Las Vegas is one of the largest incubators of female business talent in the country, and to celebrate that fact Trending Ink is raising awareness about some of the industry’s most distinguished female business leaders.
The Las Vegas entertainment industry is worth almost $15 billion in 2025, a number which accounts for nearly 300,000 jobs, thousands of which exist at an administrative and executive level, Las Vegas-based marketing outlet Trending Ink explains. As the industry and the city at large continue to evolve, these executive-level individuals will play a critical role in the development of projects new and old.
As the outlet points out, though, one of the most overlooked aspects of this evolution in the entertainment industry is just how many of the new major players are female, especially at the executive level. This is unusual, they point out, given the national trend: As of 2023, only 30% of leaders in the hospitality sector are women, according to Forbes.
Yet, women operating at an executive level in Las Vegas have been responsible for some of the largest expansions in accountability and community involvement ever seen in the city’s history, as reported by the local Las Vegas news outlet, KLAS.
To reconcile these ideas and reveal the underlying causes of the discrepancy, Trending Ink highlighted a handful of the leading female names in the industry, alongside their accomplishments.
Jenny Woldt
As an initial example, Trending Ink named Jenny Woldt, a current managing partner of 615 JJ Entertainment, as an obvious pick. Woldt’s experience and acumen have earned her the sought-after “Woman Entrepreneur of the Year” Award from Great Companies, managing a rapidly growing entertainment empire that stretches from Nashville to Los Angeles.
Jill Schneider
Hosts Global VP Jill Schneider also received a mention from Trending Ink, named for her commitment to furthering charitable causes and her breakout success as a live event coordinator. In fact, in the creation of the Win-Win Charity, she has brought those two passions together to build one of the largest entertainer outreach groups in the city.
Beverly Yudof
Beverly Yudof, Altus Entertainment’s marketing director, is another oft-cited name, recognized for her ability to manage large-scale events and facilitate partnerships between top brands and entertainers.
Michelle Sharples
Michelle Sharples is an executive partner at Indigo, which she co-founded in 2018. Indigo specializes in fostering B2B relationships and managing a diverse entertainment portfolio in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Atlantic City. Recognized for her ability to forge lasting relationships, Michelle is also deeply involved in community service, with roles in the Las Vegas Hospitality Association and several other boards.
Desi Wojtowicz
Trending Ink also named Desi Wojtowicz, founder of Desi Camille Weddings & Events. Desi is recognized for her role as the Director of Membership for Wedding International Professional Association (WIPA) Las Vegas, where she has served for four years, building a network of industry connections. With a career deeply rooted in the Las Vegas food and beverage sectors, she brings invaluable insights into event planning along with her personable approach.
Identifying The Challenges
These women have many things in common, not least of which being their persistence in the face of overwhelming challenge and friction in the industry. As The Guardian reported recently, despite massive equality campaigns and high-profile oustings, men still dominate the highest levels of the entertainment industry—by a factor of 4 to 1.
Executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, Martha Lauzen, suggests in that same report that the problems are so systemic that it will take a large-scale effort at all levels to move the needle at all. To quote her directly, “Inequality reaches into every facet and corner of the business.”
As Harvard’s Tori Whited and Li He explained, this problem tends to cascade from the highest levels downward. Preferential hiring practices favor men due to the simple fact that men are the ones doing the hiring. This is a problem at all levels, meaning that women face progressively greater hurdles as they progress through their careers—a filter which, unfortunately, results in dramatically lower hiring rates for female executives.
Glimmers Of Hope
As Trending Ink sought to highlight with their picks, Las Vegas is a rare space where female leadership has been able to grow and flourish, and, in a report by Forbes reporter Solomon Amar, there is evidence that Las Vegas might also be indicative of much larger trends about to take shape.
He reports that female leadership is quickly approaching the 33% mark across all industries, a major milestone that many analysts may have once thought impossible. This increase comes with results to back it up, as well: companies with female leadership tended to have overall higher profit margins and higher employee satisfaction ratings at all levels.
To return to the previous report by Harvard, these findings may offer the momentum and justification to break this pattern and bring about greater equality at all levels, both in the entertainment industry and elsewhere in the business world. Las Vegas may be an early manifestation of that trend, though, in truth, only time will tell.
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