Debra Lee Is Creating Wealth for Black Women One Board Seat at a Time

Members: RSVP in the Chief app to attend Lessons From the Boardroom With Debra Lee on February 25. During this virtual keynote, she’ll discuss takes to lead, break barriers, and build pathways for those who come next.

After a three-decade career at BET Networks, including 13 years as CEO, Debra Lee has dedicated her next chapter to opening doors from within the boardrooms of some of the world’s most influential companies.

As a board member for Marriott International, Procter & Gamble, and Warner Bros. Discovery (among many others), Lee realizes just how crucial access to board fees and company equity can be for creating Black wealth. And, moreover, how changing the complexion of boardrooms turns individual presence into collective power.

She’s translating those insights into impact through Leading Women Defined and The Monarchs Collective, where she’s addressing the “wrong pond” problem in board recruitment — one factor in why Black women hold just 3.2% of corporate board seats. It’s work that’s even more important today, when shifting policy, the dismantling of inclusion efforts, and mass layoffs are reshaping the workforce, particularly for Black women.

We asked Chief’s 2026 Black History Month keynote speaker about her approach to building pathways for the women and people of color following in her footsteps, and why, when women work through their challenges together in community, it benefits everyone involved.

You’ve said you started Leading Women Defined because "the higher up the ladder you get, the lonelier it is." What made you realize that loneliness was a problem you could actually solve? What does that solution look like in practice?

“If you can’t find community around you, you have to create it for yourself. When I was serving as CEO at BET, it could be incredibly lonely. When you’re a CEO, you don’t really have peers, everyone reports to you. At the time, we had just sold to Viacom, so I reported to the CEO there, but he wasn’t my peer either, and I didn’t feel I could talk to him about my day-to-day issues and concerns. So I decided the best way to address that loneliness was to reach out to other women in C-Suite roles at different companies. They didn’t have to be in media. They could be in any industry. I was looking for role models and true peers, women experiencing similar challenges who I could speak to openly. That effort to create community for myself is what ultimately led to the creation of the Leading Women Defined Summit 16 years ago. Men naturally build relationships on the golf course. Women don’t always have that kind of built-in outlet, and I’m proud to have created it through LWD.”

You transitioned from General Counsel to COO to CEO, moving from legal to operations to the top job. That's not a straight line. What did you have to unlearn in order to keep growing as a leader?

“The first thing I had to unlearn when I moved into operations was thinking like a lawyer, advice the CEO gave me many times. Lawyers tend to spend a lot of time researching, and we’re naturally risk-averse. We focus on avoiding anything that might cause problems down the line. As a leader, I had to learn to make decisions more quickly and accept that I would never have a perfect, foolproof answer. I learned to listen to my team, take their input seriously, make the decision, and stand by it. If it turned out to be the wrong call, I had lawyers to handle what came next. As a lawyer, you’re trained to imagine the worst-case scenario and write contracts to prevent it from ever happening. It’s often a thankless role, and it can put a negative spin on deals before they even get started. To keep growing as a leader, I had to let go of that mindset and move forward with confidence.”

In your memoir, you write about making your presence felt when you were the only Black woman in the boardroom. Now, you’re placing other remarkable Black women in those seats. How did you successfully evolve one person’s presence into collective power?

“After years of serving on boards, often as the only woman and frequently the only Black person, I realized this was an area that needed real attention. After George Floyd’s death, it became even clearer to me that one way to combat racism is by creating Black wealth. Board service creates wealth through board fees and equity in the company, and I understood how powerful that access could be.

“That realization led me to start The Monarchs Collective, with the goal of helping women and people of color secure board seats. One of the biggest barriers isn’t lack of talent, it’s access to talent. Too many qualified candidates simply aren’t aware of the opportunities that come with board service. I began speaking publicly about this issue and shifted my focus from just serving on boards myself to helping others get there, too.

“By creating my own search firm, I could ensure women and people of color were no longer overlooked. I later partnered with another woman who ran her own search firm, and together we pushed hard to diversify boardrooms. Many traditional search firms don’t prioritize diverse candidates and, when asked to find one, they often rely on informal networks rather than intentional searches.

“I believe that building a firm dedicated to changing the complexion of boardrooms is one of the most effective ways to turn individual presence into collective power. Through partnership and persistence, that’s exactly what we’ve been able to do.”

You've sat on boards at companies as varied as Twitter, Burberry, Marriott, and Procter & Gamble. You've said that even one or two diverse board members change the culture of the room. When there are more voices included in the conversation, what changes do you see?

“The first thing I noticed is that when there’s more than one or two women on a board, women feel more comfortable speaking up. I’m not the only one who’s seen this. Catalyst published a report years ago showing that you need at least three women on a board for women to truly feel comfortable contributing. There’s real power in numbers. When you’re the only woman or the only Black person in the room, you may hesitate to jump into every discussion. Serving on a board also requires learning when and how to speak up, especially because so much decision-making happens in committees. By the time issues reach the full board, things often move quickly — motions are made, votes are taken — and you have to know how to influence outcomes in real time.

“That’s why I’ve always believed it’s not enough to add one or two diverse voices. Boards need to be truly diversified across gender and race. Throughout my career, I’ve worked to support that by serving on nominating and governance committees and ensuring diversity remained a priority, in addition to starting my own search firm.

“Today, I serve on boards with two or three Black members and close to 50% women. In some cases, women now make up half the board! We’ve made meaningful progress, but there’s still work to do. The past year has been challenging, as DEI has been questioned and issues I thought were settled years ago are being debated again. The fight doesn’t stop, but we have to continue standing up for what we believe in.”

You co-founded The Monarchs Collective to address what you've called the "wrong pond" problem in board recruitment. What's the most persistent myth companies still believe about finding the right candidate for the job?

“One of the most persistent myths I still see is the belief that there aren’t qualified candidates who are women or people of color. Many companies continue to hold onto that assumption. In my search work, I push hard to ensure companies and their nominating and governance committees see a full slate of candidates. I always start by asking what skills they’re looking for, and then I go out and find diverse candidates with those exact qualifications. It’s not hard at all. It really isn’t. We’ve made progress, but we still have to stay focused on bringing diverse voices into boardrooms and ensuring better representation at the top.”

At Chief, we often quote the African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.” You've built communities for women at multiple points in your career. What shifts for leaders when they stop going it alone?

“When leaders stop going it alone, they realize their perspective isn’t the only one that matters. There are people with different experiences, differing opinions, and even opposing views — those perspectives are worth considering. The worst thing we can do, whether as leaders or as a country, is adopt a monolithic way of thinking and assume everyone sees the world the same way. We know that isn’t true.

“Throughout my career, I’ve tried to bring more women along with me by creating opportunities, opening doors, and creating spaces where we can talk openly about the challenges we’re facing, whether they’re individual or shared. When women come together in that way, it benefits everyone involved. There’s something incredibly powerful, and even magical, about it. That’s why I admire what Chief is building, and it’s what we aim to do at Leading Women Defined as well. At its core, it’s about the strength of a network coming together around shared issues and growing as part of a community."