Paula Williams Madison facts for kids

Paula Williams Madison is an American journalist, writer, and business leader. She used to be a top executive at NBCUniversal, a big media company. Now, she is the CEO of a family investment group located in Chicago. She retired from NBC on May 20, 2011, after working in news for over 35 years. Today, she leads Madison Media Management LLC, a company in Los Angeles that helps other media businesses around the world.

Paula's Early Life and Family Business

Paula Madison grew up in Harlem, a neighborhood in New York, with her brothers, Elrick and Howard. Their mother, Nell Vera Lowe, came from Jamaica and raised them on her own.

Paula and her brothers started a company together called Williams Holdings. This company invested in real estate, which means they bought and sold properties. They also bought a large part of The Africa Channel, a TV channel. Later, they owned the Los Angeles Sparks, a professional women's basketball team, before selling it in 2014 to Magic Johnson, a famous basketball player.

Awards and Heritage

Paula Madison has received many important awards. In 2005, Black Enterprise magazine named her one of the "75 Most Powerful African Americans in Corporate America." This means she was recognized as one of the most influential Black business leaders in the United States. In 2014, she was also named one of the "Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business."

Paula's family background is very interesting. She has both African and Hakka (Chinese) roots.

Finding Her Family Story

In 2015, Paula wrote a book called Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem. This book tells the story of her grandfather, Samuel Lowe, and his travels. It also shares Paula's own journey to Guangdong, China, where she explored her family's history. She started researching for this book soon after she retired from NBC.

Also in 2015, Paula was honored by East West Players, an Asian American theater group. They recognized her for her work that helped the Asian American community. This included her documentary film, Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to China. The film shows the journey Paula and her brothers took to learn more about their father's side of the family, whom they had not known well.