Cortney Harding

Cortney Harding is a recognized authority on emerging technologies and the founder and CEO of Friends With Holograms, a VR/AR agency specializing in cinematic immersive training experiences. Through Friends With Holograms, Harding has spent more than a decade re-architecting how complex organizations—including Walmart, Amazon, Accenture, Verizon, and Lowe's—scale human intelligence and operational performance. Her work delivers measurable business outcomes, such as significant reductions in enterprise training costs, decreases in employee turnover, and improvements in workforce performance.

Before founding Friends With Holograms, Harding built a career in media and technology. She began as a music journalist, serving as a staff writer and then music editor at Billboard, before running a consultancy that helped international music technology startups launch in the United States. After encountering a VR piece at an art museum, Harding spent a year writing about virtual reality, then moved into business development and strategy at a VR production company before launching Friends With Holograms. She also led business development for Moth+Flame.

As founder of Friends With Holograms, Harding created VR training pieces addressing topics such as child abuse, workplace exclusion, mental health, Black maternal mortality, and racial bias for companies including Lowe's, Walmart, PWC, Amazon, and Target. She has worked with Meta to create "What is the Metaverse?"—a course covering all aspects of the Metaverse, including safety and ethical issues. Harding is the author of three books, including "The Spatial Race," which explores technological advancements, and a book on using virtual reality for social change.

Harding is a member of the World Economic Forum and the Fast Future Executive faculty. She has been named one of the Top 100 Global Women in AI at Davos and has received honors such as an Emmy nomination and the SXSW Innovation Award for her work in human-machine collaboration. Her work has also been recognized with Best VR/AR at Mobile World Congress and Top HR Product by HR Executive. Harding has taught at universities including Caltech, Barnard, NYU, and Columbia, and has guest lectured at Harvard Business School, Johns Hopkins, and Chapman University.

Harding's approach focuses on sustainable problem-solving, leading to speaking opportunities at events such as Davos, Advertising Week Europe, and SXSW. She has been featured in the New York Times, NPR, and Ad Week, and has written for Billboard, Teen Vogue, and the Village Voice. Harding is regarded as a leading authority on the integration of smart glasses and agentic AI into the global enterprise, contributing to advancements in immersive technology.