Adaora Udoji

Adaora Udoji is a media executive, journalist, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker whose career spans network television, public radio, venture capital, and emerging technology. A lawyer turned journalist, producer, executive, and board member, Udoji brings expertise in media, digital, and emerging technology.

Udoji began her journalism career at ABC News as an off-air reporter covering the O.J. Simpson criminal trial, later becoming an associate producer before being named a foreign correspondent based in London. She reported international stories across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. At CNN, Udoji served as a New York-based correspondent covering stories including the presidential election, Hurricane Katrina, and the West Virginia Sago Mine disaster. She expanded into public radio as the co-host of "The Takeaway," a nationally syndicated co-production by WNYC, The New York Times, BBC, WGBH-Boston, and PRI, where she covered the election of Barack Obama.

Udoji's journalism career earned her several industry honors. She was a member of the CNN news team covering Hurricane Katrina in and around New Orleans, for which the network won a Peabody Award. She was also among the team at ABC News awarded a Cine Golden Eagle Award for a documentary on death row and was recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for contributions to ABC's coverage of the Afghan War. Udoji was named one of the 25 Most Influential African Americans by Essence Magazine and was an honoree at the World Diversity Leadership Conference at the United Nations. She has written extensively on topics including being a Nigerian woman, beating cancer, and Hurricane Katrina.

Udoji later became a media-tech entrepreneur. She is the CEO and founder of outLoud Inc., a digital and technology public speaking platform focused on cultivating the potential and persuasiveness of people's stories, helping individuals from students to CEOs tell their stories in pitches, speeches, presentations, and other forms of public speaking. She was also a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and subsequently founded the Boshia Group, a network of content and operational strategists, producers, and storytellers. Previously, Udoji served as chief storyteller at Rothenberg Ventures and as interim president of the media-tech startup News Deeply, which Time magazine called the future of news.

Udoji's expertise in emerging technology has positioned her as an executive and advisor at the intersection of media and innovation. She led a corporate innovation and venture program team at RLab, focusing on emerging technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and related fields. She also served as an artist in residence at Google. Udoji went on to serve as vice president of programming and operations for PBS General Audiences, managing news, investigative reporting, current affairs, documentary series, and content operations across television, streaming, and third-party platforms serving 100 million consumers monthly. Her work included collaborations with Oscar-winning series like "Frontline," Emmy-winning "Newshour," "Independent Lens," and "POV."

Beyond her executive roles, Udoji is an educator and advisor. She is an angel investor, a Hewitt School trustee, and an advisor to the New Museum's NEW Inc. Udoji has served as an adjunct professor at New York University in media and technology programs at the Tisch School of the Arts and the Tandon School of Engineering. She has also been an advisor for the Sundance Institute Interdisciplinary Program, the Broadway Accelerator, the Global Innovation Board at the Guggenheim Museum, and has served as a juror for SXSW and a judge for the Tribeca Festival and Black Public Media's Pitch Black. As a Peabody and duPont Award-winning journalist and professor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Udoji draws on decades of frontline reporting and academic leadership to deliver keynote experiences that are intellectually rigorous and actionable, with a global perspective and storytelling expertise.