Lee graduated from Hampton University in 1985 where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communications and journalism.

In 1993, she joined WCAU-TV (which was owned by CBS at the time) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as weekend evening anchor and reporter.

[2] On Sunday, October 28, 2001, 20 days after her 39th birthday, Lee was driving her Mercedes in Schuylkill Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, when she went through a stop sign at a major intersection.

Lee was not wearing a seat belt at the time and was pronounced dead at the scene from severe neck and head trauma.

Local officials had previously expressed concern that the stop sign was easy for drivers to miss, and had approved the addition of a traffic light at the intersection, which was "weeks away" from installation at the time of her death.