun to work with.”
MJ Olaore, chief operating officer, BPI
“Without a doubt my BPI colleague Casandra Strauss. She amazes me daily with her energy, her inventiveness and most importantly, what a decent human being she is. She is definitely one to watch.”
Camilla Pia, assistant commissioner, BBC Radio 6 Music
“This is an easy one - Perdi Higgs, digital promotions manager at Dirty Hit. We worked together at Apple, she is insanely smart, hardworking, ambitious, creative and has the kind of star quality you only come across every so often. I can’t wait for her to be my boss one day.”
Maria Panayi, music marketing lead (EMEA), TikTok
“The whole team at TikTok are world class and I’d also highlight an incredible rising star, Janay Marie Myers-Davis, who I first worked with at Sony and is now part of the partnerships and community team at TikTok. Janay led our partnership with the Stephen Lawrence Day foundation to help bring Stephen's story to the TikTok community and is a key figure in the Black Creator Trailblazers programme at TikTok, which is designed to nurture and develop talented, emerging Black creators and artists. Above all of this, Janay is a hugely valued and loved member of the TikTok family, to see her grow and develop has been a massive privilege.”
Hannah Shogbola, agent at UTA & founder of DAJU
“Yes, so many! Clara Amfo, Milly Allen, Ishsha Bourguet, Emerald, Jaguar, Helena Star, Niks, Remi Burgz, team Tyson, Ruby Savage, thank you for believing in me and having me as a friend, colleague, agent, and more!”
Indy Vidyalankara, founder and CEO, Indypendent PR
“Meenal Odedra is amazing, I absolutely am 100% behind this gifted woman. We have a lot in common and we easily connected when we first met. I really think she has a big future ahead of her. We also sit on the BPI Equity & Justice Advisory Group together, so I’ve seen her in action. She is doing some incredible work with Shesaid.so and has many other irons in the fire. She is also incredibly modest, and I want to give her a shout out, because she deserves to fly high.”
Beverley Whitrick, strategic director, Music Venue Trust
“Clara Cullen, Music Venue Trust's venue support manager. Clara first volunteered for the charity at the national networking event Venues Day 2017, where she took it upon herself to organise other volunteers who were less focused than she was. When we subsequently appointed administrators, Clara's application stood out and she joined us part-time later that year. She has learned so much and committed to building her own skills and developing the organisation. As venue support manager, she runs our emergency response service for venues facing threats. So during the pandemic, she headed up our crisis service, coordinating the many professionals who contribute to the support services MVT offer to grassroots music venues. Clara is still in her twenties and clearly has a bright future - we are lucky to have her as part of our team.”
Click here for the full list of winners at Women In Music 2021.
The full Roll Of Honour since 2014 is available here.
