It’s appropriate, as I’m writing this for a report about communication and media, that the Twitter profile picture of chef and restaurateur José Andrés is a simple image of him holding a phone. Rather than grabbing hold of a tool of the culinary trade, Andrés instead is focused on the medium of his message. He’s focused on using it to rally as many people as he can around the idea that food...
In five vibrant minutes on January 20, 2021, just two weeks following the attacks on the U.S Capitol and years of great divide, Amanda Gorman delivered an impassioned call to the nation.
Gorman’s The Hill We Climb zeroed in on the need for healing and reconciliation with a plea for Americans to come together to rebuild and realize the true strength of the country. Her final words were...
The opening of the famed TV series “Star Trek” is memorable. And at the time, it seemed a far cry from reality.
But thanks to a few pioneers — by the names of Bezos, Branson and Musk — this year got us that much closer to this reality.
On July 11, 2021, Sir Richard Branson joined a few fellow space explorers to travel at Mach 3 into space. As Branson said, “Just imagine a world...
A powerful voice that brought calm to the chaos of COVID-19 was that of the parent. Moms and dads stepped in and stepped up as children of all ages sought comfort and security amidst an unprecedented pandemic. When the world turned upside down and support infrastructure crumbled, it was parents who buried their own fears and gave us hope that we would somehow make it through.
Moms and...
How many academics do you know with a social following of more than one million? Sanyin Siang does! Let me explain.
In writing for this Relevance Report, I think of relevance as the imparting of perspective or ideas that serves our current and future moments in a way that resonates with a large swath of our society. But in our deeply complex and fragmented world, to do so requires the...
Eighteen months after the world came to a grinding halt, we are still grappling with the profound changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the psychological effects of extended quarantine. In times like these, we search for things in our lives that offer stability and safety: Family, close friends, daily routines and – on a societal level – protections offered by the Constitution...
In October 1991, Anita Hill, an African-American law professor, sat before an all-white and all-male Senate Judiciary Committee and accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. In doing so, she introduced the world to the uncomfortable concept of workplace sexual harassment and set off a chain of events that would profoundly change the world and continue to have...
Lauren Wesley Wilson literally changed the communications industry over lunch. In 2011, Wilson was working at an agency and realized that nobody in executive or senior leadership looked like her. She gathered 34 women of color for a networking lunch she called ColorComm. They listened to speakers, shared media contacts, and talked job opportunities. Everybody left wanting to do it again....