In observance of Women's History Month, our latest roundup features eight women from various parts of the biz whose dedication and effort make their superiors look good.
Making
us look good is above their pay grade.
Leah Bublis
VP, Creative Sync & Strategy, Range Media Partners
Take it from
JAY-Z—Leah is “The Sync Queen.” Overseeing sync strategy for Range’s music clients, she helped
Justin Tranter become exec music producer for the
Paramount+ series
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (out 4/6), secured
Cordae’s “Checkmate” as the theme for
Madden 23, broke
WondaGurl into the world of composing and helped introduce
Luke Grimes as an artist by syncing his first release in
Yellowstone, not to mention securing key placements for
Jack Harlow,
Ryan Bingham,
D Smoke,
TALK and
INJI. Bublis is accepting recs for the best chocolate cake in L.A., just not from us.
Adrienne Fitzpatrick
VP, Streaming & Revenue (Pop & Dance), Warner Records
Fitzpatrick has loved working on
Grammy-nominated projects like
RÜFÜS DU SOL’s 2021
Surrender and
David Guetta &
Bebe Rexha’s platinum “I’m Good” (2022), as well as
Dua Lipa’s multiplatinum “Levitating,” which was the #1 most-streamed song in the U.S. in 2021. She’s currently elevating acts like
Benson Boone—recently named an
Amazon Breakthrough Artist—and gearing up for new music from
ILLENIUM,
Nessa Barrett and
Teddy Swims.
AncestryDNA found that Fitzpatrick is 10% Swedish, making her “genetically destined to have great taste in pop music.” We can’t relate.
Allegra Chautin
Senior Director, Digital Strategy, Republic
Moving from London to New York six years ago, Chautin never imagined she’d help revive
MySpace for the re-release of
Nicki Minaj’s
Beam Me Up Scotty or work with
The Weeknd on his
Super Bowl campaign and see him break records with “Blinding Lights.” She’s now excited about
Daniel Caesar’s upcoming album,
Never Enough (due 4/7), and breaking R&B trio
FLO in the U.S. as they embark on their first U.S. tour. Chautin landed her first music job at 18 by cold-emailing one of London’s biggest DJs 120 questions asking how to break into the biz. No one wants to email
us.
Jaime Finkel
Artist Manager, Quest Artist Management/Maverick
Among other career highlights, Finkel watched client
Shania Twain perform with
Harry Styles at
Coachella last year and has filmed
Instagram live videos with
Paul McCartney from his closet. Looking ahead, she’s helping prepare projects by
Jon Batiste—including his feature on
Lana Del Rey’s “Candy Necklace”—the self-titled debut album by
Cecilia Castleman (arriving via
Glassnote this year) and work by clients like
Andrea Bocelli and
Matteo Bocelli. “I’m shockingly good at bar trivia,” Finkel insists. As with most things, we’re shockingly
bad.
Caroline Ellis
Senior Director, A&R, Island Records
Ellis fondly recalls the time Island staffers dressed up for
Chappell Roan’s sold-out, pop-star-themed show at NYC’s
Webster Hall. Ellis is now focused on Roan’s debut album (with
Dan Nigro as executive producer) and first headlining tour; new material by
Dora Jar, who, after supporting
Billie Eilish, closed out 2022 with her own road show; and South African
Will Linley, who played his first U.S. show in February after supporting
OneRepublic on their South African tour. Ellis has done some stick-and-poke tattoos on her artists. Most people want to stick
us.
Dionna Johnson
Director of Marketing, EMPIRE
Johnson is grateful to be working with artists like
Yung Bleu (
Moon Boy),
T-Pain (“I Like Dat”),
Black Sherif and
Fireboy DML, who hit #1 on the U.S. Afrobeats Songs Chart with his platinum single “Peru” f/
Ed Sheeran, which also hit #2 on the U.K. Official Singles chart. The marketing exec currently has her hands full with new projects from, among others, T-Pain, Fireboy DML,
Olamide and
Inayah. A native of Portland, Oregon, she has studied dance and can hold a “nice soprano note.”
We’ve got two left feet and are as tone-deaf as they come.
Kate Richardson
Director of A&R, Crush Music
Richardson went from seeing
Green Day in the nosebleed seats at the
Rose Bowl to watching
Billie Joe and
Mike Dirnt do classic rock covers at L.A.’s 250-capacity
Moroccan Lounge. At the moment, she’s dedicated to management client
Suzy Shinn,―who’s produced four records for
Weezer as well as artists like
EKKSTACY and
Frances Forever. She’s likewise stoked to be working with alt creators
Jonny Coffer and
Jake Sinclair. In unrelated news, Richardson notes, “I don’t have a high school diploma or a college degree.”
Our education was limited to rolling blunts.
Nina Nwofia
Account Director, Commercial Strategy,
Ingrooves
Nwofia will never forget drinking
Clase Azul for the first time, with
Sech backstage at a live
YouTube performance. Nwofia is today devoted to digital-retail marketing for
TWICE’s
Ready to Be and
NewJeans, who have two songs climbing
Spotify’s Daily Top Global and U.S. charts. Outside K-pop, you’ll find her working on release strategies for artists like
Musiq Soulchild,
Tech N9ne and
MadeinTYO. Nwofia hosted a radio show at
Howard University called “Incense & Candles.” We need all the advice we can get.
