Adele will receive the prestigious Sherry Lansing Leadership Award during The Hollywood Reporter‘s annual Women in Entertainment breakfast gala, which will take place Dec. 7 in Los Angeles.
Attended by more than 750 industry leaders and VIPs, the invite-only gala coincides with the release of The Hollywood Reporter’s highly anticipated Women in Entertainment issue (on newsstands Dec. 7), which highlights the Power 100, a list of the most powerful female executives and talent in entertainment.
“We are beyond thrilled that Adele will be our Sherry Lansing Leadership Award honoree at this year’s Women in Entertainment event,” said co-editors-in-chief Nekesa Mumbi Moody and Maer Roshan. “Adele has had a groundbreaking career that has established her as one of the all-time greats: a brilliant songwriter, a stunning vocalist, a top-notch performer and an artist whose talents have no limit. She has set a standard of excellence not only as a female performer, but a performer, period. Her accolades — from multiple Grammys to her Emmy and Oscar — attest to that. In addition, she’s used her platform to inspire and help others. She is truly deserving of this award.”
The Sherry Lansing Leadership Award recognizes trailblazers and philanthropists in entertainment and media and was established in honor of Sherry Lansing, the first woman to head a Hollywood studio (Lansing is the former CEO of Paramount Pictures). Past recipients of this honor include Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey, Barbra Streisand and Viola Davis.
“Adele is a singular talent who has captivated the world with her incredible music,” Lansing said. “Beyond that, she paved the way for female artists to embrace their authentic selves and define their own voices and careers at a critical moment for women in music, empowering countless other female artists to do the same. I could not be more thrilled that Adele is receiving the award that bears my name.”
Adele is one of the best-selling female artists of all time, with more than 120 million records sold worldwide. She has received numerous accolades, including 16 Grammys, an Emmy, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. Her fourth and most recent studio album, 30, was the best-selling album of 2021 worldwide. Her current concert residency in Las Vegas, Weekends With Adele, has garnered positive reviews and is a commercial success.
The breakfast will also be attended by approximately 35 high school juniors and seniors currently participating in THR’s Women in Entertainment mentorship program, which pairs the brightest young women from underserved high schools across Los Angeles with some of the most powerful female executives in film and TV. Mentors have included Amazon Studios’ Jennifer Salke, Netflix’s Bela Bajaria and Disney’s Dana Walden. The WIE Mentorship Program, now in its 14th year, is a joint venture with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles. A total of 230 students have taken part in the program, with mentees having received more than $13 million in scholarships over the past 13 years. An annual highlight of the breakfast, this year’s celebration will see more than $1 million in university scholarships presented to high school seniors from the program.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment event is presented by Lifetime, which has been one of the WIE Mentorship Program’s biggest supporters, having contributed more than $1.5 million in scholarships over the past eight years. The event is also sponsored by Cadillac and presented in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, Chapman University and Loyola Marymount University.
