One of the most important opportunities for musical artists to build their careers and make money is having their music placed or "synced" in movies, TV shows, commercials, video games and other popular outlets. In this episode, I am pleased to present two powerhouse women who have built careers at the intersection of music, commerce, and creative strategy. Between them, they've placed music across prestige film and television properties, negotiated landmark sync deals, and led teams on a global scale.

Julie Hurwitz s a 20+ year music industry veteran and Founder & CEO of Songbird Creative. Her career spans senior sync leadership roles at Hipgnosis and Kobalt Music Group, where she managed global teams, negotiated multi-million dollar licenses, and placed music in everything from Super Bowl commercials to Presidential campaigns. A strategic operator with a creative core, she has held executive roles across advertising, publishing, and production, and now advises labels and brands worldwide on music strategy, sync, and operations.

Stephanie Diaz-Matos is an award-winning music supervisor and Head of Music Supervision at Raedio, with credits spanning prestige television and film including Godfather of Harlem, We Were the Lucky Ones, and One of Them Days. As the founder of the acquired Bonfire Collective, she now leads a diverse team within a larger creative ecosystem — bringing both entrepreneurial vision and deep industry expertise to every project.

These two women have so much wisdom and inspiration to share. I promise it will be the best hour of your whole week. Check it out!

The Smartest People In The Room® is a series of one-on-one conversations between music industry executives and personalities hosted by Tom Truitt, Managing Director of the Music & Live Entertainment practice. These hour long conversations draw an audience of hundreds and feature every type of global music industry executive, including agents, managers, attorneys, business managers, promoters, publishers, working musicians, songwriters. The audience is global, with strong concentration in music business centers like New York City, Los Angeles, Nashville, London, Toronto, San Francisco, Austin and more.