- [Announcer] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- There's a school of thought that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert.

So if you started practicing at new sports, say billiards, and you practice 10 hours a day every day, you might just be an expert in about three years.

Now we're talking about a pretty serious commitment.

You're about to meet someone who did just that and went on to become the number one ranked Women's Billiards Champion in less than five years.

And that was just the beginning of her remarkable career, next on the Suncoast Business Forum.

- [Announcer] Suncoast Business Forum, brought to you by the financial services firm of Raymond James, offering personalized wealth management advice and banking, and capital markets expertise, all with a commitment to putting clients' financial wellbeing first.

More information is available at raymondjames.com.

(light uplifting music) - You don't have to be a pool player or follow professional pool tournaments to know about Jeanette Lee, the Black Widow.

For more than 30 years, her meteoric rise in the sport, her fierce competitiveness, and her iconic style have propelled her from a billiards champion to a sports celebrity.

She won her first national title at age 21, while overcoming obstacles that many thought were insurmountable.

She went on to win dozens more national and international championships.

Now three decades after winning her first national title, she's facing a very real personal challenge.

Jeanette, welcome to the Suncoast Business Forum.

- Hi, thank you.

I'm so excited to be here.

I'm honored, really.

- You know, you just wrote a memoir.

- Yes.

- Jeanette Lee, "The Black Widow".

And in it, Billie Jean King, the tennis icon, legendary tennis player, wrote the foreword to the book.

And in it, she talked about your meteoric prize, but she also talked about all the great athletes who admired you, 'cause not only were you competing in a women's sport, Women's Billiards, you were also competing in a sport that was dominated by men.

And you are winning both against the women and the men.

That's a great credit to you.

- You know, people ask me, who are some of the people I admire the most?

And unquestionably, Billie Jean is one of them, what she's been able to do.

What I basically learned is in, you know, you, again, it takes 10,000 hours just to get to an expert level.

And then it's a whole nother to become the best in the world, right?

Your sport, where you become an expert, is just the beginning.

Now what you do with it to help your community, to help the world, to help, to just, you know, do something more than just being great at something.

And that became my mission.

And I think that that really helped the Black Widow become what it became, because it wasn't just about the game, right?

It was about community and about, you know, growing your sport and bringing new eyes to the sport as well.

- Now you have won every major title there is in professional billiards.

And you've won 30, more than 30 national and international titles.

You won a gold medal.

- Yes.

- In the World Games.

- Yes.

- In Japan.

You've really transcended pool.

You've gone to become a sports athlete and a celebrity.

What is it that originally attracted you and still attracts you to that green felt table?

- When I found pool, I think I was just in a very, I didn't have a reason to wake up in the morning.

You know, I just felt like I had no direction.

I had nothing to look forward to.

So then I walk in and there's this pool room and all this excitement.

Pool was the first time I really felt like there was sunshine.

You know, there was joy and it was, I think because when I played pool, everything just disappears.

- You grew up in New York.

Specifically, you grew up in Brooklyn and Queens.

- Yes.

- Part of New York City, right?

Your parents had immigrated from Korea.

So you're the first generation American-born.

- Yeah, my grandparents, right, exactly.

My grandparents and parents.

- Tell us about your family and growing up in the New York area.

- I was the only Asian.

I mean, I had my family.

But in terms of going out and being around a bunch of kids, there were none like me as far as I was concerned.

It was a primarily Black neighborhood.

I would go downstairs and as soon as you got out of your apartment building, you know, just going to school, Ching Chang, Charlie Wong, or, you know, stupid questions, like, "Do you eat dog?"

Or there were a lot of different chants and things that people would say.

And as I got a little older, and I'm talking about still as a child, but you know, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, now you start fighting back.

And so next thing you know, I'm in fights all the time.

I'm in brawls, I'm just so tired of it.

And I grew up always feeling like I didn't fit in anywhere.

I was a bright student.

I was in all the accelerated classes.

And eventually, I went to Bronx Science High School.

But I remember in middle school, my mom pulled me right out of there and she decided she's gonna invest and put me in a private school in a place called Greenwich Village.

She and I, none of us knew anything about it, and she said it was the worst mistake of her life.

Before then, I would walk to school, but other than that, I was in a car.

Because of this, I had to learn to take the subway, and I became very independent.

I realized I could get everywhere without my mom, and I started staying out all night.

I punched three earrings just using a needle, just punched them through my ears.

I learned to smoke cigarettes.

It was a time that I was just, I think I was stretching and I was rebelling.

Boom, everything stopped 'cause of scoliosis.

- When you were 12 years old, you were diagnosed with severe scoliosis, - Yes.

- Which is a curvature of the spine.

Not the small curvature, it was a big curvature.

- Yeah, an S-curve.

- What happened next?

What happened next?

- I had to have major surgery.

And I remember they had the big white cast, they had to break down your spine and put in 18-inch Harrington rods, these metal rods.

And then you could see in the X-rays all the little metal wire clips, clipping the rods to the vertebrae, you know, which they initially had to break.

They had to take bone marrow from my hips, which is still, to this day, very tender and sore from the bone marrow that they take.

It just doesn't heal right afterwards.

Scoliosis made me feel like a monster, having to wear this plastic brace that they had formed to my body, a 12-year-old body, an Asian body.

So I'm thinking in my mind of these girls in Brooklyn that were like this by the time they were nine.

You know, to me, being this concave stick thing that had to wear these plastic braces.

There was a front and a back and there's metal rings on the sides.

So then I started wearing the brace to school and then taking it off and putting it in the locker room.

And I really believe that that had something to do with all of the problems I had after that.

I developed pseudoarthrosis.

The bottom of my spine never fused and healed properly.

So I was getting these sharps, like, electric spasms and pain all through.

I mean, I can cry thinking about the intensity of the kind of pain that such a young child had to go through and went through it all the way through my pool career.

I mean, this entire time I'm doing this, and now I'm just inhaling Advils, you know, and I'm trying tens units and acupuncture and injections.

And I mean, everything and anything to just hold on because this was my purpose.

This is what I was meant to do.

It's not just becoming number one.

Using your number one to see where you can leave the world a better place.

You know, be the change you see in the world, that you wanna see in the world.

- When you were getting started in pool, late '80s, early '90s, there was a resurgence in pool.

- Yes.

- Paul Newman and Tom Cruise had made a movie called "The Color of Money", which was about pool hustling.

- It was.

- And it was a sequel to "The Hustler", which Paul Newman had done in 1961.

- With Jackie Gleason.

- Exactly.

Did these films influence you?

- Absolutely.

When I watched "The Hustler" with Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman, I really finally found my kindred spirit.

I felt like, "That's me!"

Paul Newman, his sickness, his need to be the greatest, you know, and almost to a fault, you know.

And he got himself into, of course, I didn't go through all, well.

(Jeanette laughs) I've done my share of hustling, but it wasn't the same way.

He did it by tricking people.

That's what I didn't like about the "Color of Money".

It was a lot more about gambling and hustling.

Whereas, "The Hustler" was about his need to beat Minnesota Fats to be the greatest.

And of course, you did hustling on the side.

But when you're tricking people, but for me, I didn't have to hustle.

Me being a woman was the hustle, you know?

That's all they had to see.

And I was taken for granted time and time again.

I think out of the hundreds of men that I've played and beat and gambled with, there were probably only two or three.

I'm talking about including gambling, including terms with two or three guys out of hundreds, maybe, you know, a thousand or, I don't know.

But there were very few people that actually came in, "Nice to meet you, let's go," where they really kind of came in with an attitude of, I'm gonna do my job.

Almost always, they were talking to me, looking at me, flirting.

Or even if they weren't, they were (scoffs), "I'm playing a woman," you know, taking me for granted and being a little too careless, you know?

And I would just take it up and it didn't matter what level I was at, there were always gambling.

It wasn't about who the better players, it's how you match up.

And I was always able to see the men and their game as their game.

And I feel like the men, no matter how much they saw me run out and do whatever, they still thought they could beat me.

And so they were constantly underestimating me.

So I did a lot of winning, but I think a lot of it had to do with, not to take credit away from myself, but really, I do think a lot of it had to do with the men just taking a woman for granted, which was fine with me.

- [Geoffery] Early in your career, you adopted the nickname, the Black Widow.

When you were 20 years old, the New York Times wrote an article that said you were a bad Bond girl, like James Bond.

Bad Bond girl with a vampish appearance.

- When you say I adopted the nickname, it was the room owner, Gabe Vigorito, of Howard Beach Billiard Club.

I had been playing in regional tournaments and I just qualified, I came in second in a state championship, where the winner got to play in the WPBA nationals.

It was a big deal.

But I came in second, I lost.

So months later, a month before the event, they call me and say, "She still can't get her bosses to let her off work.

You got the spot if you want it."

And I mentioned to Gabe and I'm like, "Can you believe this?"

And he's like, "That's great."

And I'm like, "I don't have any money.

I don't have any, you know, airfare."

I said, "I don't have any dressy clothes."

I mean, I wore black all the time.

It was tank tops and jeans, you know?

And he's the one that paid for that outfit that's in that magazine, you know.

He's the one that, he said, "I'll give you $500 towards a new wardrobe for tournaments, you know, specifically.

And I'll cover your airfare and your transportation, whatever, on one condition."

And I'm like, "What?

what do you want?

You want my blood?

You want my first child?"

I don't, you know, it was an opportunity to go to a pro event, which I'd been aspiring to become.

He said, "Everything has to be black."

And I'm like, "Okay, but why?

I mean, I wear black all the time anyway, but why does it have to be all black?"

And he said, "Because you're the Black Widow and everyone's gonna know your name.

You're gonna be a world champion."

I remember, like it was yesterday, the number of times he kept saying, "Because you are the Black Widow."

He was convinced I already was the Black Widow.

He was convinced I was for sure gonna be number one, that I was gonna be a world champion.

- You reluctantly became the Black Widow.

- Yes.

- At first.

- [Jeanette] Yes, but then I.

- The name stuck and it really influenced your career and your public persona.

- Yes, and it influenced me, I feel like, because...

So on the table I was very competitive.

But like Billie Jean says in the foreword, I was a lot less confident than people thought.

I really did.

I had a lot of my own demons and I was very insecure.

And at first, I hated it.

I didn't like the nickname and I was against it because I felt like it was just gonna make people hate me more than I already felt hated.

And instead, I learned that people loved seeing this strong, aggressive woman that was not trying to look like a guy, just a nice person, who just destroyed people, you know?

And there was that thing, and people loved it.

And so I'm like, "Oh, wait, you mean I can be me and it's okay?"

I can be competitive and I can be strong and confident and not be assumed to be, you know, something.

I mean, people, especially women, they can come up with all kinds of names that you don't really care for, and they make assumptions about you.

And it hurt it.

It was very hard.

It was very hard those first years.

But eventually, I loved it.

- It worked out.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, it worked out.

And once you won the national championship, you continued winning tournaments and championships every year.

More than 30 during the course of your career.

- [Jeanette] Yeah.

- And it wasn't just outstanding pool, it was the persona of the Black Widow.

And you realize that it was that combination of the two that could take you and allow you to transcend.

- Yes.

- Just being a pool champion, you really developed extraordinary marketing skills.

- Everything was about becoming better.

And as I got bigger, and like when I would play, it was all about improving my game, raising the stakes, things like that.

But I was working all the time.

If I got sponsors, if I was marketable, I may never have to work a regular job again.

So it wasn't about needing to be famous, but it's about understanding it was a means to an end.

It was a means to allow me to just focus on pool and not have to ever work as a waitress or computer, you know, programming or any different things that I thought I might have wanted to do.

Pool just took that all away, yeah.

- Well, let's talk about corporate sponsors, because you had a significant number of them.

You were endorsed by ESPN, Reebok, Bass Pro Shops.

- [Jeanette] Yes.

- [Geoffery] You had corporate alliances with Toyota, with MasterCard, Pepsi, Gatorade, Nordstrom.

And that's just to name a few.

- I knew I needed sponsors and I didn't just get them by luck.

I remember saving up enough money to go to the BCA trade show, to go booth to booth to talk to all the manufacturers and say, "Here I am, I'm Jeanette Lee.

I'm gonna be number one.

I really could use some sponsors."

But the most important thing that they said was, what separated me from all the other pros that came around is that the first thing I would say is, "This is what I think I can do for you."

And for them, they said that was refreshing.

But I had studied.

I actually bought books.

I actually went to the library.

I actually studied on marketing.

There was Gorilla Marketing.

You know, there were all different kinds of books to help me, what would make me attractive to a sponsor?

Or how can you talk, how can you, you know, just getting highly effective people.

There were all these different books that I read at the time and I think my relationship with ESPN certainly really helped in getting a lot of the corporate sponsors and things like that.

- In 1995, at age 23, you were living in LA.

Your career had really taken off.

- [Jeanette] Yes.

- And at that time, you met another professional pool player, George Breedlove, who nickname was The Flamethrower.

- [Jeanette] Yes.

- [Geoffery] Did sparks fly between you and The Flamethrower?

- He was handsome and he was funny and he was smart.

But what really kind of made me stand up and pay attention was the fact that he was a Christian.

Now I had this on and off again relationship with God, but it was always in my mind to go, I know this sounds weird, but to go back to God.

I'd finally become number one, everything was working out.

And I'm meeting this, you know, handsome, funny, talented pool player.

And I'm like, "Maybe it's time," you know?

And maybe he can help me, you know, be my spiritual leader and guide and maybe we could worship together, and maybe I can have this new kind of Christian, God-focused lifestyle versus someone that has this life.

And oh, by the way, she believes in God.

It was a whirlwind romance.

I would not recommend that to anyone because you don't know really anything about this person in three days and marriage should be forever.

- In 1996, you and George got married and you continued, both of you continued, successful pool careers.

In 1998, you moved from LA to Indiana because George had a couple of children from a previous marriage.

- Yes, my two stepdaughters.

- You were being closer to his, your stepdaughters.

- Morgan and Olivia.

- And then you began developing a family of your own.

- Yes, yes.

We tried for a good 10 years.

You know, when I married George, I inherited Morgan and Olivia, who, as far as I'm concerned, are my daughters.

They have their mom who's a wonderful mom, but they're my babies, you know?

And I love them very deeply.

And during this time, I'm in my career.

But we're trying and we're doing in vitro and we're doing injections, we're doing medicines, but it's just not working.

So after 10 years, we finally decide to adopt.

And it was just the great, she's perfect.

She was perfect.

She was beautiful and sweet and kind and funny.

And it was the most amazing experience.

It was everything that I had dreamed of because since I was five, I thought I was gonna have 10 children.

I mean, I only have six, but, you know?

But I thought I was gonna have, you know, a lot of children.

- You have been a spokesperson for the American Pool Players Association for quite a few years.

- [Jeanette] Mm-hmm.

- [Geoffery] In 2015, you moved from Indiana to Tampa.

- Yes.

- Because you purchased a league, American Pool Players Association League, in the Tampa Bay area.

And that's what you're doing now professionally, right?

- So with all of these different, finding out about ankylosing spondylitis and just starting to feel the toll of all the years of travel, but also the beating that I was doing on my back, I was thinking, "What if I can't compete forever?"

And so I looked at investing.

I wanted to do something that I loved, that I would be passionate about.

And I actually really enjoyed the field of marketing, but everyone I knew that was in marketing, it's a very competitive, high stress job.

And at that point in my life, they didn't want that anymore.

I was looking for quality of life and enjoying and not constantly, you know, having to beat against a wall.

And because of my relationship with the Americans Pool Players Association, I got to know a lot of league operators because the APA is a franchise.

It's an amateur pool league.

Pool is very strong in Florida.

A lot of amateurs, a lot of pro levels.

I called up the owner of Tampa Bay APA right here, and she owned, her and Dick owned the Hillsborough County territory, which is the fourth largest territory in Florida.

And so I called her and she was like, "Well, I wasn't looking to sell.

I've already gotten numerous offers, but my players would love it if you were able to come."

And Dick had just passed away, you know, a few years earlier.

And she was like, "I am getting kind of tired and I wouldn't mind enjoying."

So there were several people that had been banging on her door.

And it turned out after I purchased it, that they were pissed.

There were promises made I didn't know about.

So anyway, it was a great decision.

But then things got bad.

- And things got bad in 2021.

You were diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer?

Challenge of a lifetime.

- Yes.

And then my world came crashing down.

And I was more shocked than anything.

When he told me, I was just like, "What?"

I mean, just shocked.

And then I started thinking about my children.

That's when I became very emotional.

I became very, you know, the idea of leaving my children without a mom could make me sick to my stomach as much as anything ever could.

Me?

I'm ready to go.

I believe that I'm saved.

I also believe that I had a full life and maybe I didn't do everything I set out to do, but I did a lot.

And I've seen a lot and I've suffered a lot.

And my body is tired.

You know, if this is what's meant to be, you know, God, please don't let me suffer too much, but okay.

But the idea of leaving my children, thinking about them growing up, you know, without a mom, it was just absolutely unacceptable.

Unacceptable.

So I put my mind up.

I was like, "What's it gonna take?"

There was definitely some crying.

I mean, when I had to tell my children, there were a lot of tears and things like that, but I was also dead set that I was gonna do whatever it took to stay for them.

And I really believed that has helped me in my cancer journey.

I really think it's important for people to set goals, small ones, big ones, and to think about what's best for you, what's best for your children, what's the right decision versus going by how you feel.

'Cause we can be filled with so much doubt.

And just because you think people are hating on you, doesn't mean they're hating on you.

Just because you think you're not good enough, doesn't mean you're not good enough.

See, don't go by how you feel, absolutely.

You can be strong.

And you don't have to feel strong to be strong.

But to be strong, it's not in the absence of fear, it's in the face of it, and it's by never giving up.

- Well, Jeanette, I'd like to thank you so much for being our guest today.

- Thank you, it was absolutely my pleasure.

- Thank you.

If you'd like to see this program again or any of the CEO profiles in our Suncoast Business Forum archive, you can find them on the web at wedu.org/sbf.

Thanks for joining us for the Suncoast Business Forum.

(light uplifting music)