Marcia L. McNair is a former assistant editor at Essence Magazine and currently teaches English and Journalism at Nassau Community College, the second largest community college in the country, where she is co-coordinator of the African American Read-In Chain and member of the Black History Month Committee.  In addition, she is an adjunct professor of English at MolloyCollege where she teaches African American Literature.   She is the Arts and Entertainment Editor for Lakeview Community News.  Her creative nonfiction story, Before We Were Gangstas, won honorable mention in the National New Millenium Writers Creative Nonfiction contest in 2003.  In 2006, she received a grant from the Long Island Council for the Arts for her collaborative performance, Diary of a Mad Black Feminist.  She is the Founder and Publisher of Aya Press which published her first novel E-Males in 2007.  Her professional memberships include Sigma Delta Chi (the Society of Professional Journalists) and the Long Island Writers= Guild.