From there, she went on to earn a Master's Degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and a law degree from Harvard's Law School. She began her professional career as an attorney in the early 80s, and worked for five years at Steptoe & Johnson, a corporate law firm based in D.C. She became the Vice President of Legal Affairs and general counsel for BET in 1986. In addition to her legal duties, she also served as the Corporate Secretary and as a publisher for BET's Publishing Division. She was promoted to President and CEO of BET Holdings, Inc. in 1996. Nine years later, she became President and CEO of the entire company. She has actively developed the BET brand, and brought in new programming since becoming president. In addition to her work at BET, she also sits on a number of corporate boards including Marriot and Revlon. She also oversaw the publication of the magazines YSB, Heart & Soul, Emerge, and BET Weekend and several imprints of BET Books, which published romances for African American women.
