Michelle Denise Bernard (born July 30, 1963,

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

) is an American journalist, political analyst, lawyer, author, and President and CEO of the Bernard Center For Women, Politics & Public Policy.

Education

Bernard graduated from

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

with a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in philosophy and a minor in political science. She has a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

Early life and career

She was a partner at the lobbyist and law firm

Patton Boggs Squire Patton Boggs is an international law firm with over 40 offices in 20 countries. It was formed in 2014 by the merger of multinational law firm Squire Sanders with Washington, D.C.–based Patton Boggs. It is one of the largest law firms in ...

. In 2000, she was a member of the Bush-Cheney Presidential Inaugural Committee. She was formerly President and CEO of

Independent Women's Forum The Independent Women's Forum (IWF) is an American conservative, non-profit organization focused on economic policy issues of concern to women.Independent Women's Voice.Ronnee Schreiber, 'Pro-Women, Pro-Palin, Antifeminist: Conservative Women and Conservative Movement Politics', in ''Crisis of Conservatism? The Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, & American Politics After Bush'', Gillian Peele, Joel D. Aberbach (eds.), Oxford:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2011, p. 135 She was the chair for the District of Columbia's Redevelopment Land Agency, which negotiated the public-private financing of the District's MCI Arena.C-SPAN Q&A with Michelle Bernard

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

. 15 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-11 Bernard is frequently a political and legal analyst for

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

,Bernard, Michell
Is the US Election Season Too Long?

. June 6, 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2015

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

,Bernard, Michell
''Smerconish transcript''

.14 June 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

and

The McLaughlin Group ''The McLaughlin Group'' was a syndicated half-hour weekly public affairs talk show television program in the United States, hosted by John McLaughlin from 1982 until his death in 2016. Prompted by the host, the group of four pundits discus ...

. She is a columnist for ''

Roll Call ''Roll Call'' is a newspaper and website published in Washington, D.C., United States, when the United States Congress is in session, reporting news of legislative and political maneuverings on Capitol Hill, as well as political coverage of c ...

'';Bernard, Michell
Masthead CQ Roll Call

March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2016 and also a contributor for 'The Seventy-Four',Bernard, Michell
The74million.org Journalism Advisory Board
www.the74million.org. June 23, 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2015''

The Root "The Root" is a song by American recording artist D'Angelo. It is the eighth track on his second studio album, '' Voodoo'', which was released on January 25, 2000, by Virgin Records. "The Root" was recorded and produced by D'Angelo at New York's ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

's''Bernard, Michell
''Congress cannot ignore violence against women in Syria''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

September 6, 2013. Retrieved July 13, 2014 "She the People," and the ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

''.Bernard, Michell
Amma Asante's 'Belle' May Lead to Real Freedom for Women Around the World

. May 14, 2014. Retrieved July 13, 2014 She is an Independent. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of

Hampton University Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missiona ...

and sits on the board of directors of the Coalition for Opportunity in Education and the executive board of the

International Women's Forum The International Women's Forum (IWF), founded in 1974 as the Women's Forum of New York, is an invitation-only women's organization with some 7,800 members. Its mission is "to support the women leaders of today and tomorrow". The IWF hosts two co ...

of Washington, D.C. where she is the Leadership Foundation Liaison. Additionally, she is a member of the advisory board of the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence, and a speaker for the Washington Speaker's Bureau. Her family heritage is

Jamaican American Jamaican Americans are an ethnic group of Caribbean Americans who have full or partial Jamaican ancestry. The largest proportions of Jamaican Americans live in South Florida and New York City, both of which have been home to large Jamaican comm ...

, saying in an interview with Bill Steigerwald, "My parents are American citizens, but they come from

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. I was raised with very American and Jamaican values. In our culture, we have a very strong sense of pride and of family honor and of self-reliance."

Awards

* Bernard was granted the 2016 Howard University Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award in the Fields of Media, Journalism and Public Policy. * Bernard was named the Spring 2015 Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics by Iowa State University on March 23, 2015. * She received the Anvil of Freedom Award for Journalism and Democracy from the University of Denver's Estlow International Center for Journalism & New Media on January 23, 2015. * Also, she was named in the November 2014 of ''Essence'' Magazine as a Rising Star in their Money & Power list.

Personal life

Bernard was married to

correspondent

Joe Johns Joseph Eduardo Johns is an American lawyer and journalist. He is the Senior Washington Correspondent for CNN, based in the Washington, D.C., bureau. He was promoted to the position in 2014. He previously worked as an NBC News Capitol Hill Corres ...

until the couple divorced in 2008. Bernard remarried in 2014 and lives in

Potomac, Maryland Potomac () is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 47,018. It is named a ...

with her two children from her previous marriage. Her second husband, Keith Bell, passed away in 2019.

Bibliography

* Bernard, Michelle D. (2013), ''Moving America Toward Justice: The Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law, 1963-2013'', The Donning Company Publishers. * Bernard, Michelle D. (2007), ''Women’s Progress: How Women Are Wealthier, Healthier, and More Independent Than Ever Before'', Spence Pub.

References

External links

Bernard Center for Women, Politics & Public Policy
*
Michelle Bernard
at ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

''
Article archive at Sojourners
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, Michelle 1963 births Living people 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers African-American journalists African-American television personalities African-American women journalists American columnists American women columnists American political commentators American political journalists American political writers American writers of Jamaican descent Georgetown University Law Center alumni Howard University alumni Journalists from Washington, D.C. American opinion journalists Washington, D.C., independents Washington, D.C., Republicans 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American lawyers