Lee's grandfather immigrated from rural China to Buffalo, New York in the United States, along with his wife and children.

Lee's father graduated from Columbia University and then moved to Great Neck, New York.

[1] Lee started her professional journalism career as a reporter for her hometown newspaper, the Great Neck Record.

[9] Prior to joining CNBC in 2004, Lee worked for Bloomberg Television and CNN Financial News.

[5] Lee is married to Ben Kallo, a financial analyst,[10] and gave birth to twins in 2019.