50 women who have made a positive difference to me - Nona Lee

2022 - On the 50th anniversary of Title IX, I have been and will continue to shine a light on 50 women who have been amazing teachers, thereby affecting my sports career as well as the careers of other women and men in sport.

Nona Lee: Walk the walk

I was uncomfortable because I didn’t know if I?was?in the right place.?Had I gotten the address or date wrong???Frankly intimidated by the surroundings, I carefully explored the hallway of a majestic downtown LA hotel.??I tentatively cracked open a door leading into a small,?dark conference room.??There I saw a woman speaking to a small group of people, their backs to me.??

?“Welcome, Buffy!” came from the voice of Nona Lee, the speaker.?She beamed a smile and had a twinkle in her eyes.??“These are our Sports Lawyers Association regional captains.??I’d like you to meet them and they to meet you!”?I was so relieved!

After this, Nona invited me to a Women’s Sports Lawyers breakfast scheduled for the next morning.?When it happened, she made a point of introducing me to every woman in the room with their story of how they landed their jobs.??Nona was the General Counsel to the MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks and President?of the Sports Lawyers Association (SLA).?It didn’t seem typical for bigwigs like her to extend such gestures of inclusion.

I was pleased to be at the SLA’s annual meeting.?TeamWork became a partner with SLA because of Nona.?

A natural athlete from?Los Angeles, California, Nona?always loved to compete.?Being an athlete was both exhilarating and emotionally challenging.?According to her stories, Nona learned to swim and made the Hawthorne Otters AAU swimming team when she was 12.??The puzzling moment was, the?next day half the team had quit she learned because their parents didn’t want their children in the same pool as a black girl.?(And this was California, not a former Confederate state!)?

Unfortunately, this hadn’t been Nona’s first experience with race-based discrimination.??She was spending the summer with her grandparents in Natchez, Mississippi when one day she was outside playing and her grandma?rushed her indoors when the hooded KKK members marched down the street.

Undeterred by what became disturbingly commonplace exclusions, Nona matriculated into Pepperdine University.??When she tried out for the women’s basketball team, she earned a spot and her teammates and coaches embraced her.??By her sophomore year, Nona had garnered a scholarship.??After college, she went on to graduate summa cum laude from Oklahoma City University School of Law.??After four years as an associate in a Phoenix law firm, the ownership group of the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks?in 2000?hired?her to join them?as their first-ever Associate General Counsel.?Her dream job.?Nona by 2005 had earned the position of Vice President, Associate Counsel.??The two teams were sold separately and Nona?went to the Diamondbacks to start their first dedicated, in-house legal department. She remained there?for 17 more years, ultimately?elevating to Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer.??

Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, sports rallied around diversity, inclusion, and general social justice issues.??The Diamondbacks created?the D-backs for Change Initiative and gave Nona the opportunity to chair their D-backs for Change Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (“JEDI”) Council.??Two years in, Nona paused.??She had cultivated a strong deputy attorney who had served under her for 15 years, Caleb Jay, to take her place.??Nona?knew the time was right to take the next step.?So she announced her resignation from a job that few women, even fewer women of color had held.?Thus released, Nona launched Truth DEI Consulting, a firm focused on diversity, equity?and inclusion.??Law?firms, sports teams, and others (including representatives of The Walt Disney Company)?are lining up to benefit from her?passion and?expertise.?

What I’ve learned from Nona Lee, the best way to teach inclusion, particularly those in leadership positions, is to warmly welcome in others.??Walk the walk.?Nona does.?

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