Heather Charisse McGhee is an American political commentatorpolitical strategist, currently a distinguished senior fellow and former president of Demos, a non-profit progressive U.S. think tank. 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.
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. She was initially drawn to theater and creative writing but eventually became interested in economic policy. She graduated from Milton Academy in 1997. McGhee received a B.A. in American Studies from Yale Universityin 2001. 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.
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. After about a year, she moved to New York City and began working with the non-profit think tank, Demos. In 2003, McGhee connected with Elizabeth Warren and her daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi, on the topic of credit card debt. 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. McGhee became the president of Demos in 2014. 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. A year later, Garry stated he had taken her advice to heart and his views had changed. In early 2018, she stepped down as president but remained a distinguished senior fellow at Demos. McGhee has appeared on episodes of Pod Save America and was a guest host for a live recording of the podcast in Boston.
