Lea was admitted as an attorney in 1989 in 1993 joined Transnet as a legal advisor.  She joined Blue Continent Products in 1998, and served as commercial manager and commercial director, before being appointed commercial manager of Oceana in 2001.

In 2004 she was appointed group transformation manager and a member of the Oceana executive.  In April 2008 she became managing director of Blue Continent Products' Hake Division and in April 2010 was appointed director of group strategic services.