Resilience in Leadership: Ayla Owen Finds There Is Power in Vulnerability

When we speak of resilience in business leadership, we rarely glimpse the full picture of what that truly means. In 2018, Ayla Owen faced an unimaginable personal tragedy when  her husband, a BAFTA-winning film producer, died by suicide - joining the thousands of families impacted by what has become a silent epidemic among men in their 40s. Statistics paint a stark picture: men aged 40-49 have the highest suicide rate in the UK, with the pandemic further isolating those who were already struggling. Yet in the midst of unprecedented global upheaval, Ayla found herself navigating not just grief and single parenthood, but the complex needs of three remarkable children - two neurodivergent and one managing ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) - while simultaneously steering her career through the uncertainty of a global pandemic. Her story speaks of an extraordinary kind of leadership: one that acknowledges vulnerability while demonstrating unstoppable strength.

In the fast-paced world of music supervision, few individuals have carved out a path as distinctive and influential as Ayla Owen. From her early days managing London recording studios to her current role as managing director at 45RPM, Owen's 25-year journey through the industry exemplifies not just professional excellence, but extraordinary resilience and determination. On a professional level, as a solo parent to three, she has continued to innovate and lead in her field while navigating life's most challenging circumstances with grace and strength. Her work, spanning iconic brands from British Airways to Vogue, showcases not just her keen ear for music, but her ability to translate emotional resonance into powerful cultural moments. Athene Parker, host of emPOWER caught up with Ayla to understand better her journey of heart led resilience and leadership.

Q> Ayla, you started your musical career as a classical violinist and your path took you to music supervision. What attracted you to this unique intersection of music and advertising?

Ayla> My journey to where I am now hasn’t been a straight line at all. I actually started out in indie record label management and then to music supervision in the television space, working on Jonathan Ross’ BBC documentary Japanorama and later as the music supervisor for Channel 4's RI:SE. It was in late 2003 that I heard about an opportunity at BBH and transitioned to the world of advertising, about which I was initially clueless.

I ended up staying at BBH for nearly 16 years, during which I founded the in-house music division, Black Sheep Music, and co-founded the emerging music blog, The Most Radicalist.

Even though I often felt like the ‘black sheep’ in a global powerhouse of an ad agency, I found my niche and began to embrace the noise and chaos around me. In the end, I suspect I became far more ‘Advertising’ than I ever dreamed I would.

There is something immediate and honest about the craft of making ads - you only have the tiniest of windows to complete the arc, to tell the story. Music (or the absence of it) is integral to the production process and supervising ads can be a uniquely intense experience. Advertising is a rapidly-evolving industry which has shapeshifted beyond recognition since I started out, but the joy of helping to realise a creative vision never gets old.

Q> As someone who's shaped music supervision from both agency, during your time at BBH, and music publisher perspectives, how has your multifaceted experience influenced your approach to leadership?

Ayla> Having spent almost 16 years at BBH, I was deeply embedded in the agency world—living and breathing the fast-paced, creatively demanding, and often unpredictable rhythm of music supervision from the brand and advertising side. Leaving BBH in late 2019 was a pivotal moment for me. I was incredibly proud of what we built there, but I felt it was time to broaden my perspective.

Joining Warner Chappell as European VP of Sync allowed me to step fully into the world of music publishing. For four years, I had the privilege of working with incredible composers, songwriters, and catalogue teams, advocating for their work and gaining a deep understanding of the commercial, legal, and creative frameworks that underpin music publishing.

It was a complete shift—suddenly I was on the other side of the fence, navigating the challenges of pitching music into projects rather than curating it from the supervision side. My experience working on both sides of the same coin - music supervision and music publishing -  has really shaped how I lead at 45RPM.

I’ve felt the pressure of tight deadlines and ever-shrinking budgets, and I’ve also seen the emotional and financial stakes for the people who make the music. It’s made me much more aware of the human side of what we do. That dual experience hasn’t just influenced how I approach supervision—it’s influenced how I work with teams, with clients, and with rights holders. I try to lead with empathy and (hopefully!) a sense of humour.

Q> Joining 45RPM marks another massive and ambitious evolution in your career. What drove you to take part in this new venture?

Ayla> Joining 45RPM as managing director felt like a natural next step—but also the first time I’ve truly been able to bring all the strands of my career together in one place. I’ve spent years working in music supervision, particularly in advertising and branded content.

I’ve built and led agency-side teams, and I’ve had the privilege of working within a major music publisher. At 45RPM, I get to draw on all of that—to help build something that’s both creatively ambitious and structurally unique.What really drew me in was the founding team.

45RPM was started in 2022 by four of the UK’s most respected and celebrated film and TV music supervisors: Nick Angel, who spent over a decade as head of music at Working Title and has overseen everything from 'Bridget Jones’ Diary' to 'Paddington 2'; Sarah Bridge, whose credits span 'The Crown', 'Bridgerton', and 'The Theory of Everything'; Catherine Grieves, whose recent work on 'Baby Reindeer' and 'Killing Eve' has been game-changing; and Iain Cooke, whose music supervision on 'Amy, Back to Black', and 'The Gentlemen' speaks for itself.

It’s rare to see that calibre of talent under one roof, and it’s what gives 45RPM its distinctive edge. In parallel to starting up the main film and TV music supervision arm, the founders also launched sister boutique composer agency 33RPM, which boasts an extraordinary roster of award-winning film and TV composers including Arthur Sharpe, Toydrum, Carly Paradis, Morgan Kibby and many more.

Q> You have been brought on board to expand the offering in some really exciting and relevant ways - Can you tell us about your vision.

Ayla> Since joining, I’ve been focused on growing three new arms of the business that reflect the full range of what we can offer. First, there’s 45RPM Commercial & Interactive Music Supervision, a dedicated division for advertising, branded entertainment, experiential, interactive, and gaming projects. This is a space I know intimately, and it’s been exciting to build something from the ground up that combines deep creative understanding with real strategic insight.

Second, we’ve launched 45RPM Music Publishing, a new publishing arm built in partnership with Universal Music Publishing Group. This partnership gives us the global infrastructure to support exceptional writers, composers and artists—while still maintaining the personal, curator-led approach that defines 45RPM. Our goal is to shine a light on incredible talent and create meaningful opportunities for their work across media.

And finally, we’ve joined forces with Audio Network on 45RPM Production Music, a joint venture that blends their world-class production catalogue and reach with our supervision-led curation. It means we can now offer clients fast, high-quality music solutions that are thoughtfully curated by the end user: music supervisors.

For me, the best part of all of this is the bigger vision: to create a living, breathing ecosystem of touch points across the musical universe. Whether you’re a film producer looking for a supervisor, a brand needing a sync, or a composer or songwriter wanting the right publishing partner, the idea is that 45RPM can meet you wherever you are in the process—and to move with you from one chapter to the next. It’s such an exciting model, and I’m incredibly proud to be part of building it.

Q> 45RPM Music Supervision have been one of the sponsors for the 2024 and 2025 emPOWER Breakfasts and you commented beautifully on what you felt emPOWER brought to the industry. Can you share your ‘why’ .. as far as wanting to support emPOWER and this growing community?

Ayla> For me, supporting emPOWER isn’t just about backing a cause — it’s about supporting a community that champions authenticity. Life throws us all kinds of curveballs — the grief that catches you off guard, the sleepless nights worrying about a neurodivergent child, the quiet struggles of perimenopause that no one seems to warn you about, or the gut-punch of professional change that can shake your confidence to its core. These aren’t just challenges, they’re defining moments, and they deserve to be out there in the open.

What I love about emPOWER is that it says, “bring it all.” The mess, the scars, the moments you felt like giving up — because that’s where the real power lies. It’s a place where we can actually talk about these things without feeling like we need to sanitise them first. And it’s not about being fearless. It’s about having the courage to be real — to admit that sometimes, being a successful woman is a bit of a chaotic balancing act, packed with forgotten school forms and endless ‘urgent’ deadlines. But if we can be honest with each other about how painful and (sometimes) mind-numbingly hard life can be, we will be stronger together (and hopefully have a laugh at the insanity of it all, too.)

Q> You've spoken about the importance of mental health awareness in high-pressure Industries. How has your perspective on workplace wellbeing evolved?

Ayla> I’ve always been a highly sensitive person, ever since I can remember. When I entered the music industry in late ’90s London, the concept of ‘self-care’ didn’t really exist. Mental health was still a taboo topic, and the idea of openly discussing workplace wellbeing would have been met with raised eyebrows, at best. I just did what everyone else seemed to be doing — worked hard, partied hard, grabbed a few hours of sleep, repeat.

Back then, if my boss berated or belittled me in front of colleagues, I would internalise the shame, convincing myself that the problem was my own weakness or lack of resilience. I felt powerless, but I never questioned the culture itself — it was simply the price of admission to a competitive industry. It took me years to recognise just how toxic those early experiences were, and even now, I find myself unpicking layers of negative self-talk that were embedded in me during those early years.

But it wasn’t until I faced the deepest personal loss of my life that my perspective on mental health was turned on its head. My husband, Anthony, was a triple BAFTA award-winning Executive Producer for TV, someone deeply respected and admired in his field. But behind the awards and accolades was a man struggling with unrelenting pressure, stress, and the often unforgiving nature of a high-stakes industry. In 2019, he died by suicide, leaving behind our three beautiful children, then aged 11, nine, and six.

His death irrevocably changed my family’s life and forced me to confront the stark reality that the culture of “toughing it out” in high-pressure industries can be not just damaging, but fatal. I will never truly know the depth of his suffering, but I believe that if he had received the support, compassion, and understanding from his workplace that he desperately needed at the time, he might still be here today.

Q> The advertising industry is known for its intensity. How have you developed strategies to maintain creative excellence while prioritising personal wellbeing?

Ayla> Not to be ‘that’ person but for me, the lifesaver has been Transcendental Meditation. I took a TM course 10 years ago and have never looked back - I meditate every morning, it’s really non negotiable. I’ve also learned to allow myself ‘micro breaks’ whenever the stress and pressure gets too intense - that could be going for a five minute walk in the sunshine, grabbing a few minutes to read, watching cute animal videos on The Dodo, etc...anything that provides a quick hit of dopamine!

Q> Lets talk about the pandemic for a moment - the experience challenged all working parents, but your particular situation was unique coming in the aftermath of the extreme shock and grief of your husband's passing. What discoveries about yourself surprised you, during that time?

Ayla> The period following my husband’s death was a bit of a fever dream. Within months of his passing, I’d accepted and started a brand new job, the world went into total lockdown and I found myself a widow with three children and no childcare (our nanny wasn’t allowed to work in the first round of restrictions), working from home, home-schooling my kids, trying to keep my sanity etc.

And then my daughter became unwell, very unwell. She ended up spending nearly four months in-patient in Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2020, right at the start of the pandemic. My younger self couldn’t possibly have imagined being able to cope with all the fear, stress and exhaustion of that moment in time - but it’s funny, when it happens to you, you just roll with it. We survived it, and it made me realise even the hardest of times do end eventually.

Q> As a mother and industry leader, what wisdom would you share with others managing multiple life-defining roles?

Ayla> Don’t let ‘imposter syndrome’ steal your joy. I spent too much of my young adulthood thinking the top brass had it all figured out. When I finally made it to the board room, I realised most of them were winging it.

Learn to distinguish between ‘important’ and ‘urgent’. By making this critical distinction, you can reclaim your time and maintain your sanity.

Don’t forget to laugh. Most of the time, life’s not actually that serious.

Q> Your children witness their mother as a business leader and resilient survivor. How do you hope this shapes their understanding of life's possibilities?

Ayla> My kids have been through more than their fair share of hardship. As a mother, instinctively I want to wrap them up in cotton wool and shield them from all the pain and danger in the world…but I’ve learned that that’s a disservice to my kids, as they need to understand that it’s OK to fail, that it’s OK to fuck up... as long as they learn from the experience and try to do better the next time.

More than anything in the world, I try to teach my children to be kind and to count their blessings. The other day my daughter was telling me that there’s an obnoxious boy in her class who keeps acting up and getting in trouble, but she quickly added ‘...but Mummy, I think he has a really hard home life so you never know what he’s going through’. That’s the stuff. That was a proud Mum moment.

Q> Your journey touches on grief, single parenthood, and career evolution - all simultaneously. What would you tell others facing their own perfect storm of challenges?

​Ayla>

- You’re stronger than you ever dreamed you could be.

- It’s all temporary - the good and the bad. Savour the ‘good’ as much as you can, and always remember the ‘bad’ won’t last forever.

- Nothing is ever wasted in this life. Your fiercest enemies often go on to be your greatest teachers.