Former Ghanaian-American Director at BET Lilian Blankson is dead

Blankson who is of Ghanaian descent and a BET Alumni was pivotal to the inclusion of the Best International Act category at the BET awards scheme which celebrates black entertainment and oversaw the inclusion of many African musicians awarded in the category.

During her time as Director of Programming at BET, Lilian Blankson was instrumental in the selection of many artists in the category which gave many African artists a major platform and spotlight.

Through her sterling efforts and drive to see African artists gain notoriety for their craft, nominations were given to some of the most talented African and UK Artists, including P-Square, K’NAAN, Estelle, M.I., Kojo Antwi, Sade, and Dizzee Rascal.

A year after, BET introduced two separate categories for The Best International Act — Best International Act: Africa, and Best International Act: UK. All these were made possible through Lilian Blankson

After leaving BET, Lilian worked as Chief Executive Officer of LNB Entertainment. She was also an author and content creator until her demise.

She died at the age of 46.