Dee Somers
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Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Dee’s family moved to Tucson, Arizona when she was six, and where she was educated. At 19, in college, on her own, her home burned to the ground so she packed nothing and moved to Anaheim, California with friends. A chance encounter through one of her roommates gave her the opportunity to find a job in the entertainment industry in Beverly Hills, a life-long dream. And that led eventually to Warner Bros. Studios.
In 1968, her first job at Warner Bros. was as secretary (the only opening for women in those days) but very soon, she was given an opportunity to become assistant to the producer of documentary films for the Studio. Then, for three years, she was staff producer for television commercials, including most of the Texaco commercials starring Bob Hope. When that division at WB was closed, Dee stepped literally across the street to Columbia Pictures to become executive assistant to the President of Marketing. When that executive relocated back to Warner Bros., so did Dee. Eventually they ended up at Ray Stark Productions, also then on the Warner Bros. lot. Dee went back to school to update her B.A. by taking accounting and design classes as she became manager of Administration for the Stark organization.
Back at Warner Bros administration in 1983, she was Manager of Office Services, and in 1990 when the studio was once again just Warner Bros., Dee was moved up to become Director of Studio Services, overseeing all of the office activities throughout the entire 119 acre lot. Buildings were built; administration and service buildings were remodeled after decades, and the lot became home to some of the most successful people in the business. And Dee was happily part of all of it. During this period, she joined and then served as president for two years of the local chapter of International Facilities Managers Association.
Retired in 2000, Dee decided to move to and make a new life in the beautiful Coachella Valley. Settling in Rancho Mirage, she quickly became an active volunteer at Joslyn Senior Center, winning a Volunteer of the Year award in 2004. In 2003, she joined the Coachella Valley Symphony League and is now in her fourth (and last!) year serving as President of the League. She is also Vice President and Secretary of the Symphony Executive Board. This year she manages the education program for the Symphony, placing teachers in 12 schools around the Valley to provide free violin lessons
Dee has always credited the attention she received in high school from two of her teachers as having a profound affect on her life—helping her to see that she could go to college, and could become a professional. So today, Dee is dedicated to doing just that for young people – leading them to learn they do have choices, and they can be whatever they believe they can be. So in addition to the Symphony, she serves on the boards of The Valley Partnership(VP), the Coachella Valley Arts Alliance (VP) the President’s Council for Odyssey (an after-school writing program), and she is serving on the Membership Committee for Women Leaders’ Forum.
Dee enjoys entertaining, the movies, any form of live theatre and cabaret anywhere she can get to. Having had no children of her own, she takes pride in the knowledge she is making contributions to the lives of other children, helping them to achieve education and an artistic means to express themselves.
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