Sheila Johnson: America’s first Black female billionaire – Biography
Sheila Crump Johnson, the nation’s first Black female billionaire, strikes a pose near the front gate of her 200-acre Salamander Farm in Middleburg, Va. During a reception at Parsons School of Design (top, right), Johnson chats with Bob Kerrey, president of New School University; Randy Swearer, dean of Parsons School of Design; and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. At the groundbreaking reception for her Salamander Inn & Spa in Virginia, Johnson greets good friend UNCF President and CEO William Gray III, while other guests wait in receiving line. During program, another close friend and her reception emcee, TV personality Willard Scott, applauds her efforts.
IT had rained at least part of 40 days straight, but Sheila Crump Johnson ignored suggestions to postpone her groundbreaking event. Though she awakened to another rainy morning in beautiful but soggy Virginia horse country, she was optimistic.
“We’re going to make it work,” she said.
By the time guests started arriving at the luxurious tent she had constructed in a muddy field just outside Middleburg, Va., city limits, the rain had stopped, the sun was shining, and Sheila Johnson was glowing. She personally greeted each of the several hundred guests who gathered to wish her well as she broke ground for the luxurious Salamander Inn & Spa.
The resort will put Middleburg on the map, but also Johnson herself as the first African-American woman to build such a luxury hotel. Just as significant is the fact that she is the first Black female certified as a billionaire, having reached that milestone even before Oprah Winfrey was certified earlier this year.
Still, many ask, “Who the heck is Sheila Johnson?”
Sheila Crump Johnson is the cofounder of BET with former husband Robert L. Johnson. The two equally split $1.5 billion in proceeds after BET was sold for $2.3 billion in stock. (They divorced last year.) She also has extensive real estate holdings, including the 200-acre Salamander Farm in Virginia and another farm and a condo in Florida. She also owns 18 show horses.
She is the visionary entrepreneur who purchased former ambassador Pamela Harris man’s 350-acre tract (reportedly for $7 million) to build the resort.
She is the philanthropist who supports the UNCF and has given $7 million to Parsons School of Design (she’s a board member), $1 million to the State University of New York at Morrisville and $3 million to the Hill School in Middleburg.
She is president of the Washington International Horse Show, which under her leadership made a profit for the first time in its history.
She is a photographer whose work is displayed in galleries and restaurants around Virginia.
She is a designer who has created her own line of luxury linens that is manufactured in Italy. One pattern was inspired by her photograph of iceladened trees on the farm.
She is an accomplished violinist, former music teacher and author of a music textbook.
She is the proud mother of 17-year-old Paige Johnson, a champion equestrian and Olympic hopeful, and 13-year-old Brett, who is an “exceptionally bright” budding athlete.
She is a savvy businesswoman who employs 25 people. The morning after her groundbreaking event, she sat at the head of a conference table and met with eight (mostly White) bankers and accountants concerning her business affairs.
Sheila Crump Johnson is a busy woman, one who has always been productive and creative, but who seems to have gotten a new lease on life in recent years. She has come into her own as her own person, out of the shadow of her former husband, their 33-year marriage and the giant media company they founded together.
Johnson’s groundbreaking reception attracted a crowd of power and money brokers that included local and state politicians, business leaders, wealthy landowners, and media personalities. With charming demeanor and an ever-present smile, Johnson appears to enjoy her guests just as much as they enjoy her company and the delicious foods they sample. The crab cakes, smoked sausages, Virginia wines and cheeses, and fried oyster sandwiches (“They are my favorite!” she says) will be available at the inn, but also at her Market Salamander, scheduled to open in Middleburg this fall.
The road that Sheila Crump took to Salamander Farm began in Maywood, Ill., outside Chicago, where she grew up a doctor’s daughter and where her mother and brother still live. She met Robert Johnson at the University of Illinois. In addition to co-founding BET and originating the award-winning Teen Summit weekly show, she is a musician who taught music at Sidwell Friends School in D.C. and organized a 140-member ensemble of young musicians. As a U.S. Information Agency cultural liaison to the Middle East for five years, she taught music in Jordan and was instrumental in establishing that country’s first National Music Conservatory and was presented the country’s highest educational honor by King Hussein.
Yet the beautiful rolling hills of Virginia captured Johnson’s heart while driving daughter Paige out from D.C. “every day” to train for horse shows. Paige began riding competitively at age 7. “I started to accumulate horses, then decided we needed our own place,” Johnson says. “I was paying a lot of money to board horses.”
She purchased and began to renovate Salamander Farms, building an ultra modern barn in which she has hosted culinary fund-raisers. Across a courtyard are Johnson’s offices. Also on the property are indoor and outdoor equestrian rings, an automated horse-walker, and a beautiful Grand Prix field where Paige trains for hunter/ jumper discipline events. Brett prefers to work out on the indoor tennis court. And there are picturesque ponds, fruit trees and a vegetable garden, where Johnson proudly points out her strawberries.
While her house is being renovated, Johnson has settled into a guesthouse. There are 13 buildings on the property, including employee housing and maintenance buildings. She also has built playhouses for children of her employees.
In town, she owns a house and two buildings. One will house her Market Salamander, the other her development office.
It is clear that Johnson loves the area and the life she has made for herself here. “This place is a gem,” she says of Loudoun County. “It’s beautiful. Centrally located. Dulles Airport is 30 minutes away. There are horse races, steeple-chase races, fox hunting, show jumpers. That’s what this whole area is about. [Sen.] John Warner has been hunting on this property. Jacqueline Onassis used to come here all the time. My dear friend Willard Scott has cows on his farm. Jacqueline Mars (Mars candy bars) lives out here. She’s the sweetest lady. Robert Duvall has a beautiful horse farm not far away. He’s had tango parties in his barn.
“There are a lot of wealthy people in this area,” she says. “A lot of wealth, but also a lot of poverty.”
And that concerns her. True to her nature, Johnson has a reputation in the community for being generous and trying to help. She has supported various causes, including the Windy Hill Foundation and the Piedmont Environmental Council.
Despite her accomplishments, Sheila Johnson is not about to rest on her laurels. “I think that eventually, though I’m still going through a lot of self-discovery, I would like to do a book about my life and what I’ve been through and learned,” she says when asked what the future holds. “I want to enjoy my life. I keep saying that I need to learn to relax, but I’m having so much fun. When I picked up the violin today [for an impromptu solo at her reception], it just felt good.”
Her eyes twinkle with a look of excited contentment.
“I just love life and doing all these things.”
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