As Sylvia Rhone was getting her flowers last week at the Femme It Forward event in Los Angeles, she couldn’t help but marvel at the breadth of talent represented in the night’s R&B honorees. Ciara, Jhené Aiko, Mariah The Scientist, Kehlani, Normani, Olandria Carthen, and Ravyn Lenae were among those recognized by the four-year-old organization at a gala event in Beverly Hills. “How they curated the artists was impressive,” she says two days later. “It was a very eclectic group.”

Rhone, whose five-decades-long career has seen her ascend from assistant (back when the position was called secretary) to the first woman to helm a major label (Elektra, home to Missy Elliott, Tracy Chapman, and Busta Rhymes) — and who would go on to run several more companies across recorded music and publi

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