About Tonia Lee

Tonia Lee returned to the City of Baltimore in April 2024 as the first-ever Communications Director for the Department of Finance. As an executive and thought leader, Tonia has more than 20 years of experience in strategic communications, digital and mobile platforms, content marketing, storytelling, and P&L leadership.

Prior to her current role, Tonia was the Founder of Smackdown Digital, a woman-owned digital marketing agency that delivers digital, content, and public relations solutions to small businesses and government entities. 

Previously, Tonia served as General Manager, CharmTV, the City of Baltimore’s public television channel, where she rebranded the channel from TV25 to CharmTV.  In this role, Tonia oversaw all operations including programming, branding, engineering, digital, sponsorships and public relations.  During her tenure, Tonia grew primetime programming hours on the network and developed a primetime programming slate with ten new series on the network.  At CharmTV, Tonia was nominated for her first Public Affairs Emmy as Executive Producer for the documentary Who We Are: Elijah Cummings.

Throughout her career, Tonia has held executive positions in digital products, innovation, business operations, strategic planning, and corporate development at Turner Broadcasting, The Weather Channel, and Comcast/TV One.  Tonia’s work has also been recognized with a Technology Emmy and US Patent Award.

​​Tonia received an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania.  Tonia is also a graduate of the NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program at UCLA.