Former Chair and CEO of BET Networks Debra Lee is renowned for her groundbreaking leadership in the media and entertainment industry.
Lee joins Wealth host Brad Smith to discuss her book I Am Debra Lee while also offering valuable advice for young professionals, especially women and people of color, aspiring to lead organizations in media.
“I wrote it because I looked around and I didn’t see a lot of female executives, or very few female and hardly any Black female executives, that were CEOs. The numbers are still really low, and I said I want to explain and detail my journey so that hopefully young people can learn from it,” Lee says.
“I wrote it because I looked around and I didn’t see a lot of female executives or very few female and hardly any Black female executives that were CEOs.”
Lee then stresses the importance of education: “I would encourage young people to become well-educated. That’s the first step. My dad always told me that I was born during the year of Brown versus Board of Education. So, I had opportunities that the generation behind me did not have,” she says.
Additionally, Lee encourages broadening one’s skill set when aspiring for C-suite positions: “Try to broaden your experience. Don’t just be a lawyer — be a lawyer who understands programming or understands marketing. That was my path to CEO.”
Also catch Debra Lee weigh in on corporate rollbacks of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives amid pressures from the Trump administration.
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This post was written by Josh Lynch
