2019 Honoree of the Year, Paula Williams Madison

Paula Williams Madison is the Executive Producer of the documentary “Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to China,” which traces her search for her maternal grandfather’s 300+ descendants in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, China. Her 2015 memoir, “Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem” was published here by HarperCollins and in China by Shenzhen Publishing. 

She is Chairman and CEO of Madison Media Management LLC, a Los Angeles based media consultancy company with global reach. She retired as a company officer for GE and as Executive Vice President for Diversity from NBCUniversal, where she also had been VP/news director of NBC4 New York. From 2013-15, she served as Vice President of the Los Angeles Police Commission. Paula is first Vice President of the Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles and is on the board of the Center for Asian American Media. She was named one of the 75 Most Powerful African Americans in Corporate America by Black Enterprise Magazine in 2005 and was included in Ebony magazine’s “Power 100”. She’s been honored by Asian organizations as well, having been recognized in 2014 as one of the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business, by the East West Players and AARP with their Visionary Award and the Los Angeles Chinese American Museum with its 2015 Chinese American Heritage and Legacy Award. Also in 2015, the Jamaica China Friendship Association honored her at its annual gala in Kingston, Jamaica.