Courtney Kemp Agboh

Courtney A. Kemp (born May 4, 1977) is an American television writer and producer. She created the 2014 television series franchise Power Universe for the network Starz. She has written for such shows as The Good Wife and Beauty & the Beast. Early life and education Kemp was raised in Westport, Connecticut, and began reading college textbooks at the age of eight. Her father Herbert Kemp Jr was the first African American graduate of Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business. The Kemp family was one of the few African American families in Westport and faced discrimination. By the age of 10 she had begun reading plays by William Shakespeare, eventually coming up with her own stories. In 1994, she graduated from Staples High School and went on to receive her bachelor's degree from Brown University as well as her Master's in English Literature from Columbia University. Career Kemp had an initial plan to become a professor in literature with her degree but that did not suit her needs. She wanted a more collaborative career. She went on to land an interview at Vogue, to become an Assistant but did not land the job. She then strove to get a job for Entertainment Weekly and was questioning why that would not be possible. Kemp went on to land a position at Mademoiselle and worked at GQ for three years. She then left the industry and started writing for the J.Crew catalogue. Kemp's job at GQ landed her many good opportunities, especially getting offers from several TV producers asking her to adapt one of her pieces, on interracial dating, into a show. Although this never materialized, it made her want to start producing for the small screen. At the age of 26, Kemp left Westport and went to Los Angeles, California to further pursue her dream as a television writer. There she garnered her big break by becoming a staff writer for the then-Fox hit series The Bernie Mac Show. She then began writing for other television shows such as Eli Stone, Justice and Beauty & the Beast (a 2012 remake of the 1987 series of the same name) before eventually becoming increasingly known for her writing of episodes for the CBS political drama series The Good Wife.