Netflix star Tricia Lee brings podcast on Black women in business to Atlanta
A live podcast geared toward meaningful and constructive conversations in the female entrepreneurial space is heading to Atlanta.
Tricia Lee of Netflix’s “Owning Manhattan” and host of the new podcast “Short & Sweet With Tricia Lee” is slated to have a candid exchange with her audience on Black women’s authenticity in leadership and purpose, providing grace for themselves as they tackle their professional climbs.
Lee joined the cast of “Owning Manhattan” in 2024, and is adamant about having authentic representation of Black women on television. She wants to show that ascending the professional ladder never gets easier.
“What you get better at is being you in the process of it,” Lee says.
Women also have to maintain supportive circles to ensure they stay on track of their goals, she says.
She brings the “Short & Sweet” podcast specifically to Atlanta because she understands the city as an entrepreneurial, creative and leadership hub for Black women. Along with life coach and CURLBOX founder Myleik Teele, Lee plans to use the podcast to hone in on the reality of what it means to be a successful professional and living by your own definition of success.
“It’s hard to be an ambitious Black woman,” Lee says.
Raised in Phoenix, Lee says she knew after graduating from Arizona State University that she wanted a career in the beauty industry. She landed a sales job with Clinique and moved to New York before creating her own beauty brand, Polish Bar, in 2015.
“About halfway through the 10 years of owning that business, I’d become exhausted by it,” she says. “It’s just, like, this is my dream and this is my business, but this is exhausting.”
Lee was introduced to real estate while managing Polish Bar and having to negotiate contracts for her business’s leases. She realized the continuous financial success landlords had, even when businesses renting spaces failed. She connected with a client who happened to be in real estate and showed her the ropes.
“She looked like me, and she was my age,” Lee remembers, pointing to the power in representation.
From there, she applied what she learned in the beauty industry to her new career in real estate.
“Once you have that trust and loyalty, you can go anywhere,” Lee says. “With real estate, you only sell yourself. You don’t sell the product.”
She didn’t want to fit into a caricature of what she thought people expected a Black woman to look and act like on reality TV.
“I thought, ‘I don’t want to go on TV and I don’t want to be another (Black woman stereotype),’” she explained. “I want to really go on TV, and I want to try to feel seen because I never felt seen in a lot of the things I would see on TV.”
Realizing those conversations needed to be shared with a wider audience, she launched the “Short & Sweet” podcast in December 2025. In the first month of its premiere, the podcast garnered over 370,000 views on YouTube.
Teele, who will join Lee on the “Short & Sweet” live podcast, also felt it was necessary to share her entrepreneurial journey to help others.
“I felt called and compelled to sort of share my experiences because I felt like so many people didn’t (share their experiences) with me,” Teele says, recalling times when she has been the only Black woman in professional settings.
In 2011, Teele started the Atlanta-based CURLBOX, a subscription service for Black, naturally textured hair products. However, she closed up shop in 2023 after realizing her time in the space had run its course. Teele had already been a mentor and public speaker, but fully dove into helping people as a life coach after ending CURLBOX.
“Everybody thinks they need a strategy or a framework and really, they just need somebody to hold up the mirror, kind of repeat back to them what they’re saying, challenge some of their thoughts,” she says
“So many people believe that things are impossible. I feel like if I can do it, anybody can do it, And that’s kind of what I hope for more people to see.”
Lee and Teele first connected more than a decade ago when Lee was still trying to figure out whether or not she wanted to remain in the beauty industry or venture into real estate. Once she was introduced to Teele during a conference, she had more clarity on the direction she wanted to take.
“The conversation with (Teele) was very impactful,” Lee says. “Since then, so much of what I’ve put into play comes from that conversation. It almost feels fair to continue the conversation so people can understand how I was impacted.”
Rather than attempting to fulfill standards that may belong to someone else, Teele says she looks to herself for authority. Being her own boss and the source of her inspiration, she says she will always care more about the quality of her work than anyone else.
“I’m doing it for me,” she says. Her expectations come first, which has cemented her confidence and self-assurance.
Lee hopes other women can adopt that same level of conviction.
“I would want people to gain something from their interactions with me, be it on TV or be it at a podcast in Atlanta in Buckhead on a Sunday,” she says. “I think every time I’ve ever sat down with a mentor-type personality and had them pour into me in that way, it’s always just reinforced everything I wanted and wanted to do.”
IF YOU GO
“Short & Sweet With Tricia Lee” will be at ModeX in Buckhead on Sunday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at eventbrite.com.
About the Author
Brooke Leigh Howard is a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Black culture team, UATL.