Tonya Linnette Lee (née Lewis; March 30, 1966) is an American attorney, film and television producer, author, entrepreneur, and advocate for women and infant health. She founded her production company, Madstone Company Inc., in 1998, and has been involved in media for children, through her work with

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

and her authorship of children's books.

Life

Lewis Lee was born in

Yonkers Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

, New York, to Lillian Charlotte (née Glenn) and George Ralph Lewis. Her father held a corporate executive position at Philip Morris. She graduated from

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

with a BA and the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

with a JD. After practicing law at Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle LLP in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

for nearly two years, she returned to New York and married

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...

in 1993. They have two children.

Career

Film and television

Lewis Lee has been producing content for television and film for nearly 20 years. She began her career producing interstitial programming for Nickelodeon. She went on to produce larger projects for them, ultimately producing the miniseries ''Miracle’s Boys'' for the network along with the documentary, ''I Sit Where I Want'', commemorating the 50th anniversary of the

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

decision. In 2014, Lewis Lee co-founded the production company ToniK Productions with Nikki Silver. Since its founding, ToniK has produced several projects including ''The Watsons Go To Birmingham'', which Lewis Lee wrote, ''

The Giver ''The Giver'' is a 1993 young adult dystopian novel written by American author Lois Lowry and is set in a society which at first appears to be utopian but is revealed to be dystopian as the story progresses. In the novel, the society has take ...

'', ''

She's Gotta Have It ''She's Gotta Have It'' is a 1986 American black-and-white comedy drama film written, directed, produced, and edited by Spike Lee in his feature-length directorial debut. It stars Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell ...

'' and ''MONSTER''.

Writer

Lewis Lee is the author of three children's books, ''Please Baby Please'', ''Please Puppy Please'', and ''Giant Steps to Change the World''. She is also the co-author of the New York Times bestselling ''Gotham Diaries'' and the writer of the script ''The Watsons Go to Birmingham''.

Advocacy

Lewis Lee also served as the spokesperson for A Healthy Baby Begins With You an infant mortality awareness raising campaign out of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health from 2007 to 2013. Through the campaign she traveled the US speaking on issues of women's health for the sake of their unborn children. She also produced the documentary film Crisis in the Crib: Saving Our Nation's Babies. Her work with this campaign inspired her to found Healthy You Now, a web platform for women's health. In 2015, she founded Movita, an organic vitamin company that is sold through e-commerce.

Filmography

Film

* '' The Watsons Go to Birmingham'' * ''Monster'' * ''

Aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in Epicenter, the same area of the Mainshock, main shock, caused as the displaced Crust (geology), crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthq ...

Television series

* ''I Sit Where I Want: The Legacy of Brown v. the Board of Education'' * ''

Miracle's Boys ''Miracle's Boys'' is an American drama television miniseries produced for Noggin's teen programming block, The N. The show began production in June 2004 and first previewed on December 17, 2004, with a behind-the-scenes special called "The Maki ...

'' * ''That's What I'm Talking About'' * ''Crisis in the Crib: Saving Our Nations Babies'' * ''

Books

* ''Please Baby Please'' * ''Please Puppy Please'' * ''Giant Steps to Change the World'' * ''Gotham Diaries''

Products

* Movita Organics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis Lee, Tonya 1966 births Living people 21st-century African-American lawyers African-American film producers African-American novelists African-American women writers American women documentary filmmakers American women film producers American women lawyers American women novelists American women writers Ladue Horton Watkins High School alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Sarah Lawrence College alumni University of Virginia School of Law alumni