Catfish

Charisse L. Waugh

Writer

Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, and raised in the small hamlet of Metuchen, New Jersey, Charisse L. Waugh always had a passion for story telling.  She was a ballet dancer and athlete growing up.  She received a B.A. in journalism at Hampton University and attended night school at Rutgers University where she earned an MBA while freelancing to pay the bills.  She has always loved telling the intimate stories of African American men and women in her community.  Rarely finding an outlet, but persevering nonetheless, she wrote a monthly column for The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2000 where she had an opinion about everything from the Women’s Soccer World Cup to Elian Gonzalez to Haitian refugees.  For the past year, she has been a senior writer at the national headquarters of the American Civil Liberties Union in New York City.