Cynthia Avon Lee

Executive Producer,"Woven"

Prime Time Emmy Nominee and NAACP Image Award Winner

Cynthia Avon Lee serves as an Executive Television Consultant. She has served as a television executive for the NBC, CBS, and ABC Television Affiliates. She was also an executive for The BET Networks.

As station manager of programming and news for the ABC affiliate WYTV  in Youngstown, Ohio, Ms. Lee made history by becoming the first African-American female television executive in commercial television. While at WYTV she created the local equivalent to Good Morning America and was instrumental in developing the news division. While innovating creative programming at this ABC affiliate, she caught the eye of the CBS Flagship station WBBM in Chicago, Illinois and was recruited to become a member of that prestigious team as the Programming Executive. At the time, she was the highest ranking African-American in the CBS-owned television station group. There, Ms. Lee led the programming division into its most productive, award-winning, three years. Under her tutelage, her team garnered the coveted Iris Awards for several documentaries and won several Emmys for Bill Kurtis’s Specials, the highly successful documentary series, “Two on Two.” She pioneered their first all- black production team at CBS for a Black History month special focusing on the leadership of Black America. This program won a San Francisco State Award and a CEBA Award for Television Excellence.

Upon leaving CBS , she had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to executive produce a One Time Only (OTO) special at the Kennedy Center in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King. This star-studded, groundbreaking program was the first television special to use multiple hosts. The two-hour gala was hosted by Lou Gossett, Jr., Cecily Tyson, Robert Guillume and Patrick Duffy. The production was the first African-American produced, nationally syndicated special that reached over 110 markets in prime time.

After this production, Ms. Lee decided she needed more experience in syndication and successfully landed a position with Group W Productions as Director of their Midwest Division. She was responsible for distribution in over thirty (30) markets across the country. While at Group W, Ms. Lee was part of the largest children's television distribution arm in the country, and was responsible for distributing two nationally stripped (airs five days a week) one-hour talk shows and two one-hour animation shows.

Upon leaving Group W Productions, Ms. Lee was asked by Bob Johnson to become the executive over all programming at BET. She single-handedly was responsible for developing all of the entertainment programming on BET including the thirteen (13)-year highest rated show on the Network, “Comic View” where DL. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and helped launch Steve Harvey and many others.

Ms. Lee created the BET “Walk of Fame” which heralded successes of Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and Diana Ross. She created the format for the current BET Awards. She was instrumental in the launches of BET Movies a co-venture with Encore (now called Black Starz), the BET restaurant chain, and the special events that were held and televised live from the Walt Disney World Club opening in Florida. She gave Destiny’s Child their first television debut featuring Beyonce.

She again brought prestige to BET when she created their syndication division and garnered their first and only prime time Emmy Nomination for the nationally syndicated program “A Tribute to Black Music Legends.” In addition, her creation of the long-standing youth program, “Teen Summit,” earned BET its first ever NAACP Image Award and several Image Awards followed. She was Executive Producer for BET of the event known as “Black Oscars” and “Black Emmys” for six years.

Ms. Lee was a creative powerhouse and brought new business to the network. She was responsible for “Screen Scene” The Black Entertainment Tonight Show; with the creation and marketing of that program she brought the movie commercial business from zero to millions in revenue for BET.
With over thirty (30) years of experience she has become known as the expert in “startups.” She has started entire divisions and independent operations as well as created individual programs. She started up the BET Los Angeles offices and the co-venture with Microsoft, MSBET. She has managed budgets from Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($200K) per project to Sixty Million Dollars ($60M) for an entire programming division. She has managed a staff of two hundred (200) and has shown the fiscal responsibility in delivering her departments under budget year after year.