Marietta Lee, CEO of The Lee Company, says if you looked at all the cousins and siblings in her generation of the family, she’d be the last person expected to join this precision hydraulics company, much less step into the top executive role. In this episode of I’ve Been Meaning To Do That, host Oscarlyn Elder talks to Lee about her unexpected path from broadcast journalism to engineering graduate school, the unwavering directives her father gave her, and the ways she’s preparing for the future with the next generation. It’s an intriguing conversation you won’t hear anywhere else.

They discuss (time stamps are approximate):

• Marietta’s first job at The Lee Company, and how it galvanized her determination to build a career in an entirely different field (02:52)

• College, law school and going undercover with a purse cam and a disguise to catch government employees misbehaving in Houston (04:48)

• No interview, big pay cut, constant scrutiny: Taking a leap of faith into the family business (7:24)

• Marietta’s path to CEO (17:18)

• Stories about past and future generations (21:11)

• Finding time for strategic thinking (27:49)

• Final thoughts from Oscarlyn (28:45)

The podcast team has created a template for taking notes on each episode. You can find it at:

[www.truist.com/resources/wealth/financial-planning/personal-story-unexpected-success]

Have a question for Oscarlyn or her guests? Email [email protected].