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.
As Sony Music Publishing UK’s VP of marketing & communications, UK & International, Lettice Summerscale has been instrumental in the establishment of the company’s marketing and creative strategy across digital platforms, social channels and media.
Summerscale continues to find innovative ways to promote songwriters' work in the digital age, leading from her longstanding passion for music. She works closely with both streaming and social media platforms to develop creative programming around songwriters, securing key playlists and programming placements. SMP UK’s brand presence has continued to grow under Summerscale’s leadership, with exciting campaigns around awards, key chart achievements, songwriter sessions, and more.
The marketing and communications exec began her professional career working for Mercury Records in New York while simultaneously completing a masters in music business at NYU. Her passion for music marketing was sparked there: one which she has carried throughout her subsequent 17 years in the industry. After spending two years at Universal Publishing Production Music, it was with her move to EMI Music Publishing in 2012 when she felt she had really found her home. A deep love had grown for the art of songwriting, the rights of songwriters, and sharing the stories behind songs.
Recognising a gap in the market for more publishing and song-first marketing opportunities – both in the digital space and traditional press – Summerscale has grown her responsibilities and department from there. Early moves included building SMP’s X following in the UK to the highest of any publisher globally, starting SMP’s first-ever Instagram channel in 2013, as well as paving the way for direct creative partnerships and collaborations between publishers, songwriters and DSP platforms. Summerscale’s growing responsibilities ran concurrently with the advent of streaming and digital marketing, with her creative eye recognising opportunities for songwriters and publishers in the expanding digital space. She continues to create impactful activations across Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, Meta, YouTube Music and more to this day. In 2024, she was promoted to support SMP’s international offices, with her role now amplifying SMP’s songwriters globally through press and creative opportunities.
Summerscale prides herself on hard work and diligence whilst believing strongly in championing women across the creative sector. She has represented SMP on an EMEA Sony One International Women’s Day panel, discussing issues for women in creative industries, and she was also selected to be involved in SMP’s Women In Leadership conference in Nashville for 2024.
Her outlook has also led to her taking part in Sony Group’s Creative Mentor Network program for 2023, which is an initiative that aims to help young people enter the entertainment industry. She has volunteered with SMG’s Black Founders’ Program, a mentoring scheme for creative-technology business leaders. Summerscale is acutely aware of her position as a woman working in music with young children, and is keen to set an example of how to best navigate this dynamic. She hopes to encourage more women with young children to remain active and successful in the industry.
How do you feel about joining the Roll Of Honour?
“Excited and honoured. I’ve always admired and valued the Women In Music Awards since its inception, and have seen such incredible women in the business being recognised over the years. It feels humbling to be named alongside them.”
Looking back, how do you reflect on your early years getting into the industry?
“I honestly loved the music business from minute one! I’ve been so lucky over the years with colleagues across the industry – even with my first internship and jobs. When I look back, I do recognise a certain level of naivety in terms of what I didn’t know when I first started, but that was freeing to some extent. I wasn’t aware of the magnitude of the rooms I was in at the time. I was along for the ride in the best possible way: working hard, learning from people everyday, being open to ideas and speaking my mind in a way that perhaps only an enthusiastic 22-year-old can do.”
Did you have a mentor at that stage?
“I count myself incredibly lucky to have a lifelong mentor in my mother, who was a hard-working, groundbreaking single working parent throughout my childhood. Because of her influence, my outlook to having a career and succeeding as a woman in a competitive industry was truly internalised and just a part of me from the very beginning. Only recently have I come to realise what a secret superpower that was for me. I’ve also been very blessed to have male allies throughout my career, starting with my first internship at Mercury Records in New York whilst I was studying for my MA at NYU. David Massey was the president of Mercury at the time – my first real boss – and he was such a mentor to me then and now. He was so generous with his time, his contacts, his advice. Being British in the music industry in America obviously held a certain affinity for me, and David was also the first person with whom I talked to about music publishing.”
You’ve worked in the publishing world for a long time now. What is it about the sector that you find so rewarding to be in personally? Why have you not been tempted over to the recorded music side or other areas?
“The songs and the stories behind them! I was drawn to music publishing because songs were at the centre of my music obsession. As a child and teenager, I was always looking at who had written songs, what the meaning was behind them, the lyrics and their inception. The many journeys that a song can go on in its lifetime still excites me to this day. How can you beat getting to work with songs across the scope of time? Whether it’s a song that was released yesterday or one from the 1950s, it’s truly exciting to me to get to help keep a songwriters’ work alive and amplify their reach. I’m inspired by working with songwriters, composers and producers every day helping to tell their stories.”
Much of your work at SMP has involved building the company’s profile in the online space. How do you feel about what you’ve been able to achieve so far there?
“It’s satisfying when I look back over my 15 years at Sony Music Publishing and see what we have been able to achieve for our songwriters and composers creatively in the digital space. SMP has always been an innovative and forward-thinking place to work, which my role as a publisher in the digital world has really benefitted from. I joined just as the advent of the digital platforms was starting, and I saw all these creative opportunities opening up for songwriters and publishers which were not being fully utilised across social media platforms or streaming services. With leadership support, I was able to simply start doing it! It’s great to look back and remember that I began cold-emailing editors at Spotify, inviting songwriters to do Twitter Takeovers with us, setting up a company Instagram, and taking meetings with songwriters explaining why they should have social media presence. Now, we’re able to offer our songwriters a full spectrum of established valuable marketing opportunities and work directly with digital partners in a developed and intentional way on our songwriters’ behalf. This area is always changing and new opportunities arise everyday, so there’s more to be done, but it’s reassuring to recognise how established the need for songwriter marketing has become.”
The energy and new perspectives that young people and people from different backgrounds can bring really is vital to this business
Lettice Summerscale, Sony Music Publishing UK
You’ve been involved in various initiatives around mentorship schemes at SMP. What is the biggest lesson you’ve taken from this side of your work that you feel the rest of the industry should hear?
“Firstly, the importance of giving young people opportunities in this industry and taking the time to learn from them. I can honestly say I benefited as much from the mentoring programs I have been a part of as any of the mentees. The energy and new perspectives that young people and people from different backgrounds can bring really is vital to this business. I would encourage anyone who can be actively involved and spare some time to share their experiences and offer advice should do so – and that you don’t need to be at a certain career level to get involved. Mentorship is needed at every level of the business and I still look for mentors for myself to learn from.”
What’s your biggest achievement so far?
“I’m really proud of the marketing and comms team we have built here at Sony Music Publishing in the UK office and how the team has managed to create a mechanism granting real impact for our songwriters. Doug Marshall [marketing & communications manager] from the team has been with us for eight years and, in that time, our achievements have been numerous and have become a fundamental part of our offering to songwriters. I try to remind us all regularly that that’s no small thing and was in no way set in stone when we first started.”
Can you offer some advice for young women about enjoying a successful career in music?
“Value your own opinion and individuality. I always try to lead with empathy and kindness, including when I need to be honest. I’ve realised that you don’t need to be harder or tougher to succeed – just open and hard-working. I’m a great believer that hard work will be noticed and rewarded, and I’ve been delighted to learn that not everyone needs to be the same to be at the table. In fact, your own individuality is what gives you the right to be there. That said, find yourself a mentor, an ally, someone to look up to or sideways to, because everyone brings something different to the table and can help you improve.”
And what is the best advice you’ve ever had?
“Quite simple – play the hand you're dealt.”
Is there a young woman you'd like to shout out who you think is a rising star in the industry?
“We have a wonderful team member here, Nia Joseph, who is just completing a second round apprenticeship with us in the marketing & comms team. She is simply incredible! Nia brings energy, ideas, dedication everyday and she is very intentional with her work ethic and her questions. I’m blown away by her and I’m very excited to see what she achieves in her career and the years to come with us here.”
Similarly, is there a young woman artist whose music you're enjoying right now/excited about?
“Almost too many to mention! I keep saying to friends how lucky teenagers are today with the array of incredible female artists, creatives and songwriters releasing music. A few I have on repeat are Lola Young, who I’ve been a huge fan of for six years and her raw lyricism is second-to-none. I’m also a huge Holly Humberstone fan with her beautifully crafted songs. And you really can’t beat Olivia Rodrigo – a next-level superstar in every way imaginable!”
Finally, what’s your biggest lesson from 2026 so far?
“How important having the right people around you is – both at work and at home. The support I’ve received endlessly from my leaders here including Jon Platt [CEO & chairman, SMP], David Ventura [president & Co-MD UK, senior VP, International, Sony/ATV Music Publishing], Tim Major [co-MD, SMP UK], Guy Henderson [president, international, SMP] and Dana Baxter [senior VP, SMP] has really allowed me to thrive and achieve this year. Combined with the genuine pride, active help and patience that I get at home from my husband and two children is the only way that I have any possibility of succeeding on either stage.”
