I really wanted to get into TV, but I didn’t know how to do it, so I ended up going to law school. But it’s funny - when I was in high school, I took a class on production. NS: Do you remember first getting into film and TV producing? You are trained as a lawyer, correct? Just to be recognized, I have to say, for my work, trying to shed light on social justice issues, is deeply meaningful to me. I’ve grown up with Gordon Parks’ images around me all of us have. TONYA LEWIS LEE: Oh, my gosh, to get an award from the Gordon Parks Foundation is an extreme honor. NADJA SAYEJ: What does this Gordon Parks Foundation Award mean to you? She speaks to Shondaland about her new documentary, talking about minority health with Vice President Kamala Harris, and the importance of the female gaze in filmmaking (even when it upsets her husband). Department of Health’s Office of Minority Health, from 2007 to 2013.Įven though Lewis Lee is more of a behind-the-scenes person, she’s still open to talking about her achievements and goals. Lewis Lee is the author of three children’s books with Simon & Schuster, and her long list of advocacy for mother’s rights includes being the spokesperson for “A Healthy Baby Begins With You,” an awareness campaign spearheaded by the U.S. The film, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival this January, follows two men, Omari Maynard and Bruce McIntyre III, both fathers who lost their female partners during childbirth complications, which were both preventable. Lewis Lee also produced the documentary film Crisis in the Crib: Saving Our Nation’s Babies and, more recently, Aftershock, an award-winning documentary that she co-directed with Paula Eiselt. In 2011, she co-founded ToniK Productions alongside award-winning TV producer Nikki Silver, and they’ve focused on adapting books for family-friendly films (one project was an adaptation of Christopher Paul Curtis’ award-winning novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963, which was adapted for the 50th anniversary of the civil rights movement). She first got her start as a lawyer in Washington, D.C., then moved to New York and continued her career as a producer with Nickelodeon through a contact at her former law firm. Producer Tonya Lewis Lee attends the premiere of "All Rise" on day two of the 2019 Urbanworld Film Festival at AMC25 on Sept. In 1998, she founded her own media production company, Madstone Company Inc., during a time when women weren’t exactly celebrated for going behind the scenes. Long before it was the trend for women in entertainment to start their own production companies and take the reins behind the scenes - whether it’s Kerry Washington’s Simpson Street, which she founded in 2016 Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, founded the same year or Tina Fey’s film and TV production company, Little Stranger Inc., founded in 2001 - Lewis Lee was ahead of the curve. Lewis Lee acted as co-executive producer on the show with her husband, helping shape the series to represent the female perspective, from the inner monologues to the sex scenes. In fact, it was Lewis Lee’s idea for Lee to bring back his iconic 1986 film She’s Gotta Have It and turn it into a Netflix series, which was a huge hit from 2017 to 2019. Lewis Lee is often overlooked for her contributions to film and TV, but she is a talented filmmaker in her own right. She and Lee married in 1993, and they have two children, Satchel Lee, 27, and Jackson Lee, 25 (both were Golden Globes ambassadors in 2021, making history as the first siblings of color to fill the roles). The Lees were honored for their commitment to social justice in their work in the arts. The foundation, which focuses on preserving the work of late photographer Gordon Parks, awards the special honor to individuals who “have enriched our lives in ways that reflect Parks' ideas and goals by using creative means to inspire the next generation,” according to the organization's official website. She and her husband were recipients of a Gordon Parks Foundation Award at the foundation’s annual dinner and auction in New York City on May 19. Lewis Lee is a director in her own right, a writer, producer, and advocate for women’s health. Tonya Lewis Lee is much more than just the wife of director Spike Lee.
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