, has successfully pioneered an entire genre of music, entertainment, news, sports and public affairs programming for African-Americans. The majority of that success has come under the leadership and direction of Lee.
At a time when most cable and broadcast networks are seeing virtually zero growth, Lee has delivered six consecutive seasons of ratings and audience growth. She has also led the network's evolution into original movies, documentaries, concert specials, news, late-night talk shows and public affairs coverage. BET claims to represent the "total package" for the African-American audience, now reaching more than 100 million households through various media outlets in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Lee has also said that BET is pursuing fresh sources of revenue, for example making the network's content available through iTunes and Verizon VCast.
BET is also a dominant consumer brand in the urban marketplace with a diverse group of other branded businesses: BET.com, the number one Internet portal for African Americans; BET Digital Networks " BET Jazz, BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop " attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Event Productions, specializing in a full range of event production services, including event management, venue selection, talent recruitment, sound, lighting and stage production; and BET Books, the nation's leading publisher of African-American themed romance novels under the Arabesque imprint, which also publishes compelling fiction under the Sepia imprint and inspirational fiction and nonfiction under the New Spirit imprint.
Lee's sphere of influence also extends well beyond BET, where she is regarded as one of the country's top female executives in the realm of Fortune 500 companies. She serves on the corporate board of directors of global business icons Marriott Internationaland Eastman Kodak Company, and regionally for Washington Gas & Light Company. Her business acumen and strategic approach to management make Lee a popular speaker and lecturer on a range of business topics.
Affiliated with a number of professional and civic organizations, Lee is also a member of the national board of directors for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, Girls Incorporated, National Symphony Orchestra, Telecommunications Development Fund, Center for Communication, the Kennedy Centers Community & Friends Board, and the National Womens Law Center. She is also a Trustee Emeritus for Brown University.
Lee has been no stranger to industry awards and accolades as evidence by her receiving the 2003 Distinguished Vanguard Award for Leadership from the NCTA, a first for an African-American female executive; 2003 Positively Visionary Award from Cable Positive; 2003 Quasar Award from the National Association of Minorities in Communications; 2001 Woman of the Year Award from Women in Cable and Telecommunications; the Wonder Woman Award from Cablevision magazine; the 2000 Tower of Power Trumpet Away from Turner Broadcasting System; the Silver Star Award from American Women in Radio and Television; the Par Excellence Award from Dollars and $ense Magazine, and frequent recognition among the industry's Hundred Heavy Hitters by Cable Fax magazine. Outside the cable industry, Lee has also received special recognition, including the 2005 Madame C. J. Walker Award from Ebony magazine for best exemplifying the entrepreneurial spirit of the pioneering black businesswoman.
Lee, and her husband Randall Coleman, reside in Washington, D.C. with their two children.
"I fundamentally believe that you either are or are not an entrepreneur. I really don't think you can aspire to be an entrepreneur."
Debra Lee, at the Brown Entrepreneurship Programs 10th Annual Forum February 2007
Debra Lee, in a December 2006 Spirit Interview:
"Bob Johnson asked me to come over to his company in 1986 from the corporate law firm where I'd been for five years. I stayed with BET because it was interesting work. At a growing company, you're involved in many aspects of the business, like overseeing the construction of our first studio in northeast Washington, D.C. I was responsible for strategic business development and was chief operating officer for ten years. So, yeah, I've been doing this a long time and at the same company. But to be able to be the final decision making and put together a great team, which I have, and watch this network grow even more, which it is doing, it enormously satisfying."
