During the Music Week Women In Music Awards 2026, we inducted a host of trailblazing industry executives into the Roll Of Honour, in association with Live Nation Women.
They join a huge list of previous honourees, including some of the leading names from across the business like Kanya King, Emma Banks, Charisse Beaumont, Rebecca Allen, Stacey Tang, Laura Monks, Shani Gonzales and Mary Anne Hobbs, who have been selected since the awards began in 2014. The Roll Of Honour aims to shine a spotlight on the variety of individuals who are leading the charge in the music industry and consistently using their platforms to support women, or focus on empowerment and gender disparity.
Following the Women In Music Awards ceremony, Music Week is running Q&A interviews with all of this year’s Roll Of Honour inductees.
Alice Frost is general manager at Warner’s independent artist and label services company, ADA, where to this day she continues to flex the muscles of the music marketing skillset that she solidified her career with. With nearly two decades under her belt, Frost can now count working on hundreds of successful album and single campaigns spanning many genres, with more than 500 million record sales, 14 No.1 singles and 11 No.1 albums.
The GM’s career journey began in 2008 when she interned in PR at Simon Cowell’s Syco Music. More than 12 years followed at the record label in which she worked on some of the most successful pop marketing campaigns in the world, hand-in-hand with hit TV shows such as The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent.
After shifting focus to marketing at Syco, Frost assisted on projects for Westlife, Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke, and quickly became trusted to lead her own projects. As the marketing manager for three of One Direction’s record-breaking No.1 albums, Frost helmed the global roll-out of each, including digital and physical commercial strategy, creative and digital marketing ideation and implementation, asset creation, and international execution. More than 160 million sales were achieved during that period with One Direction, including the boy band’s third LP, Midnight Memories, becoming the biggest-selling album in the UK and globally in 2013, chalking up more than 4 million album-equivalent units.
Additionally, Frost managed campaigns for three Little Mix albums (70-plus million sales), during which they made history as the first ever girl group to have three separate albums cross the 1 billion stream threshold on Spotify (Glory Days, Get Weird, and LM5). Glory Days has since been certified 4x Platinum in the UK, and stands as the longest-reigning Top 40 girl group album in UK chart history.
Her work at Syco, which at the time was jointly owned by Sony Music, also saw Frost support artists including Beyoncé, Pink, Labrinth, Camilla Cabello and Tinashe, to name a few. During her final five years at the record label, Frost was promoted to head of marketing and then marketing director. She managed a team of 15 staff, overseeing the entire roster’s release campaign strategies and handling multi-million-pound budgets.
In 2021, Frost became a freelance marketing director for multi-platinum artists including Jax Jones and Clean Bandit before making the move to the independent music sector in 2022 at ADA. Today, she manages the marketing and digital teams while driving everyday operations alongside the MD, Howard Corner. She spearheads global strategies and UK campaigns with the team for independent artists including Sonny Fodera, EsDeeKid, Bugzy Malone, Nemzzz and Central Cee, and works on growing the businesses of new and established independent labels.
Frost’s career has involved both major-label execution and agile independent strategy. She has a proven track record of consistent delivery of commercial success, of her artists making a cultural impact, and for driving innovative global campaigns for some of the world’s most prominent musical talent.
How do you feel about joining the Roll Of Honour?
“I admire so many women in the industry and there are a lot of amazing ones on the Roll Of Honour, so to be included alongside them is really special. It’s also a nice opportunity to reflect on my own career and how it has developed and changed through the years.”
Looking back, how do you reflect on your early years getting into the industry?
“A lot of it is a blur to be honest! But I mainly look back on my early years very fondly. I was really lucky to get some great opportunities from the off and to work with some incredible people. I was thrown straight into a world of high-profile artists and personalities and I did a lot of learning on the job, saying yes to things, and working hard trying to absorb as much as possible from the people around me. There isn’t a rulebook for working in music and so I think being willing to get stuck in is really important.”
Did you have a mentor at that stage?
“There are a few people I look back on and see as mentors. I’ve been very lucky to have people throughout my career who have given me great advice, opened doors and championed me. I would like to think I’ve carried that through to my managerial style and that I’m seen as someone who people can talk to and come to for advice when they need it. That’s so important for those coming up through the industry.”
You have a proven track record of working high-profile pop campaigns. What did you enjoy most about that – what were some of the highlights?
“I’ve always loved working in pop. It’s such an exciting genre, because you’re working with music that can reach such a huge audience and there’s a lot of creativity involved in making a campaign feel culturally relevant. I love the combination of the creative and strategic sides, understanding the artist, understanding the audience and then figuring out how you bring the two together in the right way. I really loved working with Little Mix on their Get Weird and Glory Days albums. The girls were so ambitious and over the top with what they wanted to do, so working with them on creating and executing hyper-pop ideas for creative assets and campaigns was a lot of fun. Additionally, working with a lot of the artists coming out of The X Factor when it was at its peak – Alexandra Burke, Olly Murs, Fifth Harmony, Camila Cabello, Leona Lewis and One Direction – was such an amazing experience. It taught me a lot about building brands and executing high-level, detailed global strategies. I also want to highlight working on the UK campaigns for global powerhouses including Beyoncé and P!nk.”
And at ADA you and your labels have successfully moved artists across from the underground to the mainstream. How are you helping UK talent at ADA go global within its international set-up?
“Working in the independent sector, we are lucky enough to collaborate with a lot of artists who have worked hard to build a genuine audience through authenticity and a strong identity. That’s the most important starting point for us to be able to build upon. With that, we can look at where else there are opportunities and work with our international colleagues to develop audiences in those markets. We have an incredible international network at ADA, which means that we can connect our partners with teams around the world who can help take things to the next level.”
You work with a lot of label partners at ADA. Are you seeing more women taking up leading roles in artist-led independent label operations?
“Definitely. We’re seeing more women not just working within independent music but actually running businesses, owning labels and making the key creative and commercial decisions. That’s really exciting. Independent music has always attracted entrepreneurial people and there are now more routes than ever for people to create something themselves. It’s great to see more women taking that opportunity and building things on their own terms.”
While frontline labels will always be a draw for ambitious women, would you recommend distribution/label services as an effective route for career development?
“Absolutely, I think it’s a fantastic route. You get exposure to so many different parts of the music industry because you’re working across multiple and very varied artists, labels, genres and business models. You also get a real understanding of the entrepreneurial side of the industry because you’re working so closely with independent partners and helping them to build their businesses. It gives you a much broader perspective as to how things work, which is incredibly valuable. It means that you can go on to do a much wider range of roles within many different areas, should you choose to.”
Your reputation is incredibly important. Be someone people want to work with, be kind, work hard and do what you say you’re going to do
Alice Frost, ADA
What’s your biggest achievement so far?
“I don’t think anything can beat the One Direction days. Watching the band go from young wannabes to a genuinely first-of-its-kind global phenomenon was such a unique moment to be a part of. The scale of everything and the energy around it was extraordinary, and as the marketing manager for three of their albums I was at the heart of it all. You don’t get many opportunities in your career to be part of something that becomes such a huge part of popular culture. It was an incredible experience and I feel very lucky to have played a part. Some of my most ‘pinch me’ moments were on set of some of the crazy video shoot locations with the boys, and having thousands of fans tailing our every move.”
What advice would you offer young women about enjoying a successful career in music?
“Have fun. If you’re not having fun then it isn’t for you. We’re incredibly lucky to work in this industry, and if you take things too seriously and don’t stop to enjoy it then you're missing a big part of it. And don’t be afraid to put yourself forward. You don’t have to feel completely ready before you take an opportunity. Sometimes you just have to say yes and work it out as you go. Oh, and use the people around you. Most people are willing and would like to help out if you ask them.”
And what is the best advice you’ve ever had?
“Just to be yourself, champion yourself and don’t take things personally, because if you do, you’ll spiral. Also: your reputation is incredibly important. Be someone people want to work with, be kind, work hard and do what you say you’re going to do. It sounds simple but people remember those things.”
Is there a young woman you'd like to shout out who you think is a rising star in the industry?
“There are so many brilliant young women in the industry – it’s impossible to choose. It feels like there’s a building confidence among younger females in the industry to create their own opportunities, build businesses and have a voice in how things are done, which is exciting to see.”
Similarly, is there a young woman artist whose music you're enjoying right now/excited about?
“That’s hard. One of the best parts of working at ADA is that we constantly get to hear new music and discover artists who are doing something new and exciting. I love Rubii, she has loads of great tunes and feels really genuine and true to herself. And I love the latest Anaiis album. Also, they’re mainly guys, but Brighter Days Family are some of my favourites at the moment. I saw them recently at We Out Here Festival and Camille Munn, who is part of the collective, is a superstar. I’d be surprised if she doesn’t go on to do great things.”
Finally, what’s your biggest lesson from 2026 so far?
“Probably that you have to stay open-minded and be adaptable. Things are changing incredibly quickly in our industry, particularly around technology and how people discover and consume music, so you can’t stand still. But at the same time, the fundamentals haven’t changed. Great music, great artists and great relationships matter the most! And so I think the lesson is to embrace what’s changing without losing sight of what makes this industry so special in the first place.”
