Name:		Mr. George Alexander
		Month:		March 2007
		Schools:		Morehouse College 1985 Columbia University Graduate School of Business 1987
		Organization:
		Title:		Writer

Prior to quitting his corporate job and pursuing his creative dreams, George Alexander was a media and entertainment banker in New York City. He is presently an author, journalist and screenwriter who has written for VH1, “Daily Variety,” “Essence,” HBO.com, “Black Enterprise,” "Savoy," "American Legacy” and “Upscale.” A native of Mobile, AL, Alexander is a graduate of Morehouse College and Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Alexander is the co-author of the “Essence” magazine bestseller Queens: Portraits of Black Women and their Fabulous Hair (Doubleday, November 2005) with photographer Michael Cunningham co-author of the bestseller Crowns. Queens is a photo essay book of Black women from around the world discussing their personal hair stories. The book has been featured in numerous publications across the country including “The New York Times,” “The Washington Post,” “The Boston Globe,” “USA Today,” “The Chicago Sun-Times,” “The Miami Herald,” “Women’s Wear Daily,” “The Mobile Register,” “Ebony” and “Essence,” and on National Public Radio, “Good Day Atlanta,” and “Life & Times” on KCET Los Angeles.

His first book, the celebrated “Essence” magazine bestseller Why We Make Movies: Black Filmmakers Talk about the Magic of Cinema, was published in 2003 by Doubleday Harlem Moon. The first of its kind, Why We Make Movies is a collection of interviews with thirty-three outstanding African-American directors and producers including Spike Lee, John Singleton, Melvin Van Peebles, Julie Dash, Gordon Parks, Ossie Davis, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Warrington Hudlin, Reginald Hudlin, Keenen Ivory Wayans and St. Clair Bourne. Harvard University has used Why We Make Movies in a class taught by renowned film critic Elvis Mitchell.

Alexander was the co-writer of the VH1 special series, Black in the 80s, a three-part series, which examines and celebrates the impact of Black popular culture on mainstream culture during the 1980s. The series premiered in February 2005.

A frequent commentator on film and popular culture, Alexander has appeared on VH1, NPR, AMC, BET, CNN radio and MTV radio. He has also lectured and moderated panels at conferences, film festivals, colleges and museums across the country including, the Chicago International Film Festival, the Urbanworld Film Festival, the Hollywood Black Film Festival, the Pan African Film Festival, California State University, DePaul University, Morehouse, the American Museum of Natural History and the Studio Museum in Harlem. Alexander also wrote, directed and produced, "Two Years Later," a fifteen-minute dramatic short film, which was screened at Lincoln Center by the Black Filmmaker Foundation.

Before pursuing writing, Alexander served as a vice president for Westpac Banking Corporation in New York. After banking, he spent four months in Paris, France where he wrote comedy sketches, studied classic American films and completed immersion French studies.

In 2001, Alexander was selected for membership in the British-American Project (BAP). Sponsored by the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, BAP is a fellowship of American and British leaders and opinion makers from such diverse fields as the media, business, education, government, the arts, and medicine. He sits on the boards of the Friends of Harlem Hospital, the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center in New York, and is a former board member of Aaron Davis Hall, the performing arts center at City College of New York. Alexander also enjoys going to the movies, foreign travel, long-distance running, downhill skiing and listening to live music.

* Photo credit Musa Jackson