Being Bold and Taking Risks - A Leadership Talk with Audible's Dee Turman

Most people entering the job market hope for job stability. However, for creative executive Dee Turman, taking risks has been a cornerstone of her career, even if it has meant foregoing stability.

Turman, a self-described “content girl through and through,” shared in a recent Leadership Talk with FUTURE NOW Founder and CEO Peggy Kim. As the Head of Inclusive Programming at Audible, she describes herself as “the strategic creative tissue between the creative development and marketing teams,” helping to “connect the right content with the right audiences at the right time.” 

She focuses often on minorities and other underserved groups across all genres—podcasts, nonfiction, romance, and more—and collaborates with high-profile figures like Usher, the Obamas, and Ronan Farrow to ensure Audible reaches and resonates with the broadest possible audience.

Before entering the world of audiobooks and podcasts, Turman cut her teeth on shows like The Ellen Show and at places like ESPN, where she produced Sportscenter. “The first ten years of my career, my only job was to get a show on and off air on time.” As a producer, she was responsible for everything from ferrying guests to and from the dressing room to making sure the control room pushed the right button to run a commercial break. 

While other teams were doing the marketing and creative strategy, Turman watched and learned. “I cared about whether my clips were getting posted on social [media] after I did my show,” she admitted. 

Turman saw the rising tide of digital media and jumped ship from ESPN to Spring Hill, LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s entertainment company, where she worked on their YouTube show, The Shop. 

“I hadn’t really formally worked in branded content,” Turman said, “but I had worked at ESPN, and I had worked with high-level talent like Stephen A. Smith and Jemele Hill.” She immersed herself in branded entertainment and learned “how content can make money for a company.” 

She discovered an aptitude for understanding and navigating the numbers…potential profits for views and budget considerations. ”My brain was able to do that even though I definitely considered myself more of a creative,” she said. “I knew budgets because I had worked in production for a while.” 

From there, Turman pivoted again to Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon’s production company, where she built a branded content strategy. “I got exposure to whether or not we were meeting what we promised, and I was able to dictate that and manage expectations around that sort of thing.” 

This experience prepared her for her next role at Amazon Music in the marketing department, which required both creative and writing talent as well as skill with data analytics. “I noticed really quickly I had no problem finding the data, writing the doc, and then going and getting buy-in” from executives.

Noticed for her data-first approach, Turman was promoted to her current role as Head of Inclusive Programming at Audible, one of Amazon’s subsidiaries.

Turman is passionate about her work and role at Audible. “We know that multicultural customers are revenue-generating customers, and that multicultural customers are the reason why the audio industry is what it is today, or really the entertainment industry.” By serving those multicultural customers, Turman is significantly boosting Audible’s profits and cultural reach. 

Turman’s goal is to create “ways of connecting content in a super authentic way with audiences.” In fact, in February—during Black History Month—Black creators and Black pages on Audible had the most consistent traffic, a data point that Turman is proud of. “That helps our industry reputation,” she said. 

“I was never afraid to pivot and learn a new skill based on either an interest or a superpower, [a skill] that I noticed I might have if I just sharpened it,” Turman explained of her varied career. “Early on, when I could afford to do so from a money standpoint, I wasn't afraid to take breaks and…also build my own identity as a creative and as a storyteller, and make and take breaks so that my identity wasn't just tied to where I worked or what job was available.” 

Gen Z workers have often been called job hoppers, but Turman was doing it before it trended on TikTok. Her ability to pivot enabled her to make connections across multiple companies and in different facets of the industry. As she put it, her multitude of jobs “meant I was a Swiss Army knife.” 

While this benefited her early in her career, as she’s transitioned to more executive-level jobs, Turman has had to adapt once more, this time to be a leader and manager of people. “If I want to be the kind of executive that I want to be, [that] means… being okay, not doing everything, knowing how to manage people and delegate to people and [trusting] other people to do the things that I also know how to do.” 

Of course, that doesn’t mean Turman is holding back—far from it. She advised the audience, “Be ready…when you’re expressing that you want to change….When somebody says, ‘Well, what do you want to do?’…Be able to answer that…I think that has also set me apart”.

Turman left listeners with one final piece of advice that has served her well throughout her career. “It's definitely connecting your skill sets for the next thing, and so… don't be too traditional and too much in a box.”