Today we’d like to introduce you to Hlee Lee.
Hi Hlee, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My career in media started when I participated in a program at Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) called Don’t Believe the Hype in high school. Hype, as we called it, was a program by and for urban youth of color. The program was led by Robin Hickman and Daniel Bergin. They led us in how to share our and others’ stories through television. This program was the first opportunity I had that allowed me to dig into my story as a person of color, a child of refugees, and my life living in two cultures. It allowed for a lot of self-identification, self-awareness, and self-confidence.
In high school, I also participated in a program called the Urban Journalism Workshop, a two-week summer program at the University of St. Thomas for urban youth of color to learn journalism basics. We were given the opportunity to learn from professional journalists and write stories that ran in either the Star Tribune or the Pioneer Press. The lesson I learned from the Urban Journalism Workshop (now called ThreeSixty Journalism) and Hype is that stories, particularly our stories from our perspective, are important, impactful, and meaningful.
I was fortunate enough to secure a scholarship to the University of St. Thomas to study broadcast journalism through the Urban Journalism Workshop. During college, I interned at Don’t Believe the Hype at TPT. When I graduated from college, I secured a position at TPT as an associate producer, where I worked for the Minnesota Channel. We which worked with organizations to bring attention to various topics and issues affecting communities in Minnesota.
Eventually, I left TPT to pursue a freelance career in the hopes of building my own media company focused on BIPOC stories from BIPOC storytellers and providing well-paid opportunities for BIPOC artists and organizers. I had found that mainstream media organizations’ priorities were to bring in the money, and the story came second. This meant sending white producers into communities of color to “tell their story,” then disappearing after telling the story from their outsider perspective.
The opportunity for people from these communities to tell their own stories was few and far between. the other media group (omg) was born.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Has it been a smooth road? Simple answer: No.
Trying to start a business as a child of refugees, who grew up in poverty, as a young Hmong woman, is not easy.
I had no seed funding. I took no loans. Those were not and still are not concepts that many immigrant and BIPOC communities turn to when starting a business or nonprofit because we understand the difficulties of living in poverty and being in debt. What I did have was a partner with a well-paying job that came with insurance, who supported me when I quit my job to try to do something on my own. I had support from the community who also felt that our stories are for us to tell.
As a young Hmong woman, media was not the ideal industry. Many from the older generations felt that being an outspoken, loud woman sharing stories from within our community would be bad, it was seen as “airing our dirty laundry.” Freelancing and starting a business from my home was hard to explain to many – it wasn’t your typical job and didn’t offer the security that my parents wanted for me and my generation. No 401K, no health insurance. It was not a brick-and-mortar business, it was more abstract.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
the other media group is dedicated to providing media services to community-oriented organizations. We bring our authentic selves into our work, including our successes, pain, resilience, and perseverance. omg is dedicated to advocating for artists of color and community storytellers. We see the big picture, visualize the path, and build steps to bring projects to life.
omg believes in teamwork, diversity at the table, and community building through multimedia storytelling. We see this through our work with a roster of extremely talented and diverse artists to provide high-quality services. Being able to tell a compelling story has been our favorite part of the work. We believe everyone has a unique story to share. Storytelling can be presented in many forms, which is why the other media group offers a variety of services.
Our services include management and leadership. omg prides itself on its ability to organize and maintain projects for a variety of organizations. We provide insight and leadership for community-oriented projects. One of my favorite projects is River Stories, a collaboration with Urban Roots and the Great Passage Conservancy. For the past several summers (for 7-to-8 weeks), omg met with a group of youth at Urban Roots to plan an art project with a focus on outdoor spaces and the Mississippi River. Each summer, the youth come up with different ideas and different outputs. One year we did a podcast (during COVID-19), and another year we did a photo exhibit. omg has done everything from community outreach/engagement to creating and developing projects for organizations to overseeing an organization’s media plan.
We also do full-scale media production in both documentary and narrative styles. I have experience mentoring and working with youth and elders. omg provides leadership and guidance on media projects from start to finish, from idea to production to realization. We’ve done everything from fundraising videos for small organizations to written stories and photos for newsletters to helping an organization translate and create videos to reach the diverse communities in their area.
Networking and finding a mentor can have a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I was fortunate to find mentors early in my media career. Daniel Bergin at TPT was instrumental in my understanding of impactful storytelling, in embracing my Hmongness and how it is a benefit, not a disadvantage. David Nimmer and Lynda McDonell from ThreeSixty Journalism supported me through college.
I was the first in my family to attend a private university (my older siblings all attended the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities). Kevin Fox of Fox Consulting, who gave me a job while I was in college and again, after I left TPT, so I could have income while building the other media group. As an entrepreneur himself, he was a treasure trove of information and life experiences. And Kristine Sorensen, Executive Director of In Progress, a nonprofit arts group that paves the way for new voices in the field of digital media, allowed me space as an artist and as a growing leader both when I was a youth and when I started omg.
As an introvert, I was never much of a networker. However, being involved in the community has allowed me to find mentors that hold the same values as I do. Those mentors, with whom you can talk about anything, are the most significant ones.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theothermediagroup.com
- Instagram: @theothermediagroup
- Facebook: facebook.com/theothermediagroup
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hleelee/
- Other: https://vimeo.com/theothermediagroup
