Christie A. Cruise, PhD

Christie Ann Cruise, Ph.D., is an educator, author, and social justice advocate with a passion for empowering Black women and girls to speak their truths boldly and unapologetically. Her passion led her to serve as a mentor with the Reach & Rise Program of the Gateway Region YMCA, an advisory board member for Nia Kuumba Spirituality Center for African and African American Women, treasurer for the Young Ambassadors of the YWCA of Metro St. Louis, and a volunteer for St. Louis Children's Hospital's Raising St. Louis Program. In addition, Dr. Cruise is a member of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) and a board member of the International Women's Writing Guild (IWWG).

Dr. Cruise's poetry, reflections, and self-portrait photography have been published in Gumbo Magazine, Remington Review, Gallery & Studio Arts Journal, Sunspot Literary Journal, Kitchen Table Quarterly, the International Women's Writing Guild (IWWG) anthology Heels Into the Soil, and the IWWG Network edition Our Stories, Ourselves: Narratives from Black Women in Africa and America. Dr. Cruise has also contributed to blogs for the Black Mental Wellness Corporation and The Healing Collective Global. She was a Peyton Evans Artist in Residence (PEAR) at the Studios of Key West from December 2021 - January 2022.

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Dr. Cruise was born in East St. Louis, Illinois. She received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Master of Science degree from Eastern Illinois University, and a Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University.