Please welcome the one and only, Tonya Lewis Lee to The FilmUp Podcast! Tonyis a director, producer, author and entrepreneur whose work often explores the personal impact of social justice issues.
Most recently, the film she co-directed and co- produced, exploring the US maternal mortality crisis, AFTERSHOCK (HULU) has received numerous awards including a 2023 Peabody Award , a 2022 Sundance Special Jury Impact for Change Award, an NIHMC Award and a 2023 Emmy Award nomination. As a television producer, Tonya served as Executive Producer on the episodic series She’s Gotta Have It (NETFLIX) and wrote and produced The Watson’s Go To Birmingham (AMAZON). As a film producer, Lee produced Monster (NETFLIX) which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Tonya is currently serving as an Executive Producer on a documentary film about seven time Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix. As an author, Tonya’s children’s books, co-written with her husband Spike Lee, Please Baby Please, Please Puppy Please and Giant Steps to Change the World have sold over one million copies. As an entrepreneur Tonya founded Movita Organics an organic vitamin supplement company to provide a premium vitamin supplement to the marketplace and to continue the conversation with women about how to access and achieve one’s optimum health.Tonya has received numerous awards and recognition for her work including being named to the 2023 Forbes 50 Over 50 list. Tonya is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, The University of Virginia School of Law and is a member of the Writer’s Guild of America, the Producer’s Guild of America, a member of the Board of Trustees of the March of Dimes and a Board Emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Tonya is also a big supporter of March of Fimes. Each day over 1000 babies are born too soon. Their organization focus on preventing preterm birth and supporting those families. So she is dedicating this episode to their organization. You can learn more by going to marchofdimes.org/