Sara Newkirk Simon, Partner / Co-Head Of Music, WME

null
 – Sara Newkirk-simon

Sara Newkirk Simon

Partner / Co-Head Of Music, WME

“You really must be scraping the bottom of the barrel to nominate me,” is Sara Newkirk Simon’s modest response when informed of her Women of Live honors. 

Humility aside, her inclusion was a consensus choice and no-brainer considering she co-heads WME’s industry leading music department and is a universally admired and respected executive whose A-list roster includes Rage Against the Machine, Childish Gambino, Camila Cabello, Selena Gomez, Pharrell Williams and Lizzo, among others. 

Simon’s rise through the industry is inspiring: from humble Indiana roots to making her way to an elite New England boarding school on scholarship (where she discovered Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode) which led to an internship at famed Cambridge nightclub The Middle East. 

A move to New York City found her booking The Continental Club off St. Marks around the same time Amy Bennett asked her to manage ska-punk luminaries The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. She moved to Cornerstone Agency where she co-launched their management wing with a baller roster of Nas, M.I.A., Maxwell and TV on the Radio. That lasted until 2006 when WME’s Dave Wirtschafter and Marc Geiger asked Simon to join the agency where she now co-heads the music division

Newkirk’s star continues to crest with her and her clients reaching new creative peaks: Rage Against The Machine’s comeback coincides with a Coachella headlining spot; Gomez’s third solo album Rare went to  No. 1 in 10 countries; Lizzo’s Cuz I Love You released last April won three Grammys; Pharrell launched his sold-out “Something in the Water” fest in his Virginia Beach hometown last April; Childish Gambino headlined what seemed every major festival and voiced a character in Disney’s “Lion King”; and Cabello is set to star in a reboot of Disney’s “Cinderella.” And that’s just how this supremely talented executive rolls.