Cori Murray wears many hats. But first she is a multi-platform storyteller. As the former Deputy Editor at ESSENCE (the company’s top editorial and content role), she led the brand’s digital and print platforms that serves 31 million Black women domestically and internationally. Under Murray’s editorial leadership, ESSENCE won its first American Society for Magazine Editor’s National Magazine Award for Photography in April 2022, featured a same-sex couple on its cover—a first in the magazine’s 52-year history, and achieved its highest print advertising revenue since the company’s acquisition by Essence Ventures, among numerous other accomplishments. She led programming for the Black Women in Hollywood awards since its inception and served for 15 years as co-producer of the annual Oscars week event—ESSENCE’s second largest franchise, behind only the Essence Festival of Culture. In March 2017, she launched and cohosted the brand’s leading podcast, Yes Girl!, which became a two-time Webby Award-nominated podcast by 2020.

The writer, editor, producer and host received a ElevatHER award by the Black Women Film Network in March 2022 in recognition for how she “prepares and preserves the untold stories of Black women to empower future generations.” Along with being an award-winning editor, Murray’s live event and screen presence includes hosting ESSENCE’s Black Women in Music; presenting at the Black Women in Hollywood Awards, which has aired on OWN; and moderating panels at the Essence Festival of Culture—the nation’s largest festival per day attendance—and Hollywood House. As a cultural critic, she has appeared on numerous national media platforms including CNN, MSNBC, Good Morning America, Access Hollywood, BET, as well has been quoted in The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, among others. She has also been a featured guest on the Luminary podcast, Stoop Talk, and Mailchimp podcast Going Through It with Tracy Clayton.

A sought-after mentor with Femme It Forward’s Next Gem Femme program, Murray moderates panel discussions for entertainment companies ranging from Amazon Prime Video, 20th Century Fox, Netflix, Columbia Records, Warner Bros. Pictures, Atlantic Records and the Toronto International Film Festival, to name a few. Additionally, she is featured in Ava DuVernay’s documentary, My Mic Sounds Nice, and Light Girls (OWN), and contributed to the award-winning literary anthology, He Never Came Home (Agate Bolden).

Murray earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Hampton University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her daughter.