When people hear about something thoughtful Sheereen Miller-Russell, executive VP, client partnerships and inclusive solutions at Warner Bros. Discovery, said or did, they exclaim, “That’s so Sheereen.”
Esi Eggleston Bracey, chief growth and marketing officer at Unilever, first encountered Miller-Russell at a spa in Miami. Bracey didn’t know who Miller-Russell was or that she was also there as part of former BET CEO Debra Lee’s Leading Women Defined conferences.
“She asked me a question the way only Sheereen can do,” and before you know it, they were talking about careers and Miller-Russell was sharing a meditation. “Sheereen is an extraordinary soul,” Bracey said. “She’s almost like an angel.”
Soon, they were doing business together. Bracey, who pushed to pass the CROWN (Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Act in California, was featured in the docuseries The Hair Tales, about Black women’s hair, executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, Tracee Ellis Ross and Michaela Angela Davis.
My greatest successes didn’t come until I finally stood in my truth.”
Sheereen Miller-Russell
Miller-Russell helped get the series on Disney’s Hulu and Warner Bros. Discovery’s OWN Network, with Unilever’s Dove as a sponsor.
She also persuaded Unilever brands to support other efforts, including OWN Your Vote, the OWN Spotlight: Where Do We Go From Here?, which aired after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police, and the recent premiere of The Color Purple.
When Bracey caught COVID-19, Miller-Russell sent a package full of immune boosters. “She took the time to send me the kit,” Bracey said. “It’s so Sheereen.”
Chauncey Wesley, executive VP and managing director for activation at Mediabrands, had been on the phone negotiating a sponsorship deal for L’Oreal for weeks with Miller-Russell. Wesley went to the MTV building and asked the other woman in the elevator if she was Sheereen.
“It didn’t feel like she was a stranger,” Wesley recalled. “She felt like somebody I knew. I would say one word for Sheereen is passionate.”
When Wesley had her first child, baby items showed up via Amazon from Miller-Russell. “I didn’t ask for it. She didn’t tell me it was coming. It just showed up. That is Sheereen in a nutshell. She shows up for people.”
A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Miller-Russell dreamed of moving to
New York and being a part of the Sex and the City, Yo! MTV Raps life.
Because of her mother’s drug abuse, she and her sister were raised by her father. While attending Wake Forest University, she got an internship at Time Inc.
Later, Miller-Russell applied for an ad sales job at MTV. “She had no experience in the television business and she was far and away my first choice,” Dan Lovinger, now president of Olympic and Paralympic Sales at NBCUniversal, said. “She listened better than anybody I’ve ever interviewed. Her follow-up, based on what she hears, is impeccable.”
Miller-Russell is the best gift-giver in the business, Lovinger said. “She’s way beyond gift-giving. She’s a gift herself.”
Learning To Be Her Best Self
Miller-Russell moved to OWN in 2016 and underwent a change in approach. Early in her career, she desperately tried to be like all the white New England men who were shaped by Madison Avenue.
“I didn’t know how to be them; I didn’t know how to be myself in the room, either,” Miller-Russell said. “My greatest successes didn’t come until I finally stood in my truth.”
At the same time, Miller-Russell’s son asked her, “Why aren’t there little boys who look like me on TV in the shows I like?”
At that point, Miller-Russell’s superpower became “to make sure everyone feels seen,” she said.
She spoke at WBD’s 2023 upfront. “I felt so honored that [WBD chief ad sales officer] Jon Steinlauf wanted us to talk about our commitment to inclusive content monetization” and how it’s critical to have resonance with Hispanic, Black and queer audiences.
“She’s a mover and a shaker,” Steinlauf said. “Her strong suit is she is able to build relationships for our companies with marketers we’re targeting for growth or for multicultural partnerships.”
Miller-Russell was a champion for Rebuilding Black Wall Street, a series produced by Black-owned Sunwise Media that appeared on OWN. “Her efforts really are the glue that makes projects like Rebuilding Black Wall Street viable to advertisers giving opportunities beyond purely general-market content,” Sunwise founder Ri-Karlo Handy said.
