“I remember when I won Female Rock Vocal for the Grammys for ‘Trouble,’ I think it was 10 years ago,” P!nk recalled from the stage at Billboard’s Women In Music luncheon Tuesday, accepting the award for Woman of the Year. “And the very next day, they dissolved the category. So Billboard, if this speech sucks, please wait one year. If you’re thinking about not doing this again, it’s not my fault.” P!nk’s triumph of the underdog story was shared by this year’s Rising Star, Janelle Monae, and many of the 40 female executives on Billboard’s Women In Music power list. Many still face sexism, unfair competition and other challenges in their daily work lives. And even in a year where many females dominated the pop charts, P!nk didn’t expect to take top honors. “These are names that popped into my head, and not just music, but Hillary Clinton, Angelina Jolie,” Pink said. “Or Miley Cyrus. If you’re high as s*** and you have a thing for tongues. You don’t think,’Oh yeah, Woman of the Year? Pink for sure.’ I don’t, anyway, but I’m not going to argue with you.”
All of the honorees were feted on the afternoon of Dec. 10th at the annual Billboard Women in Music event at Capitale in New York City sponsored by Nikon, Target, CoverGirl and City National Bank. The event was co-hosted this year by broadcast journalist/executive producer and CEO of Starfish Media Group, Soledad O’Brien, alongside Billboard Editorial Director, Bill Werde. Monae had words of wisdom to share for the next generation of “Electric ladies” she hopes to inspire, having come from very humble upbringings to a custodian mother who raised her as a teenager in the impoverished Wyandot County, Kansas. “One of the things the President said today about Nelson Mandela was, ‘Don’t ever underestimate the power of one man. So don’t ever underestimate the power of one woman.”
