BREAKING: MusicRow Taps Jennie Smythe As Speaker For 2025 Rising Women On The Row

Jennie Smythe, Founder and CEO of the award-winning Girlilla Marketing, will be the featured speaker at MusicRow’s Rising Women on the Row breakfast, presented by City National Bank. The annual event is set for Thursday, March 20, at 8:30 a.m. at the Omni Nashville Hotel.

Attendees will gain insights from Smythe during an on-stage interview with MusicRow Publisher and Owner Sherod Robertson. Smythe is set to release her memoir Becoming Girlilla in April.

The 12th annual celebration will honor the 2025 class of Rising Women on the Row honorees, which include Lydia Schultz Cahill, Rakiyah Marshall, Michelle Tigard Kammerer, Katie Kerkhover, Jessi Vaughn Stevenson and Julie Sturdivant. Read about the honorees here.

Tickets for Rising Women on the Row are now closed. They will not be sold at the door.

Smythe’s Girlilla Marketing heads digital strategy for a diverse roster of world-famous entertainers and brands, including Dead & Company, Willie Nelson, Darius Rucker, Blondie, Brooke Shields, Iliza Shlesinger, Terry Crews, Kristin Chenoweth, Vince Gill and many others. Smythe is a forward-thinking entrepreneur who leads her self-built company with equal parts passion and drive.

Girlilla Marketing celebrated 15 years of success in 2023. The talented team oversees social media endeavors, partner marketing and content creation for clients. They bring expert knowledge to developing online audiences, digital monetization, virtual events, fan clubs, paid media campaigns, analytics tracking and creative services such as graphic design and video editing.

In her more than two decades of experience, it is no accident Smythe has emerged on top of an ever-evolving field. Motivated by a lifelong love of music, her creative approach has earned numerous awards and recognition. She has been featured in Forbes, the Associated Press, Billboard, MusicRow, Fast Company, People, HITS and The Tennessean. She is a multi-year winner of the Nashville Business Journal’s Women in Music City Awards, a MusicRow magazine Rising Women on the Row honoree and was recognized on the Nashville Post In Charge 2023 Music list.

Smythe is Chairperson of the CMA Board of Directors, as well as on the boards of the CMA Foundation (past chairperson) and Music Health Alliance and recently named a 2025 Advocacy Ambassador by the Susan G. Komen Center for Public Policy. She is a past board member of the Academy of Country Music, and a graduate of the prestigious Leadership Music executive development program. Her early career includes time at Disney’s Hollywood Records, YAHOO! Music, Warner Bros. Records and Clear Channel.

Smythe is married to fellow entrepreneur Shannon Houchins and resides in Nashville with their two children.