Variety's 2017 Women's Impact Report

Hilary Estey McLoughlin

Image Credit: Courtesy of Hillary Estey McLoughlin

Senior Executive Producer or “The View” and Nonfiction Content at ABC News

One thing the daytime television veteran has learned over the course of her 30-year career? “Align yourself with extraordinarily strong women, who know exactly who they are and are fearless,” says “The View’s” senior executive producer, whose development executive resume includes “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” and “The Tyra Banks Show.” “I am immensely proud of ‘The View’s’ renewed success and making it part of the cultural conversation again, via a revamp of the panel including Joy [Behar]’s return, having the inimitable Whoopi [Goldberg] serving as our moderator, and the overall elevation of the show through smart, funny and fearless discussions about politics, news and social issues that really matter to women in daytime.” Estey McLoughlin also oversees nonfiction content for ABC News and is passionate about the mentoring organization Big Brothers Big Sisters.

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Danielle Aguirre

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EVP and General Counsel, National Music Publishers Assn.

Aguirre faces a number of daunting legal tasks almost on a daily basis. Within a rapidly changing music landscape, and using copyright structures that have changed little since the dawn of the 20th century, she has to work with both the U.S. government and a new breed of streaming services to ensure that songwriters and publishers are properly compensated for their work. “The most difficult element of this is that it’s new, and there can be a lot of mistrust on both sides,” Aguirre says of the relationship between music publishers and music-streaming services. In spring 2016, Aguirre was behind one of the most significant settlements between the two parties yet, when the NMPA and Spotify reached a $30 million agreement over unpaid royalties. A similar settlement with YouTube followed last December. “It was really important,” she says of the Spotify settlement pact. “Instead of suing each other into oblivion, we sat down and said we need to find a way to make this work so that publishers get the money that is due to them, and the services get to continue doing business. Now we get to actually move forward as business partners.”

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Aileen Atkins

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Partner, Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard

A short conversation with Atkins can cover a lot of ground. “Sometimes dogs can hear me, I talk so fast,” she laughs. The high-energy partner at entertainment law firm Cowan, DeBaets — where four of seven equity partners are women — handles a range of digital and tech clients. Before joining the firm in 2015, she mostly worked in-house. Atkins was general counsel at Universal Music when it teamed with Sony on the on-demand service PressPlay, which Roxio later acquired as the foundation of the relaunched Napster. “I am not your typical law-firm lawyer,” she says. “I can bring an understanding of the pressures and the priorities.”

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Awkwafina

Image Credit: Courtesy of Awkwafina

Rapper, Actress, Comedian

“I think I definitely derive my power from things I do that I didn’t think I could do, like performing in front of people or being confident in front of people,” says Awkwafina, the funny-girl rapper who launched her career nearly a decade ago with a series of viral YouTube videos and is now slated to appear in the female-fronted “Ocean’s Eight” next year. She also draws inspiration from the strong women in her life, namely her grandmother, who instilled in her the drive to be yourself. “All of the things that I used to regret that I wasn’t — I wasn’t the pretty girl, I wasn’t the incredibly popular girl — those things have helped my career,” she says. And perhaps that’s why Awkwafina feels so authentic: it’s the way in which she’s crafted her career by redefining those traditional standards of what “cool” means for her. “You know, Awkwafina was not constructed by a PR company,” she says. “It’s something that is so organic to myself.”

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Allison Williams

Image Credit: Courtesy of Allison Williams

Actress

Williams has had a big year: she said goodbye to “Girls,” and starred in Jordan Peele’s horror blockbuster “Get Out,” which garnered critical acclaim and sent fans back to theaters for multiple viewings. Of her recent roles, Williams says: “That feeling of being a part of something that’s relevant and is speaking to people is one that I fear I’m completely spoiled by because I know how rare that is. But what ‘Girls’ did a couple years ago was sort of shift the way we expected to see women in television, and continuing that shift that has been slowly happening over time and I see that reflected in the TV shows that I watch now. It just makes me feel proud and so excited that I was lucky enough to be part of a show that did that.”

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Daniela Taplin Lundberg

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Founder & CEO of Stay Gold Features

“It’s good to support talented people and, in my experience, that is as often a woman as it is a man,” she says. After producing “Hello, My Name Is Doris,” “Beasts of No Nation”a and “The Kids Are All Right,” Taplin Lundberg founded Stay Gold Features last year. Already in the pipeline: Sundance hit “Patti Cake$,” which sold for $10.5 million to Fox Searchlight, and David Robert Mitchell’s “Under the Silver Lake.” Taplin Lundberg has a slew of projects in development including “Black Lion” with Andrew Garfield. “I am also obsessed with Jessi Klein and am cooking something up with her,” Taplin Lundberg hints, calling Klein “a voice that is so honest and original and funny.”

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Cynthia Swartz

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Strategy PR Founder & President

“This is a field whose landscape is always changing, so you have to be adaptive,” says the awards-season strategist and film publicist who contributed to the success of Oscar best picture winner “Moonlight,” as well as “Fences,” “Jackie,” “Hell or High Water,” “Trolls,” “20th Century Women” and A&E’s Oscar-nominated doc “Life, Animated.” “I think a large part of my success is that I possess a stubborn tirelessness that not everyone loves, but it’s been key.” Swartz brings this same passion to her home life. “The juggling act of family and work is always a challenge, but I’ve been lucky enough to have always worked in supportive environments,” Swartz says, citing Renee Furst as an early mentor.

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Ayala Cohen

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Talent Agent, ICM Partners

Nineteen years in “Saturday Night Live’s” talent department proved the perfect primer for Cohen’s latest half-decade as an ICM agent, where she reps former and current “SNL” players Jay Pharoah (starring in Showtime’s upcoming “White Famous”), Pete Davidson and Cecily Strong, among others. The Brandeis grad and mom of three kids (plus a fish) knows her funny business: clients Anthony Atamanuik and Peter Grosz are set to showrun and star in Comedy Central’s late-night “The President Show,” while “Mindy Project’s” Fortune Feimster recently shot a Netflix special and sold a feature spec script to Amblin. “I live vicariously through my clients,” Cohen says.

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Alyssa Reuben

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Book Publishing Agent, Paradigm Talent Agency

“I am a voracious consumer of pop culture,” says Reuben, whose recent hits include Mara Wilson’s “Where Am I Now?” and “Luckiest Girl Alive” from Jessica Knoll (for whom she secured a two-novel deal). She saw “How May We Hate You” launched as a CBS sitcom, and nurtured best-sellers by the Betches and Ali Maffucci. Her entrepreneurial approach has yielded an eclectic list of authors. “I have total autonomy to develop projects with all Paradigm clients,” she says. “I just look for something that I personally like and that I know I can sell.”

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Casey Patterson

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Founder, Casey Patterson Entertainment

Moving from the buyer’s side of the table to the seller’s was a wise decision for Casey Patterson. “It’s an interesting transition,” she says. “There are so many outlets for content —broadcast, cable, streaming, and digital — that it’s a very exciting next wave to be a part of.” “Lip Sync Battle” is in 122 countries and a kids’ version is coming to Nickelodeon, while the “One Night Only” comedy tribute is about to honor Alec Baldwin, but Patterson is expanding into other genres. “We’ll be announcing a scripted project soon, a big, sweeping epic. That’s certainly a muscle I didn’t know I had, and a thrilling new adventure.”

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Amy Entelis

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Executive VP for Talent and Content Development, CNN Worldwide

“My first management job was specifically aimed at hiring women and minorities for on-air jobs, and I am still at it,” says Entelis, who is responsible for recruiting on-air talent in addition to having launched CNN Original Series and CNN Films in 2012. Under her leadership, the divisions debuted “Legion of Brothers” and “The History of Comedy” at Sundance in January. They’re also premiering the Dwayne Johnson executive produced series “Soundtracks: Songs that Defined History” as well as two CNN Films at the Tribeca Film Festival. Her advice to those who hope to achieve success? “Women in this field need to be tough,” she says. “CNN has a phenomenal roster of female correspondents, anchors, hosts and contributors doing every conceivable role, from war reporting to White House reporting.”

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Ashley Parrish

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NBC News Digital, Executive Editor for “Today” and Lifestyle

Way back in 2002, when Parrish was at Harper’s Bazaar, she had a strong inclination that online editorial content was the wave of the future — not a trend. Now, at NBC, she’s charged with incorporating innovation into NBC News Lifestyle and “Today’s” digital operations. In addition to launching content verticals Mach and Better for NBCNews.com, Parrish also launched community hubs at Today.com. “Brands have to be omnipresent now,” says Parrish. “The digital strategy around a brand like [NBC News and ‘Today’] must be present on all platforms in order to serve our audience needs.”

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Ana Navarro

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Republican Strategist, Political Commentator

During the election, Navarro emerged as a bold voice with a unique perspective within the Republican Party. The vocal Donald Trump critic surprised people, including herself, when she cast her vote for Hillary Clinton. The Nicaragua-born, South Florida-based Republican strategist, who has advised former Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. John McCain on immigration reform and Hispanic outreach, often provides political commentary on CNN, ABC News, Telemundo, “Meet the Press” and “Real Time With Bill Maher.”

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Catherine Kim

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NBC News Digital, Executive Editor for News and Politics

The past year has been exciting for everyone in the news business, but Kim is helping re-invent how news is digested in an increasingly digital world, using everything from Snapchat and Instagram to Facebook to engage audiences. “We’ve been open to testing new ideas,” Kim says. “I’m really proud of our election coverage — especially from the start of the presidential debate through election night and beyond. We came at the issues from so many different angles and tailored our coverage to our platform. It’s an incredible time to be in news, and getting the facts right is more important than ever. It’s both an honor and a responsibility.”

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Stacy O’Neil

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Manager, Talent, Brillstein Entertainment Partners

Forward thinking benefits O’Neil, who’s headed Brillstein’s New York location since 2008. “You’re living in the real world [in NYC],” she says, noting it’s about finding the right pairings. These include placing clients such as Amy Adams with helmer Denis Villeneuve for “Arrival” or post-“Manchester by the Sea” Michelle Williams with Hugh Jackman in the upcoming “The Greatest Showman.” She’s also keeping an eye on the big numbers: client Vin Diesel’s “xXx” sequel is set to hit $350 billion worldwide, and “Fate of the Furious” is churning up blockbuster numbers.

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Julie Greenwald

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Chairman/COO, Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records had a 2016 to remember, with its biggest hits coming from artists who few might have immediately pegged for top-tier stardom. Last year, Twenty One Pilots broke through to pop radio in a way few rock acts have managed in years; Sturgill Simpson rose from near-unknown to Grammy album of the year nominee; and Kevin Gates claimed the only platinum debut of the year. This year, the label has continued apace, with Ed Sheeran notching numerous weeks at No. 1. But per Greenwald, none of these successes came as a surprise. “When we sign an artist, we sit down with them and really try to understand what it is they’re trying to achieve, and set a marketing plan that makes sense for them,” she says. “Fundamentally, we’re an artist development company.” She acknowledges that she’s one of the few women who have fully ascended to the record industry’s C-suites, and encourages labels to dig deeper in recognizing and promoting female execs. “We need to recognize that there’s a lot of amazing women who are running companies in the music business without the credit of the big title,” she says. “But if you look one layer below, they’re speckled in all different corners throughout the labels. So we have a long way to go to build up and promote more women to my level.”

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Emma Watson

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Emma Watson

A champion for women’s rights, Watson made waves as she helped to launch the U.N. Women Campaign HeForShe, which calls for men to advocate for gender equality. Watson is breaking B.O. records in Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast,” which hit the $1 billion mark globally. Up next, Watson stars opposite Tom Hanks as a young tech worker in thriller “The Circle,” which will bow April 26 at the Tribeca Film Festival ahead of its release.

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Glenda Hersh

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Co-President & Co-CEO, Truly Original

Hersh and business partner Steven Weinstock’s True Entertainment took over Original Media in 2014, and this year the two companies finally merged under the same banner. “We’re now Truly Original — bigger, stronger, better,” Hersh says. “I’m really proud of being able to take two really big, really successful companies and bring them together in a way that makes them both stronger and better.” One of the first Truly Original series to join the new company’s long-running “The Real Housewives” and “Ink Master” franchises will be “Stripped,” on Bravo, which she says epitomizes the collaborative force of Truly Original.

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Donna Speciale

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President, Turner Ad Sales

As a working mother, Speciale suffered tell-tale symptoms — “the guilt, the stomach-aches” — anytime work interfered with family. But five years ago, her daughter watched Speciale give an acceptance speech at an awards dinner. “She said to me, ‘I get it, Mom.’” Today, “she tells me, ‘I have to have a career and I want to be my own person,’” Speciale says. Lacking a clear model, Speciale learned to play golf with the guys, rising to president at Mediavest before jumping to Turner in 2012. She oversees a vast cable portfolio and has launched industry-leading experiments with limiting ad loads on TNT and sharing data with Viacom and Fox in the consortium OpenAP.

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Dorian Karchmar

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Partner and Literary Agent, WME

The 2016 election was gut-wrenching for Karchmar, not only because she ardently supported Hillary Clinton but also for what it said about her area of specialty. “Do books even matter anymore?” she recalls wondering. With television dominating the zeitgeist and a reality TV star in the White House, “it felt like we were in the business of selling encyclopedias door to door. But since the election, there’s been a heartening, surprising return to the written word.” Karchmar’s client list includes authors Amor Towles, Daniel James Brown and Helene Cooper. The intimate power of being among the first readers of a manuscript “continues to feed me,” she says. A recent example was Paul Kalanithi, whose posthumous memoir, “When Breath Becomes Air,” became a sensation in 2016. “I grew up with a very entrepreneurial voice in my head and hand on my shoulder,” she said, noting her father’s small-business career and her mother’s survival of the Holocaust.

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Jane Root

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CEO, Nutopia

“We started Nutopia on a wild hunch that in the midst of the reality boom there was room for more premium content,” says Root, who launched the company
in 2008. Nutopia will be responsible for a whopping
42 hours of primetime programming on networks
like CNN, History Channel, CBC and HLN. Upcoming projects include “One Strange Rock,” a 12-hour collaboration with director Darren Aronofsky for National Geographic, as well as the 10-part series, “Civilisations,” for BBC and PBS. The former Discovery Networks president and BBC2 controller jokes, “I’ll always treasure the moment where a tall man at a reception was so amazed that I ran BBC2 that his hand sagged, tipping an entire glass of wine into the bodice of my dress.”

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Dee Rees

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Director, “Mudbound”

“Filmmaking wouldn’t be any less difficult if it were a ‘female-dominated’ field,” says the writer-director of “Mudbound,” which sold to Netflix for $12.5 million after garnering rave reviews at Sundance earlier this year. “Excellence is excellence and the barriers to entry are high; the barriers to rise are even higher; and the odds of longevity are low,” Rees says. “So I’m going for the knock-out every time.” Having made a name for herself with 2011’s “Pariah,” Rees directed HBO’s “Bessie” as well as two episodes of ABC miniseries “When We Rise.” “As someone who had no access to the industry, and no connections, mentorship was my way in,” she says, crediting Spike Lee, Seith Mann, Paris Barclay, Lee Daniels and Len Amato with contributing to her success. “I pay that forward to other women by hiring women wherever I can.”

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Jenni Konner

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Writer, Director, Showrunner, “Girls”

Konner’s longtime mentor, Judd Apatow, offered her a piece of advice: “Write your truth.” “When I started writing in a truthful way, that’s when it all started to click,” Konner says. And after it “clicked,” it spiraled: “Girls” was hailed as something of a revolution for TV, earning Konner and her team of executive producers two consecutive Emmy nominations. Alongside “Girls” creator and multihyphenate Lena Dunham, she co-founded Lenny Letter, a feminist newsletter that has grown into digital media, podcasting, book publishing and short films via an HBO deal. “I think just doing anything as a woman in this business that’s so male-dominated is inherently a political act.”

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Jessica Lange

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Actress

After two Oscars, three Emmys, five Golden Globes and a 2016 Tony for her Broadway debut in 2016’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” Lange is now playing Joan Crawford in Ryan Murphy’s latest FX series, “Feud.” “I think that a big part of the show is what Hollywood does to women, as they age, which is just a microcosm of what happens to women generally as they age, whether you want to say they become invisible or undesirable or unattractive,” Lange told Variety in January.

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Desiree Gruber

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Full Picture CEO

“What Heidi [Klum] and I built together was the result of commitment and energy and passion,” says the executive producer of “Project Runway,” which is going into its 16th season and has been nominated for 12 Emmys. “But it was also built because we were two women with determination who understood and supported each other. She and I are a mutual success story … we championed each other and still do today.” In addition to being CEO of Full Picture — a public relations, management and production company — Gruber recently launched DGNL Ventures, a venture capital fund for tech and consumer product startups. “For every male-dominated C-suite or board of directors I see, I also see more female founders and leaders than ever before,” she says. “We’ve invested in several companies founded and run by women … so I’m also proud of that.”

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Erika Olde

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Founder, Black Bicycle Entertainment

Last year Olde produced and helped finance Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s “Home Again,” starring Reese Witherspoon, which Open Road will distribute; Susanna White’s “Woman Walks Ahead” starring Jessica Chastain; and Whitney Cumming’s “The Female Brain” all through her company Black Bicycle Entertainment. In the midst
of producing madness, Olde developed Iris-In, a course for young women at the non-profit Ghetto Film School. The school, located on both coasts, provides educational opportunities to students passionate about making movies. “Everybody is taught the theory behind what they are studying, but you are not really taught anything about how your business actually operates on a day-to-day level. How much politics are involved, etc. I thought these kids, who frankly may not have as much industry access as some others, could really benefit from having that practical advice.”

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Emily Gerson Saines

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Producer: Founder and President, Brookside Artist Management

In 1998, after a successful seven-year tenure at William Morris Agency, Gerson Saines ditched Los Angeles and set up her own Gotham-based management firm, Gerson Saines Management. The firm later became Brookside Artist Management. Her clients include Daveed Diggs, Laura Benanti, Donna Murphy, Cynthia Nixon, Mekhi Phifer, Ansel Elgort and Hayden Panettiere. “My job is to activate [artist’s] inner strength and to lead them on a path where the seemingly impossible is possible,” she says. “In that journey there are a lot of peaks and valleys and when they hit a valley you need to be there for them just as hard if not harder to get them on their path to success.” As a producer, Gerson Saines has also experienced success. In 2010, she produced HBO’s “Temple Grandin,” which received seven Emmy awards. Gerson Saines is a co-founder of the Autism Coalition for Research and Education, the founding organization of Autism Speaks.

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Janet Mock

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Author, Producer, Activist

“As a feminist, I believe that no one should be oppressed by their gender or restricted because of how they present, live or express themselves,” says the trans women’s rights activist who spoke at the Women’s March on Washington. Mock also produced HBO Documentary Films’ “The Trans List” in 2016 and founded #GirlsLikeUs “long before hashtag activism was a thing.” The New York Times bestselling author has her second memoir, “Surpassing Certainty,” out on June 13, and is working on a scripted series with 3 Arts Entertainment based on her college years. She also has a documentary series and a pop culture talk show in development with Part 2 Pictures. Mock says Oprah Winfrey “told me to embrace my otherness and use my unique perspective on the world to tell the stories that I find essential and necessary.”

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Jo Miller

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Showrunner, “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee”

Miller, the witty, feminist mastermind behind the show’s sharp, politically charged satire, has two objectives in mind when plotting the trajectory of the female-fronted late-night talk show: one is to churn out content that is as funny as it is smart (Miller calls it “fact-based comedy”); the other is to empower female voices, both onscreen and behind the scenes. Miller proudly notes that the team behind “Full Frontal” includes what she markedly deems a faction of impossibly talented female writers, producers and other staff. “It’s an opportunity, and a very welcome one, to have women’s voices out there,” says Miller. “And it’s important to run a female-dominated office, which is also a different kind of thing in the business.”

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Natasha Katz

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Lighting Designer

Lighting veteran Katz has spread her spotlight on both sides of the Atlantic, with four Broadway productions, including the upcoming “Hello, Dolly!” and five West End shows, including “School of Rock,” running concurrently. The newly elected vice chairman of the American Theater Wing and recipient of six Tonys feels lighting has an unappreciated, “subliminal” artistic element that goes alongside its pragmatic necessity. A New York native who yearns to have a dog in her pet-free building, Katz will light “Frozen” later this year.

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Lori York

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Agent, Television-Alternative, CAA

Since joining CAA in January 2016, York has been key to signing clients Will Packer Prods., Jupiter Entertainment, ThinkFactory Media and All3Media Group. She also reps Gordon Ramsay and his Studio Ramsay, which launched a joint venture with All3Media last year, and sold new series “The F Word” to Fox. York notes that “one of the trends that we’re seeing is that everything old is new again — the revival of game shows, and such series as ‘The Love Connection’ and ‘Trading Spaces.’”

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Kate McKinnon

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Actress

McKinnon’s star has shined bright in the past 12 months — both on and off “Saturday Night Live.” From her poignant, “SNL” cold open last November portraying Hillary Clinton at a piano playing and singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” to her spot-on, devastating impersonations of presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, it’s clear that taking on politicians is not a problem for the Emmy-winning actress. McKinnon’s talents have made her busy outside “SNL.” She stars opposite Scarlett Johansson in the upcoming Sony comedy “Rough Night” and is attached to star in Lionsgate’s “The Spy Who Dumped Me,” “The Lunch Witch” for DreamWorks and Fox’s “Women in Business.”

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Katie Hockmeyer

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Producer, “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”

In spring 2009, “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” then-associate producer Hockmeyer — brandishing an intricately designed PowerPoint presentation — sat down with Fallon work on an idea, which, at the time, felt more like a far-flung imagining than a potential reality: a Fallon-themed amusement park ride, fashioned into the heart of the Universal Orlando Resort. Eight years later, after one Producers Guild Award and five consecutive Emmy nominations, Hockmeyer attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon, Universal Studios Florida’s newest park installment. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought this would happen to me,” she says. Although, as “The Tonight Show’s” reigning producer and one of the key architects behind the Fallon empire, Hockmeyer has truly paved her own way. Her philosophy for success? “Always take on more than you think you can handle because you always find a way to make it work,” Hockmeyer says.

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Lori McCreary

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CEO, Revelations Entertainment

Whether celebrating 20 years co-running Revelations with Morgan Freeman or heading into the fourth year of her Producers Guild of America presidency, a byword for McCreary is “diversity.” “It’s about diversifying in all ways, in front of and behind the camera,” she says in reference to initiatives within the guild, but also within her own company, including shows such as “Madam Secretary,” “The Story of God” and “Food: Fact or Fiction.” “There is a demand and need for these kinds of diverse stories,” says the bicoastal exec. “Hollywood has finally realized that.”

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Lia Vollack

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President, Columbia Live Stage

“It is wonderful to be working in the theater again,” says the former Broadway sound designer and now 20-year Sony executive who develops original theatrical productions using Sony Pictures Entertainment’s film catalog. “To be able to bring the years of executive experience I have had in the film and music business and couple it with my years working as part of the creative team in the theater is an amazing way to return.” In addition to collaborating with producer Scott Rudin on the Tony-nominated “Shuffle Along,” Vollack worked with Matthew Warchus, Tim Minchin and Danny Rubin on “Groundhog Day,” a musical based on the 1993 comedy, opening on Broadway this month.

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Kendall Ostrow

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Digital Strategy Agent, UTA

Multi-platform A-listers including client Channing Tatum — with his “Magic Mike Live” Vegas show and Born & Bred vodka line — are lucky to have the Seattle native on the case. Ostrow and her team of four take a “holistic, in-the-weeds” approach to expanding clients’ digital interests, including helping architect the social-media strategy for 2016’s Guns N’ Roses reunion tour and expanding Scott Eastwood’s brand into China ahead of his “Fate of the Furious” and “Pacific Rim 2” films. Social media is “no longer something that you can just dabble in,” says Ostrow. “In order to truly capitalize on its benefit and impact, it needs to be a consistent effort.”

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Libby Geist

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VP, Executive Producer, ESPN Films and “30 for 30”

After debuting ESPN Films’ “O.J.: Made in America” at Sundance in 2016, Geist decided to qualify the whopping 467 minutes (or 7.8 hour) ESPN Films doc for Academy Award consideration. “We were standing in the lobby of the Egyptian and could actually see people experiencing [the documentary] in a theater as a film. It solidified what we already knew – that we had something special and it was worthy of being part of the (Oscar) discussion.” Turns out Geist has very good instincts. The Ezra Edelman film took home the best documentary Oscar in February. Less than a month later, Geist was promoted. “‘O.J’ showed me that it’s important to tell sports stories that have a resonance beyond ESPN,” she says, adding, “So we will continue to take risks and find films and stories that have cultural relevance.”

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Leslee Dart

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42West, Founding Partner/CEO

“Gender bias is mitigated by success,” says the 36-year talent and entertainment marketing veteran whose company was recently acquired by Dolphin Digital Media for $28 million. Dart’s clients include such luminaries as Jessica Lange, Nicole Kidman, Tom Hanks, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Woody Allen, Darren Aronofsky, Jonathan Demme, Rob Marshall, Conan O’Brien, Ricky Gervais, Hugh Grant, Francis Ford Coppola and Megyn Kelly, the latter of whom she signed last year. Work aside, Dart devotes her time to her husband and son and to “doing whatever I can to help protect LGBTQ rights, Planned Parenthood, Mother Earth and the importance of journalists to report the truth.” She advises that aspiring publicists should “be truthful and ethical. Your reputation depends on it – nothing is more important to clients, colleagues and the press.”

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Katy Tur

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Reporter, NBC News

Tur “lived out of her suitcase” as she tirelessly covered the 2016 presidential campaign for NBC. Throughout, candidate Donald Trump chastised Tur’s reporting, calling her “naive” and disgracing her during a televised interview for stumbling on a question. Yet Tur says the flak that she received during this election helped her realize that political journalism was indeed her calling. “I really enjoy being the pain in the behind, I enjoy being the one that asks the tough questions that people otherwise would not want to ask,” Tur says. “Those are the most important answers.” Her book, “Unbelievable: My Front Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History” comes out in September.

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Kahane Cooperman

Image Credit: Courtesy of Kahane Cooperman

Producer-Director

After 18-plus years at “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” Cooperman returned to her documentary roots in 2016 and received an Oscar nod for short “Joe’s Violin”; she also served as exec producer and showrunner of “The New Yorker Presents,” an Amazon Prime series with Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Prods. She’s now at RadicalMedia showrunning and exec producing Joe Berlinger’s yet-to-be-titled documenatry series, which reexamines the murders chronicled in Truman Capote’s landmark book “In Cold Blood,” for SundanceTV. “This particular crime has had an impact far beyond the crime itself, but there’s never been a definitive documentary about it. No one has ever revisited it and that’s what we are doing.”

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Sarah Trahern

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CEO, Country Music Assn.

Trahern helmed CMA’s big year in 2016, in which the association prepared for “The 50th Annual CMA Awards” broadcast, with a historic gathering of 30 CMA Award-winning country artists singing on “Forever Country.” It was a tribute hit that debuted at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart and has since sold more than 300,000 units — with a video that’s been viewed over 60 million times. And the pairing of Beyonce with the Dixie Chicks almost broke the internet. With that kind of success, no wonder Trahern says they’re eager to find ways to mine and monetize the CMA’s rich archives. “Now is the time for us to define what the CMA is going to look like for the next 10 or 15 years,” she says.

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Nicki Minaj

Image Credit: Courtesy of Nicki Minaj

Rapper, Singer, Songwriter, Model

“We all have insecurities,” said Nicki Minaj during a characteristically fiery acceptance speech at the 2017 Los Angeles Fashion Awards. “I want to say, shout-out to all of the kick-ass women, not only in this room, but around the world. You know what, we win and fail in the public eye. That’s not easy to do. People think they know what it requires. People think they can do it. Everybody wants to walk in your shoes, until you put them in your shoes.” With 10 Grammy nominations, and a slew of other awards, the rapper’s blockbuster career includes a recent record: she passed the legendary Aretha Franklin as the female artist with the most entries in the Billboard Hot 100 when she released her latest offering, #3PackFromParis.

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Lynn Nottage

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Playwright, Screenwriter

Brooklyn native Nottage had never been to Reading, Penn. As the 21st century brought a Bible’s worth of plagues to the industrial city — the disappearance of factory jobs, soaring opioid addiction, racial unrest — she knew there was a story there but only if she saw it up close. So she started visiting once or twice a month. Two years of research trips yielded the play “Sweat,” a drama about friends and co-workers in Reading in 2000 and 2008. The show, which recently transferred to Broadway, won Nottage the second of her two Pulitzer Prizes, following one in 2009 for “Ruined,” about civil war in the Congo. “I’ve been really excited by the audiences we’re getting,” she says. “On Broadway, people are used to very slick boulevard plays. …This is a play about the working class.” Nottage also was a writer on Netflix’s upcoming series take on Spike Lee’s 1986 film “She’s Gotta Have It.”

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Martha Raddatz

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ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent; Co-Anchor, “This Week With George Stephanopoulos”

Raddatz was the only woman to co-moderate a 2016 presidential debate, and after decades of experience on the frontlines, Raddatz says this presidential campaign was one of the most unique that she has covered, in which controversial information constantly surfaced. “That’s the sort of time where you focus, and you say, ‘I can do this, and I’m going to do the best I can,’” Raddatz says. “That challenge of pushing yourself out of comfort zones is rewarding,” she says. “I’ve been doing this a long, long time, and there are still moments where there are issues or things you’d never expect, but that’s why you’re a journalist, too.”

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Michele Anthony

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EVP Recorded Music, Universal Music

While Anthony oversees Polygram with Universal Music Publishing Group chairman and CEO Jody Gerson, she also oversees UMG’s film and TV production, which in February received a major boost with the relaunch of Polygram Entertainment. Anthony was involved in UMG’s production on the hit docs “Amy” and “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck.” First up under the Polygram banner will be a Motown documentary — the initial one to be produced with Motown founder Berry Gordy’s involvement — as well as “Mystify,” about the late INXS frontman Michael Hutchence. In May of 2016, she also oversaw the creation of the Verve Label Group, which reorganized a number of UMG’s more storied jazz and classical labels — Verve, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon and Mercury Classics — under the same umbrella. Actively involved with the Global Poverty Project, Anthony was named the Music Visionary of the Year by the UJA-Federation of New York.

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Phillipa Soo

Image Credit: Courtesy of Phillipa Soo

Actress

What do Broadway characters Natasha (“Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812”) Elizabeth (“Hamilton”) and Amelie (“Amelie”) all have in common? Answer: Soo, who helped create and develop each character. While the characters are all on Broadway, Soo is currently focused on starring as Amelie in the musical adaptation. “With each of these projects I’ve had an incredible and fully seen-through experience. Within a few blocks there are significant pieces of art that have shaped my life and what is cool now is that I get to walk by and revel in how amazing these experiences have been.”

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Rachel Chavkin

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Director, Writer, Dramaturg: Artistic Director, the Team

Last fall Chavkin made her Broadway directorial debut with “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812,” which opened to rave reviews. Before immersing audiences into the world of 19th-century Russia, Chavkin directed Bess Wohl’s “Small Mouth Sounds,” Anais Mitchell’s folk opera “Hadestown” and the 2012 Off Broadway “Comet,” for which she and Dave Malloy won an Obie. In 2016 she received another Obie for her direction of Marco Ramirez’s “The Royale” at Lincoln Center. But it’s her direction of “Comet” — a very thin slice of “War and Peace” — that has garnered the most commercial attention. Despite the success, Chavkin’s selection process hasn’t changed. “I’ve found out the hard way that I will drive both my collaborators and myself nuts if I feel like the project isn’t striving for something significant. Time is the main challenge now. There’s so much I am drawn to.”

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Sara Bareilles, Jessie Nelson, Lorin Latarro, and Diane Paulus

Image Credit: Sara Bareilles, Jessie Nelson, Lorin Latarro, and Diane Paulus

“Waitress” Team

On March 31, Bareilles stepped into the lead role of Jenna in “Waitress,” the popular musical for which she wrote the score. The singer-songwriter’s Broadway debut broke a house record for a single show on April 1 when her evening perf raked in $180,026. The show, based on the 2007 film, marked Broadway’s first all-female creative team; it has also recouped its $12 million capitalization costs less than 10 months after previews began in March 2016. “Very few Broadway shows recoup their investment,” says the show’s director, Paulus. “So I’m hoping that this is an important signal to the industry that a show in the hands of female leadership can do this.”

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Sarah Barnett

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President and General Manager, BBC America

As an exec who has spent most of her career working for the BBC, Barnett has a “veddy British” reaction upon hearing she had made Variety’s Women’s Impact list for New York. “I’m chuffed!” she exclaims. The Brit switched in 2015 from running Sundance to leading BBC America (a return to the Beeb following U.K. news stints there) after AMC Networks took a controlling stake. Results have been auspicious since, thanks to such hits as “Orphan Black” and “Planet Earth II,” and newbies like “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.” A signature BBC franchise since 1963, “Doctor Who,” returned for a new season this month, with a new companion for the Time Lord, and for Barnett it has lost none of its power. “I remember as a kid hiding behind the sofa when that music came on,” she recalls.

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Sarah Levy

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COO, Global Entertainment Group, Viacom

“I’ve had the good fortune to work with very strong women throughout my career,” says Levy, who recently took the reins of Viacom’s Global Entertainment Group after nearly 19 years at Nickelodeon. “Very intentionally, the business development and strategy function that I built at Nick has attracted a series of strong young women who are being trained to be the next generation of business leaders at Viacom,” says the COO, who leads domestic operations for MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Spike, CMT, TV Land, Logo and Viacom Intl. Media Networks. “I know that it can be hard for women, in particular, to give their all at both home and at work, but I’ve tried to set an example for the young women with whom I’ve worked.”

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Sarah Stennett

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Co-Founder/CEO, First Access Entertainment

Stennett — partnered with Warner Music Group owner’s Len Blavatnik and overseeing 60 staff in the U.S. and U.K. — has an innate understanding of twentysomething client musicians including Zayn Malik, Ellie Goulding and Rita Ora. “I spent most of my 20s not sober because I didn’t really understand myself,” says the Liverpool-born exec, who became the first female music manager to win the Strat Award on April 5 and counts Malik’s successful career post One Direction among recent successes. Married with three children and four dogs, she also understands the flip side of being twentsomething: “It’s a decade of discovery, and that’s what’s exciting. Just listen.”

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Shani Hilton

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Head of U.S. News for BuzzFeed News

Hilton came to BuzzFeed in January 2013 as culture editor. “I am just trying to deepen and grow our coverage,” Hilton says. “See what the BuzzFeed brand is in our evolution that people who know journalism know and trust us.” To that end, they have expanded coverage to national reporting and science, “covering stories where we can make an impact.” BuzzFeed News has been making big waves covering Trump. Hilton has plenty of big-name fans including Ta-Nehisi Coates, who called her “utterly brilliant.” “It’s really nice,” she says of the compliment.

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Toni Barton

Image Credit: Courtesy of Toni Barton

Art Director/Production Designer

Barton didn’t plan to corner the market on Netflix’s Marvel Comics adaptations, but when she got the call while working on “Girls” to take on “Daredevil,” she leapt at the chance. “I wanted to play with superheroes and break through walls,” she said, and ultimately worked on “Jessica Jones” and “Luke Cage,” for which she was production designer on the final two episodes. Now with an agent, she’s seguing into the PD side of things while teaching freshman design students at NYU (where she’s worked since 1999) and preparing for her next superheroic call. “I’m home for the first time in three years,” she says.

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Wendy Goldberg

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EVP, Chief Communications Officer, iHeartMedia

Her company’s facing fiscal woes, but Goldberg has led the communications strategy around iHeartRadio’s digital musical platform, including on-demand subscription services, its large social-media footprint (85 million followers) and adoption of such platforms as Snapchat to connect advertisers with audiences. IHeartRadio has surpassed 100 million registered users, and recently launched two on-demand streaming services: iHeartRadio Plus and iHeartRadio All Access. Having worked with a U.S. senator, at AOL and in the nanotech sector, Goldberg is extremely flexible and politic. Radio, she says, is “the best way to communicate with the American public.”

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Hilary Estey McLoughlin

Danielle Aguirre

Aileen Atkins

Awkwafina

Allison Williams

Daniela Taplin Lundberg

Cynthia Swartz

Ayala Cohen

Alyssa Reuben

Casey Patterson

Amy Entelis

Ashley Parrish

Ana Navarro

Catherine Kim

Stacy O’Neil

Julie Greenwald

Emma Watson

Glenda Hersh

Donna Speciale

Dorian Karchmar

Jane Root

Dee Rees

Jenni Konner

Jessica Lange

Desiree Gruber

Erika Olde

Emily Gerson Saines

Janet Mock

Jo Miller

Natasha Katz

Lori York

Kate McKinnon

Katie Hockmeyer

Lori McCreary

Lia Vollack

Kendall Ostrow

Libby Geist

Leslee Dart

Katy Tur

Kahane Cooperman

Sarah Trahern

Nicki Minaj

Lynn Nottage

Martha Raddatz

Michele Anthony

Phillipa Soo

Rachel Chavkin

Sara Bareilles, Jessie Nelson, Lorin Latarro, and Diane Paulus

Sarah Barnett

Sarah Levy

Sarah Stennett

Shani Hilton

Toni Barton

Wendy Goldberg