2025 Nashville Women’s Impact Report

Lead, country & folk, artist partnerships, Spotify 

Augustus has built her career around redefining how country music is presented. By using Spotify’s platform to embrace non-traditional country-leaning artists like Beyoncé and Post Malone or breakouts Shaboozey and Dasha, her vision helped to power a 20% global increase in monthly streams for the genre in 2024. She delivered record attendance for the second year in a row across three days at CMA Fest in the consumer-facing Spotify House, which featured more than 60 artists, including Post Malone and MGK. Augustus also created prime video content through Spotify’s video podcast series “Countdown,” with Jelly Roll and MGK, as well as episodes of “Outside” that featured rising stars like Gossett, Megan Moroney and Luke Grimes.

Global VP, marketing, Sheba brand, Mars Pet Nutrition

It’s safe to say that one would not ordinarily expect a cat food brand to fund a documentary about restoring coral reefs, or play a role in March Madness or show up in 3D on Central London’s Bond Street. As a global marketer, Barry works to use the scale of brand platforms for storytelling. Under her purview, the Sheba brand did all of the above over the past year. Most notably, she led the brand to fund the documentary “Reef Builders,” which debuted during SXSW 2025 and tells the story of community-led efforts behind one of the world’s largest reef restoration programs. She also developed a creator-led social media race to the finals of March Madness and earned a Lion at the 2024 Cannes International Festival of Creativity.

Exec VP, promotion, Big Loud

With 29 No. 1s over Big Loud’s nine years, Blythe has helped to establish the company as not just a major force in country music, but the No. 1 Country Airplay label in 2024. Maximizing airplay for a roster that embodies the Big Loud name, Blythe leaned into Miranda Lambert’s fiery “Wranglers,” and helped create ubiquity for Post Malone’s “F-1 Trillion” (via sibling label Mercury) with the Blake Shelton moment “Pour Me a Drink” and the inescapable “I Had Some Help” with Morgan Wallen, who even broke Billboard’s record for most country No. 1s in a single year, as Blythe orchestrated five chart-toppers in 2024. Other highlights from the year include Hardy’s No. 1 “Truck Bed” and rising female Ashley Cooke’s first chart-topper, “Your Place.”

Owner, business manager, chairman, FBMM Entertainment Business Management

Boos oversaw more than $170 million in revenue on behalf of her clients in 2024, including from tours across North America, Europe, Australia and Africa. Her Music City roots run deep; Boos graduated from Belmont University’s Massey School of Business with an MBA before entering the music world, where she not only works with top recording artists but also helps up-and-coming breakout artists navigate the many firsts in the industry. Boos is also a founding member of Nurturing Outstanding Women, supporting career-oriented women through a mentorship program, and is also an avid foster-care advocate. “What I love most is seeing artists achieve the financial goals we talked and dreamed about at the beginning of their careers,” she says. “I’ve been doing this long enough now to be celebrating milestone accomplishments with those same people.”

Co-office administrative partner, Loeb & Loeb

Known for her exhaustive knowledge of copyright, trademark and intellectual property law, Dunn is one of Nashville’s top entertainment attorneys. Counseling legends, superstars and songwriters, she is the John R. Cash Revocable Trust’s representative, stewarding deals for books, a stage show, a statue at the U.S. Capitol and even a jersey with the Nashville Soccer Club. For Luke Combs, she’s navigated partnership deals with Miller Lite, Crocs, NASCAR and Columbia Sports, collaboration agreements with Tracy Chapman, Post Malone, Ed Sheeran and others and the theme song for 2024’s blockbuster film “Twisters,” as well as Combs’ “Fathers & Sons” album. Among many others, she has advised Vince Gill, Runaway June and Casting Crowns on all matters regarding their careers, in addition to landmark attractions Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge and Honky Tonk Central.

President, founder, Fram Entertainment and Music Co.

No one is more associated with boosting the profile of female country artists than Fram, between her long stint as a programming senior VP at CMT — where she started the highly impactful Next Women of Country franchise in 2013 — and her co-founding of the Change the Conversation org. Moving on from CMT, she’s just announced the Fram Entertainment and Music Company (FEMco), an artist and brand consulting collective. With an extension of that called FEMcountry, she’ll zero in on continuing her Next Women mission of empowering women in the country genre. “I love working with artists who pour their hearts into their work to turn their passion into a sustainable career,” Fram says, “helping to navigate a wild industry that’s equal parts thrilling and brutal, pointing them toward opportunities, connections and strategies they might not find on their own.” She sees her role with artists as “mentor, strategist, cheerleader and sometimes even therapist.”

Founder, Black Opry

The industry’s quiet take on the purportedly low number of Black country artists has long been that the talent pool just isn’t that large. Holly G has proved that wellspring is actually a deep one, as her org identified more than 200 Black country and Americana artists, many of whom they’ve platformed in the four years since Black Opry was founded. She advocates for changes in executive offices to “put some support in place with more diversity behind the scenes to make sure that these changes that are happening are long-term,” rather than the blips she fears. She’s gone into the belly of the beast, speaking about these issues at Country Radio Seminar. Artists who have played on Black Opry Revue bills around the country include Tylar Bryant, Grace Givertz, Jett Holden, Julie Williams and Roberta Lea.

Founder, Shero Entertainment

Gershon held exec roles at seemingly every major record label or publishing or management firm on Music Row before branching out with Shero. There, she manages SistaStrings and Olivia Wolf and co-manages Allison Russell, while serving as consultant for Brandy Clark. She co-runs the publishing venture Northern Lights Music with Brandi Carlile, for whom she also unofficially acts as “a utility player,” and is also a trustee for the Recording Academy. But “my biggest thing is activism,” says Gershon, who co-founded the Change the Conversation nonprofit in 2014. “We feel like we’ve made a real difference in helping build a community for women and holding labels and publishers accountable for why they weren’t signing the great women they were missing out on.”

Exec VP, recorded music, BMG Nashville

Hahr’s passion for her work and the artists she represents is unmistakable. She oversees day-to-day operations of BMG’s BBR Label Group and its imprints, and under her leadership, the label group has risen to new heights with artists like Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson. Hahr began her career in radio and later took roles at MCA, Valory Music, Big Machine and Broken Bow. In the past year, Hahr and her team ushered Jelly Roll’s “Beautifully Broken” to the top of the Billboard 200, and and Wilson to even greater prominence with her “Whirlwind” album. “For a woman in business, what you wear and how to express yourself shouldn’t put you into a box, limit your power or your worth,” she says. “Overall though, none of that should matter as long as you are kind, you treat people well and you work hard. Your light will shine regardless.”

President, Rounder-Concord

Reimagining an iconic record label for the modern era is a tall order, but Hudacek — who last year took the helm of a 55-year-old label with a legacy that includes Alison Krauss, Nanci Griffith and George Thorogood — is well on her way to accomplishing it. With a diverse background that includes founding the distribution/label services company Soundly Music, C-level roles at indie labels Riser House and Late August, and working as a recording engineer and tour manager, Hudacek presides over a roster that includes Grammy-winning Americana superstar Sierra Ferrell (who is touring with Post Malone this spring), and new signings Ken Pomeroy and JD Clayton. “I love proving that structure and soul can coexist—that you can build smart systems, run a tight ship, and still cry at a lyric,” she says.

President, CEO, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.

Few have had a better front seat to the recent rise of Nashville than Ivey, who has spent the last 27 years helping to present it as a global tourist destination. She has been integral in shaping the Music City brand, creating and attracting major events including the Jack Daniel’s New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash concert with Jelly Roll, Kane Brown, Keith Urban, Shaboozey and Brittany Spencer (a five-hour live concert special on CBS that drew more than 220,000 people to Bicentennial Mall State Park) and the Let Freedom Sing!/Music City July 4th concert. She has also been the force behind the Music City Walk of Fame, and has co-produced two award-winning Nashville documentaries, and, not least, showcasing Nashville as a multi-genre music hub. The results? The city’s tourism industry is at an all-time high with 17.1 million annual visitors and $10.8 billion in direct visitor spending — a third of all visitor spending in Tennessee.

Head of country music, Amazon Music

“From a young age, my dream has been to get country, the music I love most, to as many people as possible,” Kammerer says, At Amazon she found avenues to do that. She not only oversees artist and label relations, marketing initiatives and partnerships with the ACM Awards, and Stagecoach but also manages brands like “Country Heat,” which has driven more than 28 billion streams since its inception. Her previous positions with CAA, Country Radio Broadcasters, Dot Records and Big Machine Label Group provided a solid foundation for her 2021 jump to Amazon “The Nashville entertainment community is unique and distinct from all other parts of the industry, and you must be willing to show up,” she says. “What you give to Nashville you’ll get back tenfold.”

Dean of College of Media and Entertainment, Middle Tennessee State University

Keel’s three decades in academia have included breaks where she pursued journalism or publicity. But her passion brought her back to MTSU, a school with “the feel of a small college and all the benefits of a major university,” where “my students give me hope every day, during a time when hope is very needed.” Alumni include artists like Hardy, Chris Young and Hillary Scott, as well as leading Music Row executives. She’s also a co-founder of the advocacy group Change the Conversation. “When we started, people were still arguing that there was not a problem for women in country music. Now that’s become an accepted fact,” Keel says. “During a time when the federal government is erasing women’s accomplishments, we’ve got to encourage young women to speak out and pursue their dreams.”

Writer, director

No one is more associated with the film-TV side of Nashville than the woman who created and was showrunner for the series “Nashville,” which ran from 2012-2018. But it was only at the beginning of this decade that Khouri actually moved to the city full-time from Los Angeles, with her musician-producer husband, T Bone Burnett, although she’s still waiting for her industry to follow. “You’ll never have a boom without the tax credits that every single production gravitates toward, which states like Georgia provide.” She currently has two big projects in the works: an adaptation of the Fannie Flagg novel “The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion,” which she’s co-writing and directing for Reba McEntire, and a Broadway-aimed musical based on her Oscar-winning “Thelma and Louise” screenplay, with songwriter Neko Case.

Co-chair, co-president, Warner Music Nashville

A singer, Vanderbilt graduate and music-publishing veteran, Lacy understands the discipline required to scale the heights of today’s country music. She personally championed the return of new-traditionalist icon Randy Travis with “Where That Came From” (the singer’s first appearance on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in two decades after a debilitating stroke) and signed and developed Gavin Adcock’s “Actin’ Up Again” (the top debut of 2024 from a major label solo male artist). An extended dialogue with Cody Johnson led the very independent Texas artist to sign with Warner Nashville; her guidance helped shape “Leather,” the 2024 CMA Album of the Year, which contained the CMA and ACM nominated Songs of the Year “The Painter” and “Dirt Cheap.”

Chairman, CEO, Sony Nashville

Before ascending to her current role at the helm of Sony Nashville, Lindsey was the company’s senior VP of A&R, where she and her team developed a roster that includes superstars Luke Combs and Kane Brown, progressive country powerhouse Maren Morris, breakout singer Nate Smith, record-setting group Old Dominion and Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Brooks & Dunn. Her purview also includes Provident Entertainment, one of Christian music’s most prominent labels, with a roster that includes Casting Crowns, Donnie McClurkin and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. A committed team player (who also happens to be a sibling of songwriting great Hillary), Lindsey was previously named a Variety New Leader in 2019 and a Hitmaker the
following year.

Founder, CEO, Back Blocks Music

After earning her chops through five years in promotion and artist development with Republic Records and Universal Music in New York, Marshall’s strong sense of song led her to Nashville, where she cut her teeth at Cornman Music with Brett James and BMG with Kos Weaver. All of that experience has gone into Back Blocks, her publishing, management and artist-development firm, where she leads an all-female team overseeing a diverse roster that includes CMA nominee Lily Rose, Ashley Cooke (one of only three women to have a No. 1 in 2024) and breakthrough artist Tucker Wetmore. “At Back Blocks, I’m proud to say every employee is a woman and that’s not by accident,” Marshall says. “It’s a reflection of the kind of environment I want to build: one where women lead, speak up, and win.”

Founder, Essential Broadcast Media

McFarland has been named publicist of the year four times by the Country Music Assn., and she’s chairman of the board of directors for the Academy of Country Music. Her A-list roster speaks for itself: In opening EBM in 2007, she started with Darius Rucker, and many of her superstar stalwarts — Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Eric Church — have been along for most of that ride. No wonder that when Morgan Wallen finally sought out indie PR after becoming the biz’s top-selling artist, he went straight toward her. Indeed, McFarland believes in taking a long view and sharing her knowledge. Her advice for women includes: “Burnout is not a badge. Rest and trust that when you treat others right, there will always be space for you, too.”

Exec VP, managing executive, Wasserman Music

Nalpant’s roster speaks volumes about her passion for unique musicians: Grammy best new artist Chappell Roan, Cigarettes After Sex, Tash Sultana, Sylvan Esso, Goth Babe, Dr. Dog, Vulfpeck and many more. Nalpant began her career out of high school with gigs at Island Records and several New York venues. She moved into agency work at the legendary Monterey Peninsula Artists, where she has remained through that company’s 2004 acquisition by Paradigm, whose music division was acquired by Wasserman to create Wasserman Music in 2021. She now heads up Wasserman’s Nashville office with Jonathan Levine. “There is nothing more important in an artist’s development than building a direct and meaningful connection to fans, and nothing does that like the power of live performance,” she says. “One incredible show can change an artist’s trajectory forever.”

Artist relations, national programming group, iHeart Country

With 150 iHeartCountry radio stations, as well as the nationally syndicated Bobby Bones Show and Top 30 Countdown, Tigue’s ability to juggle multiple artists and their schedules added up to 34 world premieres, two “On the Verge” activations and three album release parties across the platform in 2024. Those 24-hour exclusive premieres included superstars Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, Luke Combs and Brooks & Dunn, while her album release parties featured Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett and Lainey Wilson. Tigue also serves as co-producer of the perennially sold-out iHeartCountry Festival in Austin, Texas, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024. The University of Houston grad also produces iHeartCountry’s massive CMA Fest Takeover on Nashville’s iconic Lower Broadway, creating multiple packed shows; last year’s buzzed-about sets featured breakout stars Shaboozey, Tucker Wetmore and Riley Green.

CEO, Country Music Assn.

With three decades of experience, Trahern presides over the 7,000-plus-member Country Music Assn. with a goal to not only grow country music’s reach, but provide a supportive environment for artists, creatives and professionals in the genre. Under her leadership, the CMA launched the Women’s Leadership Academy, now in its fourth year of providing coaching and career development for the next generation of female leaders, and the organization invested $600,000 in mental health resources for music professionals. She also oversees the massive fan-forward CMA Fest, which delivers four nights of music at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium and venues around downtown. “The music industry is built on relationships, resilience, and passion,” she says. “There will undoubtedly be moments that set you back, but the key is to keep moving forward.”

Senior VP, operations, Empire

Launching the Nashville office of a music company best known for hip-hop (just before the pandemic, no less) was no small task, and Vassar knew it. “I told [Empire CEO] Ghazi [Shami] I needed five years to make it profitable,” she recalls. “We did it in four and a half.” That was due in no small part to Shaboozey, whose “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” is the biggest country chart hit of the 2020s. A talented singer-songwriter, Vassar first moved to Music City to become an artist and worked at her family’s accounting firm to pay the bills. But she soon found a new superpower as a digital marketer for Universal Music Nashville, where she created innovative campaigns for everyone from George Strait to Kacey Musgraves. She applied all of those skills to Empire Nashville, where she oversees A&R marketing, promotion and the staff, with a roster that also includes CeCe, Niko Moon, Sophia Scott, Don Louis, Jordy and Randy Houser. “I’m a storyteller at heart,” she says, “so I love working with creatives in helping their vision come to life.”

VP, A&R & digital, Warner Chappell Music Nashville

Vaughn Stevenson was something of a music-publishing prodigy: She began working with songwriters Jessi Alexander and Jon Randall while still a student at Belmont University, eventually managing both of their careers. When a job at Warner Chappell opened up, Stevenson quickly found her niche, helping to drive the careers of artists like Parker McCollum, who has earned four consecutive country No. 1s, and Riley Green, who recently racked up his fourth chart-topper with the Ella Langley duet “You Look Like You Love Me,” and last year signed superstar Morgan Wallen as well as rising singer-songwriters Ashley Ray and Schmitty. “The thing I love most about my work is the access to great songs and fighting for those songs,” she says. “There is nothing like the feeling of pitching a song for an artist and them recording it.”

VP, creative, Sony Music Publishing Nashville

Growing up in a musical family, Weisband followed her sister Emily (who was majoring in songwriting) to Belmont University, and found her niche on the other end of the creative process. Learning on the fly as an intern at THiS Music, she then quickly rose to VP (at the age of just 23) at the Warner Chappell joint venture led by Rusty Gaston, and joined him when THiS was acquired by Sony Music Publishing. At SMP she discovers and signs new writers and helps manage a roster that includes Kelsea Ballerini, Hillary Lindsey, Lainey Wilson, Jordan Minton, Miranda Lambert and, of course, Emily Weisband. “For the most part, I feel very empowered being a woman in the music business,” she says. “It’s important to bring to the front what we all do behind the scenes that can sometimes go unnoticed.”

President, Nashville music & business strategy, Live Nation

Williams, who joined Live Nation in 2019 after nearly 20 years at Ryman and the Grand Ole Opry, oversees a massive operation that promoted more than 700 shows in Nashville last year. It also manages relationships with such major city venues as Ascend Amphitheater, FirstBank Amphitheater and Municipal Auditorium. She chairs both the Country Music Assn.’s Membership Committee — advocating for the artists, creatives and executives who shape the genre — and its television committee, working with executive producer Robert Deaton on the CMA Awards, CMA Music Fest and CMA Country Christmas telecasts. Williams also drives Live Nation Nashville’s charitable initiatives, serves on the executive committee of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors and co-manages three-time Grammy winners Old Crow Medicine Show.

Agent, music brand partnerships, UTA

The breadth of the artists Wright represents speaks to the Memphis native’s versatility — her list includes fast-rising country star Megan Moroney, Latin titans Rauw Alejandro and Carin León, rapper-singer Saweetie, British alternative artist Arlo Parks and more. While she’s overseen many deals in her years at CAA — where she started as an assistant and quickly rose to agent — and, since 2021, UTA, two highlights include her multiple partnerships for Moroney (including energy drink Alani Nu, the brand’s first-ever partnership in the country music space, and Lane Boots) and León with Boot Barn. “The country and musica Mexicano styles have so much in common,” she says, “but I was really proud to connect the dots.”