Tonya Lewis Lee
Producer, Writer, Entrepreneur & Women’s Health Advocate
Tonya Lewis Lee
Producer, Writer, Entrepreneur & Women’s Health Advocate
Biography
Tonya Lewis Lee is an award-winning filmmaker, author, entrepreneur, and women's health activist whose work explores the personal impact of social justice issues. Through her documentaries and books, she has reached tens of millions with vital health and wellness messages. Her feature-length documentary Aftershock (Hulu), which she co-directed and co-produced, examines the United States' maternal mortality crisis and earned a 2024 DuPont-Columbia Award, a 2023 Peabody Award, a 2023 Emmy nomination, and a 2022 Sundance Special Jury Impact for Change Award.
Tonya served as Executive Producer on Netflix's episodic series She's Gotta Have It, produced Miracle's Boys (Nickelodeon), based on the Jacqueline Woodson novel, wrote and produced The Watsons Go To Birmingham (Amazon), and produced Monster (Netflix), which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. She is president of her production company, Madstone Company Inc. Expanding her producing work to the stage, Tonya has produced Broadway works including A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical (Studio 54, 2024–2025), developed in association with Roundabout Theatre Company.
An accomplished author, Tonya has co-written three children's books with her husband Spike Lee— Please, Baby, Please; Please, Puppy, Please; and Giant Steps to Change the World—which have sold over one million copies. She also co-authored the adult fiction novel The Gotham Diaries (Hyperion) with Crystal McCrary Anthony, which was praised by Publisher's Weekly as "vicious," "funny," and "juicy." She has also penned guest editorials for prestigious media outlets including The Hollywood Reporter.
A committed women's health advocate, Tonya served as a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health (2007–2013), is a Board Emeritus member of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and served on the Board of Trustees for the March of Dimes (2019–2025). She was named to the 2023 Forbes 50 Over 50 list. As an entrepreneur, she founded Movita Organics, an organic vitamin supplement company promoting women's health and wellness for over a decade.
Tonya frequently shares her expertise on women's health, healthcare inequalities, and social justice through appearances on ABC News, CBS Mornings, The View, NBC News, NPR, The Steve Harvey Morning Show, and The Breakfast Club. She has addressed audiences of up to 10,000 in person and virtually for leading organizations including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia Journalism School, Walmart, and Blue Cross Blue Shield.
A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Virginia School of Law, Tonya is a member of the Writers Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America, and the Television Academy. She is happily married, is the mother of two adult children, and lives in New York.
Speaker Videos
Impact of Mentoring and Youth Support
A Centennial Conversation with Filmmaker Tonya Lewis Lee
Speech Topics
Health: Closing the Gap on Health Disparities in the United States
Tonya Lewis Lee has become one of the most compelling voices in the national conversation on maternal and infant health disparities in America. She brings to the stage an urgent and deeply informed perspective on the maternal mortality crisis, examining why Black women — across all income levels — remain uniquely vulnerable to a healthcare system that too often fails them. Lewis Lee also addresses the broader crisis of infant mortality in the United States, drawing attention to the stark racial gap between the rates at which Black babies and white babies die. Through powerful storytelling and a clear call to action, she challenges audiences to confront the systemic causes behind these inequities and explore what individuals, institutions, and policymakers can do to close the gap.
Lessons Through Entrepreneurship: 10 Years Running a Wellness Brand
Tonya Lewis Lee founded Movita Organics in 2015, translating nearly a decade of women's health advocacy into a premium, certified organic supplement brand designed to make wellness accessible to all women — particularly those historically underserved by the health industry. In this talk, she draws on more than ten years of building a mission-driven business from the ground up, sharing candid lessons on product development, fundraising, knowing your audience, and staying true to your brand's purpose.
From Corporate to Creative: Embracing the Leap
Tonya Lewis Lee walked away from a legal career to become a television producer, children's book author, and novelist — and she has never looked back. In this talk, she reflects honestly on what it takes to make a bold career pivot, sharing the guiding principles, defining moments, and hard-won lessons that carried her from the courtroom to the creative life she built on her own terms. For anyone standing at the edge of a major life or career transition, Lewis Lee makes a compelling case that the leap is always worth taking.
Art & Advocacy: Storytelling as a Tool for Impact
Tonya Lewis Lee has spent her career proving that art and activism are not separate pursuits — they are the same call to action. From co-directing the award-winning documentary Aftershock to partnering with the Office of Minority Health to build a nationwide peer education movement around healthy living, Lewis Lee demonstrates that bold, intentional action — in the boardroom, on screen, and in communities — is where change begins. In this talk, she explores how storytelling can be the most powerful advocacy tool of all, and how mission-led work creates lasting impact across generations.
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