Heather McGhee

Heather Charisse McGhee is an American political commentator political strategist, currently a distinguished senior fellow and former president of Demos, a non-profit progressive U.S. think tank.[1] McGhee is a regular contributor to NBC News and frequently appears as a guest and panelist on Meet the Press, All In with Chris Hayes, and Real Time with Bill Maher.[2][3][4][5]

Heather McGhee
Born
Heather Charisse McGhee

1980 (age 40–41)
EducationYale University (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (JD)
Political partyDemocratic

Early life and education

Heather Charisse McGhee grew up in the South Side, Chicago and is the daughter of Gail C. Christopher and Earl J. McGhee.[4] She was initially drawn to theater and creative writing but eventually became interested in economic policy.[4] She graduated from Milton Academy in 1997.[6] McGhee received a B.A. in American Studies from Yale University in 2001.[4]

After feeling limited by her education level, McGhee began attending the UC Berkeley School of Law, because she believed law school could help give her the credentials to change public policy. She graduated with a J.D. in 2009.[2][4][7]

Career

After graduating from Yale, she taught English in Barcelona for a short time, but soon after the September 11 attacks she moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in television writing.[8] After about a year, she moved to New York City and began working with the non-profit think tank, Demos.[4]

In 2003, McGhee connected with Elizabeth Warren and her daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi, on the topic of credit card debt.[4] She served as a Deputy Policy Director for the John Edwards 2008 presidential campaign.

McGhee returned to Demos in 2009 and co-chaired a task force with Americans for Financial Reform which helped develop the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2009.[9] McGhee became the president of Demos in 2014.[4][7][10]

McGhee's response to a man named Garry on C-SPAN who said he was afraid of black men was widely covered by the news and shared over a million times.[11][12][13][14] A year later, Garry stated he had taken her advice to heart and his views had changed.[15][16]

In early 2018, she stepped down as president but remained a distinguished senior fellow at Demos.[17]

McGhee has appeared on episodes of Pod Save America and was a guest host for a live recording of the podcast in Boston.[18][19]

References
  1. "American Continental Group adds Brady aide". POLITICO. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  2. Leland, John (2015-08-28). "How Heather McGhee, President of Demos, an Advocacy Group, Spends Her Sundays". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  3. ""This is the fight": Demos's Heather McGhee on the upside to Trump's racial politics". Vox. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  4. Cadei, Emily. "A Think Tank Queen Vying for a Seat at DC's Table". OZY. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  5. "What Would Happen If Everyone In America Who Could Vote, Did Vote?". Sky Valley Chronicle Washington State. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  6. "Fulfilling Dr. King's Dream: A Charge From Alumna Heather McGhee". Milton Academy. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  7. "Powerful Women Leaders: Heather McGhee". College Magazine. 2018-01-25. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  8. "The Inexhaustible Optimist: Meet Heather McGhee, President of Demos | The M Dash". MM.LaFleur. 2017-06-30. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  9. "Heather McGhee". HuffPost. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  10. "Heather McGhee '01: on your left". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  11. Itkowitz, Colby (2016-08-24). "A C-SPAN caller asked a black guest how to stop being prejudiced. Here's how she responded". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  12. Smith, Daniel (2016-12-26). "A Friendship for a More Tolerant America". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  13. Moye, David (2016-08-24). "White Caller Admits He's Prejudiced. C-SPAN Guest Helps Him Do Better". HuffPost. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
  14. "A White Man Asked C-Span How to Stop Being Racist. Here's the Fascinating Answer". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  15. Itkowitz, Colby. "A C-Span caller confessed his racism to a black guest. A year later, he says he's changed". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  16. Itkowitz, Colby (2017-08-25). "A C-SPAN caller confessed his racism to a black guest. A year later, he called back to say how he'd changed". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  17. Evans, Garrett (2018-02-27). "Lobbying World". The Hill. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  18. McGhee, Heather C. [@hmcghee] (2019-04-11). "I'm in Boston guest hosting on the @PodSaveAmerica live show tonight. These guys have too much fun...pic.twitter.com/zdnXNftGsb" (Tweet). Retrieved 2020-01-12 – via Twitter.
  19. ""You can't be a woke Hungarian fascist."". Crooked Media. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
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