Jodi Cobb: Photographer

jodi Cobb has worked in more than 60 countries and had the distinction of being the first female photographer almost everywhere she worked early in her career, including National Geographic. Instead of being thwarted by the adversity she encountered-including gender bias and the dangers of traveling as a single woman, COBB found ingenious ways to turn these situations to her advantage. She was the first woman to win the White House News Photographer of the Year award (1985), one of the first photographers to travel across China when it reopened to the West in the ’70s, and the first photographer allowed inside the hidden world of the geisha in Japan. In her 2003 National Geographic story “21st-Century Slavery,” COBB exposed the harsh reality that human trafficking has become one of the largest criminal activities in the world. A thoughtful presenter, COBB shares these rich experiences on stage, illustrating what it was like to come of age in an era of hippies and rock ‘n’ roll, as well as to travel the world on assignment for National Geographic. Presented in partnership with Five Rivers MetroParks.