MICHELLE KYDD LEE

“My hero is Marian Wright Edelman. She is a giant, and I am blessed to call her a mentor. She once said, ‘You are not obligated to win. You are obligated to keep trying to do your best every day.’ I try and live up to these words every day of my life.”

– MKL

Michelle Kydd Lee is a member of the Agency Board and Chief Innovation Officer at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). She has long been a driving force for the agency’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, helping to establish its immediate and long-term strategies to ensure a more equitable workplace. She is a founding member of the TIME’S UP movement. In 1995, Michelle founded the CAA Foundation, which uses the resources of the entertainment and sports communities to create positive social change. She personally serves as a consultant to clients, executives, and corporations on their philanthropic and pro-social initiatives, including Ambassador Susan Rice, Valerie Jarrett, and Vice President Kamala Harris, among others. She currently sits on the Advisory Board for MIT Media Lab, as well as the boards of TIME’S UP, and Center of Complex Interventions. She is a member of the 2009 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute, was named to Adweek’s Disruptors List, celebrating top female leaders in media, and is a MAKER’S WOMAN honoree.

Born, raised, and having received a public education in rural Maine, she now lives in Santa Monica. The mother of two sons, Michelle believes that love manifests itself through compassion. She teaches her boys that, “having vision and setting goals are lovely in and of themselves, but it’s doing that matters. It’s our actions that define us, not our intentions.” An optimist to her core, she is adamant that our best days are ahead. She is currently experiencing great humility while learning to play the ukulele.