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Photo from 2016 John Jay Awards Dinner

2019 John Jay Awards Dinner

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Journalist and Author
2019 John Jay Award Honoree


Jodi Kantor CC’96 is a prize-winning investigative reporter and best-selling author whose work has revealed truths about power, gender, technology, politics and culture.

Jodi Kantor

In October 2017, she and Megan Twohey broke the New York Times story of decades of sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Their work helped ignite the #MeToo movement, shift attitudes, and spur new laws, policies and standards of accountability around the globe. Together with a team of colleagues who exposed harassment across industries, they were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service.

Before then, Kantor’s article about the havoc caused in Starbucks workers’ lives by automated scheduling systems was the catalyst for changes at the company and helped begin a national fair-scheduling movement. After she and David Streitfeld investigated punishing practices at Amazon’s headquarters, the company changed its human resources policies, introducing paternity leave and eliminating its employee ranking system.

The article Kantor wrote about Harvard Business School’s attempt to change its climate for women provoked a national conversation about women in business schools. Her report on working mothers and breastfeeding inspired two readers to create the first free-standing lactation suites for nursing mothers.

For six years, Kantor wrote about Michelle and Barack Obama CC’83, and covered the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. Her best-selling book, The Obamas, about their adjustment to the jobs of President and First Lady, was published in 2012.

Kantor, a contributor to This Morning on CBS, lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Ron Lieber, and their two daughters.

Back to the 2019 John Jay Awards Dinner

Photo from 2016 John Jay Awards Dinner

2019 John Jay Awards Dinner

The annual John Jay Awards Dinner honors five accomplished Columbia College alumni for distinguished professional achievements and raises funds for the John Jay National Scholars Program.

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Photo from John Jay Awards Dinner
John Jay Awards

The John Jay Awards honor alumni for distinguished professional achievement.

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