Katie Orenstein
NEWDAY DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER SERIES: Katie Orenstein, founder and CEO of The OpEd Project, writes and speaks frequently about the intersection of media and mythology – that is, what we think is fact or fiction and how that shapes our ideas about politics, culture and history. She has contributed to the op-ed pages of the New York Times, Washington Post and Miami Herald. She has lectured at Stanford and appeared on ABC TV World News, Good Morning America, MSNBC, CNN and NPR.
Orenstein founded the OpEd Project in 2008, a social venture dedicated to escalating the presence of women’s voices in media and to building a movement ‘to change the world’s conversation.’ OpEd Project pairs mentors—veteran journalists—with subject experts who want to find an audience through publishing, and hosts training programs that teach women from many professional and personal walks-of-life how to better make their ideas and voices heard. Along the way she has learned and developed the skills to start-up and successfully run a business.
Since the OpEd Project’s founding, women’s representation in an index of top opinion forums has enjoyed a 40% increase from 15% to 21%. Its objectives have expanded from increasing the profile of women’s opinions on the op-ed pages to expanding their presence in other forms of media. It has been selected by Echoing Green as one of the most innovative social enterprises.
A graduate of Harvard (BA) and Columbia (MA) universities, she is the author of “Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale.”