ABOUT ANDREW
Andrew pictured during a media production (2025)
ANDREW IS A RENAISSANCE MAN WHO THRIVES ON SOLVING COMPLEX CHALLENGES AND DEMANDING MORE OF HIS TEAMS TO ACHIEVE LASTING RESULTS.
Born in August, GA and raised in Atlanta, Andrew is a proud graduate of Tri-Cities Visual Performing Arts Magnet High School in East Point, GA c/o ‘05. He also received a pre-college music diploma from Carnegie Mellon (‘04). His career spans senior music, communications and political roles. He was involved in politics from a young age, organizing his classmates to petition the local school board, working on local, state, and federal political campaigns and serving as a page to the Governor of GA at the age of 15. A music program in high school changed his life forever, exposing and instilling in him a deep love of classical music under the tutelage of the late Elonzy Ogletree, a retired concert pianist. Andrew competed in the NAACP ACT-SO competition and being named a semi-finalist forever changed his relationship with music.
Andrew has spent nearly two decades working and leading in Washington, DC’s civic, arts, and nonprofit communities.
Andrew has served as Vice-President of Media & Communications for a nationally recognized public relations firm where he advises several Fortune 100 clients on media relations and marketing strategy. He enjoys media training and preparing executives and community leaders to tell their story. He has successfully hosted dozens of satellite media tours and taken clients across the country to get their message out.
His past and current roles have taken him across the arts, education, and healthcare industries. Andrew began his career in the U.S. House of Representatives working his way up to become a Press Secretary for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs under then chair Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, while also maintaining a performance career in several local DMV orchestras. He has also served as Principal of PLwatcher Media and as an advisor and consultant to numerous education and arts organizations, foundations, political campaigns, and corporate clients.
AS A CREATIVE & MUSICIAN…
Andrew’s creative work spans photography, videography, livestreaming, production, and media relations. His work has been featured in local, regional and national print and digital advertising campaigns. During the pandemic he successfully produced several documentaries, debates and content for streaming and local television. He is adept at running media training for corporate executives and has successfully produced several award winning documentaries and satellite media tours for clients. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today and other national publications.
Andrew organized a successful state dinner and performance with The Conservatory Players Orchestra (Washington, D.C.) Embassy of China - August 2025
As a musician, Lee has performed across the United States in some of America's greatest venues as a conductor, pianist and violinist including: The White House, George Washington's Masonic Temple and Carnegie Hall.
Andrew’s work with DC Strings Workshop, a non-profit he founded in 2017 and scaled from inception to $3M in donations in just 6 years serving thousands of students, producing hundreds of orchestra concerts and recitals which led to features in local and national media outlets including orchestral and performance appearances at The Kennedy Center, Dumbarton Oaks and a partnership with the National Park Service. The DC Strings later became the DC Strings Orchestra and The Accord Symphony Orchestra (a professional orchestra) with anywhere from 10 to 20 concerts in a typical concert series. Partnerships included local universities, area choirs, Smithsonian museums, Morgan/Howard/George Washington University, DOES, DC Parks & Recreation, DC Public Libraries and more.
He is most proud of being DC Strings being awarded a Learn24 grant which enabled him and fellow teachers to deliver instruments to students during the pandemic, door-to-door. A partnership with DC Public Schools led to a +3-years summer music camps across 6-locations for more than 300 DC elementary/middle school aged youth to access music and the arts, to great acclaim. Andrew also is proud to have some of his young students featured on the front/back of a Kit-Kat bar celebrating young musicians as part of Black Music Month across the country. This success exemplifies his unique ability to not only provide stewardship and leadership over the arts, but to galvanize patrons, donors, and staff to move transformational initiatives forward.
DC Strings on a KitKat bar as part of an investment by Hershey (Summer 2024)
Since 2017, Lee has also served as Operations and Personnel Manager for the Colour of Music Festival. In this role he was responsible for hiring more than +70 orchestral musicians and leading all aspects of logistics and planning for a touring orchestra ensemble, including a series of concerts, masterclasses, performances and events. Several orchestra tours have taken the orchestra to Nashville, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Sacramento, Atlanta, Charleston, New York, and Washington, DC among other cities. In 2018, Lee was selected to serve as an Orchestral Liaison to the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble comprised of leading African-American and Latino musicians from around the world for the famed Annual Sphinx Competition, and is proud to have returned for 4-years. He has also served as a coordinator for the Gateways Music Festival at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.
Lee has performed as a violinist with the Colour of Music Festival in Charleston, SC and Ray Chew's "Night of Inspiration" at Carnegie Hall where he collaborated with world-class musicians and soloists including Donnie McClurkin, Yolanda Adams, Dionne Warwick, and Shirley Caesar.
In summer 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, Andrew was selected to perform with the United States Air Force as a member of the orchestra featuring famed violinist Joshua Bell. Andrew has performed with several area orchestras performing in violin sections and conducting a local chamber orchestra at St. Columba’s. His musical journey has taken him from the APOLLO THEATRE TO HOWARD THEATRE and more. Andrew performed on tour with the Boston Pops in a 5-state tour which was a life-changing experience for him. He returned to Carnegie Hall in December 2024 to perform as part of Ray Chew’s famed “Night of Inspiration.”
In June 2024, the League of American Orchestras selected Andrew as one of thirty arts administrators for its prestigious Orchestra Management Essentials program. The program is widely considered the orchestra field's premier program for cultivating the potential of rising professionals. Through collaboration across a national cohort, industry-specific leadership projects, and dynamic mentoring from top industry professionals, members of the cohort shape and influence the orchestra world as it evolves to meet changing needs and audiences.
Andrew performs in Martha’s Vineyard as part of Dr. Jolie Rocke’s HBCU Arts Program
In summer 2024, Andrew transitioned to the board of DC Strings Workshop and now leads the Washington Conservatory.
Andrew Lee performs with Violinist Raycurt Johnson for Dr. Robert Starling Pritchard II — In 1957, Pritchard became the first African American concert pianist to tour Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa as a solo performer, he is heralded as one of the first commercially recorded African American concert pianists.
RESUME
Education
MBA - Global Leaders Institute (IN progress - Anticipated Summer 2026)
Nonprofit Management Certificate - Georgetown University
MA - Studies at The University of Maryland
BA - Music & Political Science at Furman University
Business Experience
Advised and supported numerous advocacy and political campaigns
Served as an advisor to dozens of local, state and federal campaigns
Currently have advised 3-sitting Members of Congress on their campaigns prior to victory
Managed media/health care and vaccination efforts across 3 states (FL, TN, GA; among others)
Led focus groups and research to better understand vaccine hesitancy and challenges to vaccinations
Arts/orchestra management expertise across dozens of national arts organizations
Performed/managed experiences across 15+-states including (Sacramento, CA; Richmond VA; Atlanta, GA; Philadelphia, PA; Rochester, NY; Detroit, MI; Charleston, SC; Pittsburgh, PA; Washington, DC; NYC; and more)
Media expertise across healthcare, education, and PhaRMA clients
Top placements and experiences with global outlets (CNN, USA Today, iHeart Media, SiriusXM, MSNBC, Fox News, WSJ, NYT, Washington Post, VICE News, and others)
Led several media tour for a national health care association resulting in over 15 placements in the span of a 4-hours, pushing back on misinformation.
Opinion pieces and editorials in top outlets across the country
Marketing experience in various industries such as arts, education, health care, transportation and finance
