Contributor
Bio

Carmen Van Kerckhove [pronounced Van Kurr-Cove] was co-founder and president of New Demographic, a diversity education firm.

She published Racialicious, an award-winning, influential blog about race and pop culture. Time Out New York magazine lauded Racialicious for its “savvy, clearheaded commentary” and leading anti-racist educator Tim Wise called it “one of only a few places I turn to for cutting edge and up to date info on race trends.”

Carmen was a regular commentator on NPR and wrote for CNN.com’s Anderson Cooper 360 blog and the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). Her perspectives on race and racism have been featured in Newsweek, USA Today, Associated Press, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Miami Herald, Crain’s New York Business, and The Nation magazine. Carmen has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Al-Jazeera English, Washington Post Radio, American Public Media’s Marketplace, and PBS’s Asian America.

She hosted Addicted to Race, a podcast about America’s obsession with race and published Anti-Racist Parent, a blog for parents committed to raising children with an anti-racist outlook.

The Science Museum of Minnesota featured her as part of its exhibit “Race: Are We So Different?,” created by the American Anthropological Association. She has delivered keynotes at the Dallas Human Resource Management Organization Diversity Conference, the National Student Conference on the Mixed Race Experience, and the New York City Asian American Student Conference.

Carmen is of mixed Chinese and Belgian heritage. She was born and mostly raised in Hong Kong, but also spent much of her childhood living in Shanghai and Belgium. Carmen graduated from Columbia University with a BA in Political Science. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband.