Kristal Brent Zook, Ph.D., was born in Los Angeles and raised in an all-female household by her mother and grandmother, who are African American. Her father is Anglo American. She received a B.A. in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Ph.D. from the History of Consciousness Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her work as a journalist and cultural reporter began in the mid-1990's when she wrote regularly about film, tv and books for the Village Voice and the LA Weekly.

Her most recent book, I See Black People: The Rise and Fall of African American-Owned Television and Radio, was published by Nation Books in February 2008. A collection of intimate and frank conversations with broadcast and cable owners, large and small, this book addresses via poignant recollections the mystery of why so few minorities and women own media outlets in America.

Her previous book, Black Women's Lives: Stories of Power and Pain (Nation Books, 2006) contains investigative portraits of women across the country, of various ages and economic backgrounds, from a secretly biracial organic dairy farmer in Bakersfield, Vermont, to a corporate executive and president of SoftSheen/Carson in New York City. Black Women's Lives went into its third printing within the first year of publication.

In 1999, Dr. Zook published her first book, Color By Fox: the Fox Network and the Revolution in Black Television, Oxford University Press, which took readers behind the scenes of popular African American television productions such as “In Living Color,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” “Martin,” “New York Undercover,” “The Sinbad Show,” “Living Single,” “Roc,” and “South Central.” The book revealed the internal dynamics that prevented certain depictions from appearing on air. Color By Fox is required reading in many college-level media and communications courses nationwide.

Dr. Zook is currently a Contributing Writer with the Women's Media Center and Essence magazine and Associate Professor of Journalism at Hofstra University. She has produced and appeared as a commentator on National Public Radio and speaks regularly on college campuses (www.apbspeakers.com) and on national cable and broadcast outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, MTV, Fox, and TV-One.

Her award-winning print work has also appeared in publications such as The New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Washington Post, USA Weekend, Vibe, Savoy, Emerge, Honey, The Nation, The Source, Real Simple, The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and other publications.

She is one of four members of an intergenerational panel of women who are currently touring various locations nationwide, speaking on the topic of feminist movement. Their blog is Women, Girls, Ladies and her cohorts and friends on this journey are authors Gloria Feldt, Deborah Siegel, and Courtney Martin.

Dr. Zook may be reached directly at kristal.zook@hofstra.edu