Cortney Harding is a seasoned founder, content creator, and a pioneer in using Virtual Reality (VR) to create social impact. She is the CEO of the award-winning agency, Friends With Holograms, where she designs and develops VR training pieces focused on topics like racial bias, workplace exclusion, mental health, and more for companies like Lowe’s, Walmart, PWC, Amazon, Target, and more. Cortney's work has been recognized as the Best VR/AR of 2019 at Mobile World Congress and as a SXSW Innovation Award Finalist at SXSW, among others. She is currently working with Meta to impact learning and training in the metaverse.

Cortney is a prolific speaker and workshop leader with several interviews and articles in prominent publications like the New York Times, NPR, Ad Week, Teen Vogue, and the Village Voice. She has written three books including her recent book on leveraging VR to create social impact. Cortney has taught at several universities including New York University, North Carolina State, and UCLA, and has guest lectured at Johns Hopkins, Chapman University, Harvard Business School, and Columbia University. Cortney is a strategic thinker with expertise in Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Business Development, Creative Direction, and Strategy.