Cassandra West

About

Cassandra West became Crain's Chicago Business' assistant managing editor for news features in June 2021.She has been a contributing editor since June 2020, when she became editor of Crain’s Forum, a monthly series examining the region’s thorniest public policy challenges.

West has worked in a variety of roles in Chicago media throughout her career, most recently as a freelance writer and editor for publications and organizations including the Chicago Reporter, the Chicago Community Trust, Built in Chicago, the Chicago Foundation for Women and the Forest Preserve Foundation. She has also been an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

A graduate of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., West started her journalism career in 1990 as a copy editor and health section editor at the Chicago Sun-Times. In 1994, she crossed over to the Chicago Tribune, where she was a staff writer and assistant news editor, eventually becoming associate Tempo editor and section editor of WomaNews.