I Am Debra Lee: A Memoir

A riveting memoir by the former CEO of Black Entertainment Television (BET), about the glamorous and ugly moments of being a high-powered Black woman executive in the entertainment industry.

Debra Lee has been the visionary responsible for elevating Black images and storytelling for decades with timeless television shows like The Game and Being Mary Jane. Now she’s telling her own story, in a page-turner, filled with electrifying behind-the-scenes stories that reveal how she went from a girl raised in the segregated South to leading the first Black company traded on the New York Stock Exchange and how she juggled social responsibility while managing a company targeted toward the Black community.

Lee answers all of our questions about building an unapologetically Black enterprise as a Black woman. What to do when you’re forced to attend a board meeting eight weeks after a C-section. How to manage a team of men when you’re the first female CEO at the company. How she learned the hard way to say no to those in power when their vision didn’t align with her purpose.

I Am Debra Lee tackles lessons that women CEOs rarely dare to. She addresses her personal struggles with motherhood and ＂having it all,＂ navigating reproductive choice, fertility, and #MeToo as she helped build the leading entertainment company for Black audiences globally. As she has done her whole career, in this book, she opens the door for others to come after her, by sharing the truth behind her own inspiring story of power, perseverance, and success.

＂Debra Lee is a force! I love her candor and vulnerability within these pages. I Am Debra Lee is designed to make an impact.＂
-Alicia Keys

＂I was glued to Debra’s every word in this memoir.＂
-Taraji P. Henson

Debra Lee was named one of the Hollywood Reporter’s 100 Most Powerful Women in Entertainment and Billboard’s Power 100. She serves as a director on the boards of Warner Bros. Discovery, Burberry Group Plc, Marriott International, and Procter & Gamble. Lee is the founder and chairman of Leading Women Defined Foundation, a foundation of Black female thought leaders, which she founded in 2009. She served as the CEO of Black Entertainment Television Networks for thirteen-plus years following the network’s founder, Robert Johnson. She is also the co-founder of Monarchs Collective--an organization wholly dedicated to mentoring, supporting, and empowering women and men of color to serve on corporate boards. She lives in Los Angeles, California.