Cristal Williams Chancellor

Cristal Williams Chancellor is director of communications for the Women’s Media Center, responsible for media communications and raising the visibility and profile of the organization. She leads the planning, development and production of many Women's Media Center reports, including the signature, “The Status of Women in the U.S Media” and the “The Status of Women of Color in the U.S. News Media 2018.” The reports have generated extensive media coverage, including stories in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA TODAY, ABC News, BBC News and The Associated Press.

She is an experienced executive and award-winning journalist with a passion for ensuring that women, especially women of color, are fairly and equally represented in media.

Cristal has spoken at professional conferences, colleges and universities and with international visitors about the presence and portrayal of women in U.S. media — across all platforms: television, film, radio, newspapers, and the persistent gender inequities that keep women and girls from achieving their potential. She has traveled to Brazil and India to speak to academics, students, feminist groups and government officials about gender and racial disparities in media. Her media appearances also include interviews with National Public Radio, CBS News, as well as interviews with local television, newspaper and radio outlets.

Cristal is the former senior producer for the organization's syndicated radio show, "WMC Live with Robin Morgan."

She spent many years in newsrooms as a reporter, winning numerous awards. Cristal was part of The Akron Beacon Journal team that won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Meritorious Public Service for “A Question of Color” — a yearlong series that focused on race relations. She spent the bulk of her career in newsroom and project management. Prior to coming to the Women’s Media Center, Cristal worked nearly 12 years at the American Society of News Editor — now the News Leaders Association — a premier nonprofit leadership organization for the nation’s top editors.

While at the American Society of News Editors, Cristal played an integral role in planning the organization’s convention and led a five-week leadership program for executives from developing countries. She also coordinated planning and logistics for ASNE international fact-finding missions to Venezuela in 2008, which included a private meeting with the late President Hugo Chávez; and Mexico in 2007, where the delegation of editors explored immigration from key locations in El Paso, Monterrey, Mexico City and Cuidad Juárez.

Cristal has traveled to several international regions professionally and personally, including countries in South and West Africa; South and Central America; Southern, Northern and Western Europe and Mexico and the Caribbean Islands. She has spoken to international guests and fellows visiting the United States about press freedoms and the representation of women and girls in media.

Cristal has extensive leadership and management training from numerous programs, including the Maynard Management at Kellogg, Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in Evanston, Ill.