Photo courtesy James Brooks.
Leslie Fields-Cruz, executive director of Black Public Media (BPM) and a resident of Cortlandt Manor, has been named to “Crain”™s New York Business” 2021 Notable Black Leaders and Executives list. The list highlights Black businessmen and women working within the New York City metropolitan area who have impacted and helped the city in significant ways through their professional, civic and philanthropical work. As the head of BPM, a Harlem-based nonprofit dedicated to developing, funding and producing content by and about people throughout the African Diaspora, Fields-Cruz has worked at the nexus of media and diversity for decades.
“I”™m honored to be included on this list with so many extraordinary professionals from different fields working to make permanent and positive change for Black communities and other people of color around the world,” Fields-Cruz said.
A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and New York University, Fields-Cruz joined BPM ”” then known as the National Black Programming Consortium ”” in 2001, overseeing the organization”™s grantmaking to documentary programs slated for PBS. Her commitment to telling stories that show the fullness and complexity of Black life proved instrumental to the creation of BPM”™s signature series “AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange.” Now entering its 13th season, the series, which brings documentary films about people from all corners of the modern African diaspora to U.S. audiences, remains the only public television series dedicated solely to showcasing the global Black experience. Fields-Cruz also served as co-executive producer for the Peabody Award-winning PBS documentary “180 Days: Inside an American High School.” She was named BPM”™s third executive director in 2014. With her sights focused on lifting new voices in the media and filmmaking community, Fields-Cruz led BPM in the development of its 360 Incubator+ program, which has facilitated the mentoring and training of Black filmmakers, writers and other creatives since 2014. During the pandemic she established BPM”™s Emergency Relief Fund, which disbursed $30,000 in immediate aid to BPM creatives who found themselves in desperate need. The fund has since become a permanent resource to assist BPM creatives facing emergencies brought on by health or natural disasters in the future. Under her leadership BPM has been named as a recipient of funding from Netflix to assist in the support of Black creatives.
