Hidden Figures: Sheila Johnson (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Sheila Johnson

'Entrepreneur Sheila Crump Johnson was born on January 25, 1949, in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Her father, a neurosurgeon who worked for the Veterans Administration, and her mother, an accountant, were both accomplished pianists. Johnson inherited her parents' musical talents, beginning to play the violin seriously at the age of nine. Johnson also displayed flashes of her future entrepreneurial spirit as a child. She crafted purses out of oatmeal boxes and potholders, going door-to-door to sell them to her neighbors. Due to her father's job with the Veterans Administration, Johnson's family was often on the move, relocating 12 times during her childhood before finally settling down for good in Maywood, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. An accomplished young musician, in high school Johnson served as the concertmaster of the Illinois All-State Choir, and upon graduating from Proviso High School in 1966 she received a full scholarship to study music at the University of Illinois. Her assigned mentor during orientation week was an upperclassman named Robert Johnson, and the pair quickly fell in love. Two years later, in 1969, they married. In 1971, two years after her marriage, Johnson graduated from Illinois with a bachelor's degree in music performance and education. After her graduation, Johnson moved to Washington, D.C. There she landed a job teaching violin at the prestigious Sidwell Friends School, while her husband took a job with the Public Broadcasting Corporation. To supplement her meager teacher's salary, Sheila Johnson also began teaching private violin lessons out of her home. While Johnson concentrated on her music business, her husband managed to secure a $500,000 investment from cable TV mogul John Malone, allowing Robert and Sheila Johnson to co-found their own cable TV network, Black Entertainment Television (BET) in 1979. A decade later, in 1989, Sheila Johnson abandoned her music business to join BET full time as head of community relations. She also developed and produced her own show, Teen Summit, an acclaimed talk show where African-American youth discussed the pressing issues of the day. Professional differences became personal differences, and Sheila and Robert Johnson divorced in 2002, splitting after 33 years of marriage. They have a daughter, Paige Johnson, a world class equestrian with Olympic ambitions, as well as a son, Brett Johnson. Two years before their divorce, in 2000, Robert Johnson sold BET to Viacom for $3 billion; both Johnsons now rank among the wealthiest African-Americans in the country. Since her divorce, Sheila Johnson has developed into an extraordinarily successful entrepreneur in her own right. In 2005, she founded Salamander Hospitality, a hospitality and management company through which she owns and manages two resorts and an inn, among other properties. She is also the Vice Chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment; as the majority owner of the Washington Mystics WNBA franchise and a minority owner of the NBA's Washington Wizards and NHL's Washington Capitals, she is the first black woman with a stake in three professional sports teams. She is also a documentary film producer of acclaimed pictures such as A Powerful Noise (2008) and The Other City (2010), a film about the AIDS epidemic in Washington, D.C. In 2005, Johnson married for a second time to the Honorable William T. Newman, Jr.—the judge who presided over her divorce proceedings three years before. #SheilaJohnson #HiddenFigures ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren Follow me on social media! Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: 'There’s No Fight Sheila C. Johnson Hasn’t Won:' http://afro.com/theres-no-fight-sheila-c-johnson-hasnt-won/ 'The 'accidental' owner:' https://www.pgatour.com/long-form/2018/03/06/sheila-johnson-interview-Innisbrook-golf-sports.html 'This Super-Successful Entrepreneur Can't Get a Public Company Board Seat. Three Guesses as to Why:' https://www.inc.com/kimberly-weisul/this-super-successful-entrepreneur-cant-get-a-public-company-board-seat-you-tell-us-why.html Forbes #30 Sheila Johnson: https://www.forbes.com/profile/sheila-johnson/#9ae418939474 Sheila Johnson: https://www.biography.com/people/sheila-johnson-17112944 Sheila Johnson (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Johnson