Heather McGhee

In July 2022, McGhee debuted "The Sum of Us Podcast", which expands on her book by the same title. The podcast has ten episodes. In September 2022, McGhee gave a brief interview with NPR's Ari Shapiro to discuss the student debt crisis.

In 2021, McGhee was interviewed by Christiane Amanpour on CNN, titled "Why racism hurts everyone, regardless of race."

In March 2021, her book "The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together" debuted at #3 on the New York Times nonfiction best seller list. In it she discusses what she calls "drained-pool politics".

In 2019, McGhee presented a talk to a TED (conference), titled "Racism has a cost for everyone."

In December 2019 McGhee became chair of the board of directors of Color of Change.

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

In 2016, McGhee's televised phone conversation with a man named Gary on C-SPAN who admitted racial prejudice ("I'm a White male, and I am prejudiced. The reason it is something I wasn't taught but it's kind of something that I learned.") was widely covered by news media organizations and viewed over a million times. A year later, Gary stated he had taken her advice to heart and his views had changed.

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.

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.

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.

Heather Charisse McGhee grew up in the South Side, Chicago and is the daughter of Gail C. Christopher and Earl J. McGhee. In seventh grade, McGhee enrolled in The Bement School as a boarding student. graduated from Milton Academy in 1997. McGhee received a B.A. in American Studies from Yale University in 2001. She was initially drawn to theater and creative writing but eventually became interested in economic policy.