CRYSTAL McCRARY

Award-winning film, tv producer and author, Crystal McCrary, began her career
practicing entertainment law specializing in theatre production, publishing
contracts and director’s agreements with the New York City firm of Paul, Weiss,
Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison before leaving to pursue a full-time career in
writing and producing. Since that time, she has written for several magazines,
published two New York Times best-selling novels, and produced original
programming for TV & Film.

Ms. McCrary published the New York Times Best-selling novels HOMECOURT
ADVANTAGE (Harper Collins/Avon) and GOTHAM DIARIES (Hyperion). She also
executive produced the independent film DIRTY LAUNDRY (FOX Films), winning Best
Feature Film at the American Black Film Festival. For six seasons Ms. McCrary
served as co-creator/executive producer for the NAACP Image Award nominated
VIACOM documentary series LEADING WOMEN and LEADING MEN which profiled women and
men of color who have impacted the country socially, politically and culturally
including Dr. Maya Angelou, Iman, Mo’Nique, Patti LaBelle, Lisa Leslie,
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Susan Taylor, Tracy Reese, Debra Martin Chase,
Sanaa Lathan, Mara Brock Akil, Wynton Marsalis, Wylef Jean, Hill Harper and
Terrance Howard to name a few. She also hosted, created and executive produced
the three-part documentary series INSIDE: Black Culture profiling The Studio
Museum in Harlem, Evidence: A Dance Company and Abyssinian Baptist Church. In
production, Ms. McCrary has a feature length documentary entitled LITTLE BALLERS
which chronicles the lives and challenges of the New Heights AAU eleven-year
olds basketball team and their journey to the National Championship. Ms. McCrary
is also in pre-production with iDeal Partners Film Fund for the film version of
her first novel HOMECOURT ADVANTAGE. Crystal’s next book, INSPIRATION: PROFILES
OF BLACK WOMEN CHANGING THE WORLD will be published by Harry N. Abrams,
February, 2012 and includes profiles of First Lady Michelle Obama, Venus
Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Marian Wright Edelman, Mary J. Blige, Judith Jamison,
Soledad O’brien, Shonda Rhimes, Iman and many others.

Dedicated to and outspoken on education, children’s rights and women’s
issues, she has appeared on several national television shows including Good
Morning America, The TODAY Show, the Tavis Smiley Show and as a regular cultural
critic on CNN American Morning. Ms. McCrary also appeared as a guest co-host on
ABC’s The View, interviewing then U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton. She has also
been a legal analyst on numerous television shows including Fox News Channel,
MSNBC and CNBC as well as a co-host on the 2008 NAMIC vision award winning BET
show, “My 2 Cents.” She has also interviewed President Bill Clinton and Mayor
Michael Bloomberg. Ms. McCrary has been featured in People Magazine, Black
Enterprise, Town & Country, Newsweek, the New York Times, Mirabella, Vanity
Fair, Ebony, Vogue, The New Yorker, Essence Magazine, O Magazine and USA Today.
She was also named to Crain’s-New York Business Forty Under Forty.

Ms. McCrary sits on the advisory board of Jumpstart, a national organization
dedicated to increasing early childhood literacy particularly in low-income
neighborhoods across the country. Her interest in education initiatives was
sparked during her time as a substitute elementary school teacher in Detroit,
MI. She is also on the Advisory Committee for Hyperion Books imprint VOICE
focusing on women 35 and older, offering books that answer today’s women’s needs
as well as the New 42nd Street Board which offers theatre and education through
the New Victory Theatre to low income children and teens in New York City.

Ms. McCrary is a cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
(B.A., 1991). She then attended New York University School of Law (J.D., 1995).
Ms. McCrary also studied International European Community Law in Paris, France.

She resides in New York City with her eleven-year-old son and nine-year-old
daughter.

WEBSITE: www.crystalmccraryanthony.com