(The Hollywood Reporter) – Shonda Rhimes doesn’t believe she’s broken the glass ceiling. Instead, she feels that she followed in the footsteps of the countless and hardworking women in Hollywood who chipped away at it and helped pave the way for her to get to the other side.
Rhimes — the influential executive producer behind ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and Pete Nowalk‘s How to Get Away With Murder — was honored Wednesday at The Hollywood Reporter’s 23rd annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast. She received the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award, the annual prize created in 2004 that recognizes a woman who is a pioneer and a leader in her industry. She joins a roster of Sherry Lansing Leadership Award recipients that includes Oprah Winfrey, Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Halle Berry, Jodie Foster, Glenn Close and Barbara Walters.
Ahead of her mentorship program announcement, Lansing tipped her hat to Rhimes — whom she met for the first time Wednesday. The diehard Scandal fan confessed to sending Rhimes a fan email a few years prior and praised the showrunner for pushing both TV’s and society’s boundaries.