S7E6: Courtney Cogburn

Courtney Cogburn is a professor at the Columbia School of Social Work and the co-creator of 1000 Cut Journey

Cogburn studies racial inequities in health, and uses media and technology to conduct her research. The 1000 Cut Journey is an immersive digital experience that puts viewers in the shoes of a black male so they can experience what microaggressions feel like. She wanted to work with VR, she says, because:

the potential of virtual reality is that it’s not a removed image that you’re viewing. It’s a story in a world that you’re a part of. You’re immersed in it.… unless it’s happened to you, it may be difficult for you to understand. It’s hard to convey being dismissed. It’s hard to convey what it’s like to feel like you’re invisible

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By Jessica Helfand & Ellen McGirt

Jessica Helfand, a founding editor of Design Observer, is an award-winning graphic designer and writer and a former contributing editor and columnist for Print, Communications Arts and Eye magazines. A member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and a recent laureate of the Art Director’s Hall of Fame, Helfand received her B.A. and her M.F.A. from Yale University where she has taught since 1994.

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Ellen McGirt is an author, podcaster, speaker, community builder, and award-winning business journalist. She is the editor-in-chief of Design Observer, a media company that has maintained the same clear vision for more than two decades: to expand the definition of design in service of a better world. Ellen established the inclusive leadership beat at Fortune in 2016 with raceAhead, an award-winning newsletter on race, culture, and business. The Fortune, Time, Money, and Fast Company alumna has published over twenty magazine cover stories throughout her twenty-year career, exploring the people and ideas changing business for good. Ask her about fly fishing if you get the chance.