Trymaine Lee

On-air contributor providing analysis and reporting on national politics, race, public policy, and democracy.

I Am Somebody Media is an independent production company developing documentary, audio, and narrative projects focused on race, power, politics, and American identity. Executive Producer — Hope in High Water: A People’s Recovery, Twenty Years After Hurricane Katrina • Developed and produced long-form documentary marking the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina • Examined overlapping maps of health, housing, education, and racial inequity in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast • Distributed by Peacock, a major national streaming platform • Extended reporting legacy tied to Pulitzer Prize–winning Katrina coverage

Lead and moderate high-level conversations on race, democracy, gun violence, public health, and narrative power across journalism, policy, academic, and cultural institutions.

* National Bestseller* A Thousand Ways to Die, my debut non-fiction book, is a deeply personal exploration of the generational impact of guns on the Black experience in America. A few years ago, though fit and only 38, I nearly died of a heart attack. When my then five-year-old daughter, Nola, asked me why, I realized that to answer her honestly, I had to confront what almost killed me—the weight of being a Black man in America; of bearing witness, as a journalist, to relentless Black death; and of a family history scarred by enslavement, lynching, the Great Migration, the also insidious racism of the North, and gun violence that stole the lives of two great-uncles, a grandfather, a stepbrother, and two cousins. In this powerful narrative, I weave three strands: the long and bloody history of African Americans and guns; my work as a chronicler of gun violence, tallying the costs and riches generated by both the legal and illegal gun industries; and my own life story— from almost being caught up in gun violence as a young man, to exploring the legacy of the Middle Passage in Ghana through my ancestors’ footsteps, and navigating the challenges of representing my people accurately in an overwhelmingly white and often hostile media world, and most importantly, to celebrating the enduring strength of my family and community. In A Thousand Ways to Die, I answer Nola and all who seek a more just America. I share the hard truths and complexities of the Black experience, but I also celebrate the beauty and resilience that is Nola’s legacy.

Reported from the front lines of the country's most urgent stories at the intersection of race, power, and politics. Covered rebellions, elections and the lives of everyday Americans. Host and reporter for multiple documentaries and television specials, including Stone Ghosts of the South: Confederate Monuments and America’s Battle with Itself, Can You Hear Us Now (a series launched in the wake of George Floyd’s murder), Lift Every Voice: Celebrating Black Culture, Into America: Power of the Black Vote, and Black Men in America: the Road to 2024.

Award-winning narrative podcast examining race, politics, and policy.

Led a study group titled “The Stories We Tell: Race and American Fictions,” examining how media, history, and political power shape dominant narratives in American life.

Selected to develop a book project examining the true costs of gun violence in America — work that became A Thousand Ways to Die. Engaged with scholars, policymakers, and journalists through the New America Fellows Program.

Reports on national social justice issues and how politics and policy impact everyday people.

Reported on national issues that impacted the Black community, including politics, breaking news, crime and social justice and voting rights issues. Spearheaded the Huffington Post’s coverage of the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case, and have widely been credited as the first print journalist to break the story nationally.

Worked a number of beats including general assignment, the Brooklyn beat and a session covering the State Legislature in Albany. Contributed to the newspaper's coverage of the Gov. Eliot Spitzer scandal that earned a 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News. Worked closely with the newspaper's video unit as a video journalist shooting video and editing video using Final Cut Pro.